February was storm after storm and left my the local trails have looked like the photo for the last week or two around here. Let’s get ready for some great spring running weather with this months quest. This is a time to set a personal goal and push our strength and fitness upward as we, hopefully, say goodbye to the storms and welcome in the lighter nights.
Lots of us will have events to prepare for as the spring running season cranks up. It’s a good time to remember the importance of cross training in reduction of injury risk too.
My goal for the month is to cross that bridge again and get back to 10k.
Sign up below for the quest and let’s continue to achieve our goals together.
Written by
UnfitNoMore
Graduate10
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I am more than averagely excited about March this year as we are booked for an early morning visit inside the stones at Stonehenge (I think we may have chickened out of a Salisbury Cathedral tower tour on the same trip) A lot of preparation and recovery time will be needed, not to mention avoiding weight gain when I am Queen of the Premier Inn Breakfast.
My goals are:
to continue with C25K redux and specifically to complete weeks 3-5 over the month.
to practice yoga on 17+ days (ie 'more often than not')
to continue with my virtual swim down the Derbyshire Wye, aiming to achieve at least 3kms which should see me under that iconic Monsal Head viaduct
to continue with my Lent task which is 15 timed minutes a day of tidying and sorting. This may seem unrelated to fitness but in practice it doesn't half up the step count and stair count as I Put Things Away In The Proper Place.
Nice goals... that cathedral can get busy I guess with all the interest in it from Russia 😱
Housework counts as fitness as far as I’m concerned... I arrived here because I was sweating and out of breath doing it, so while it may now be a light workout now, for some it’s an extreme one. Good for strength and flexibility too, though we may see it as the other way round.
You’re keeping busy with the formal exercises too, which is great to see... I must look into swimming more than a few times a year. Have a great month.
The day after completing the ninja set I went back and acquired a bright yellow cold weather top too... maybe I can work on a bumble bee look now 🤣
Loving your quest for the month, it wasn’t that long ago that 10k needed some serious training to achieve and here you are looking at knocking one out every week or two! Have a great month.
I'm all about the cross training at the moment! I'm having a problem with hips, which has really slowed down my marathon training 😬 So I'm restarting my swim membership at the leisure centre, and doing plenty of short, sharp indoor bike sessions.
And I've got a new hip strength routine printed out, so my Quest is going to be to do it three times a week. This is what I'm doing (as posted on Strava yesterday), if anyone's interested:
Sorry to hear you’re dealing with a hip issue... but you have a plan in action so I’m sure it’ll be behind you in no time (the issue not the hip 🤣)
Cross training and shoe rotation reduces injuries by about 40%, or so I read... so well worth everyone taking a look at getting the training done. Hips and above are often neglected too, so I hope that your link gets many views.
Hi UNM my quest has to be to 1st choose a new name. I'll continue to work on my hills which I'm loving. Continue running alternate days as I aim for my target 500 miles (800k) over the year to represent the NC500 as I leave the Highlands next month. My alternative activities include packing up the house and getting in as many glorious cuddles from my beautiful new grandson as I can, unfortunately I'm currently 2 ½hrs away packing up said house. Happy running everyone
Many congratulations Granny! Enjoy those cuddles 🤗🤗🤗. You’ve got a very busy month on your hands.
My quest is to get back to regular 3 x a week 5ks or more. This year has not had a good start with bugs, more bugs, storms and stressful long hours at work BUT the magnolia trees are in bud yippee and days are getting longer 👍
Thank you, did 100k in feb so suspect I'll reach my target by autumn. Wondering grannycuddles but that sounds a bit off for a running forum. Mind you grannytobe was never anything to do with running except to make me a fit granny 😂😂
After a wet & poorly February where I barely did anything despite my lofty plans, for March I want to move at least every other day *in some way*, whether it's running or not. Eg if I am ill I'll do some gentle yoga stretches, if it's stormy but I'm well I'll do some weights, yoga or a dvd. If it's sunny and I'm well - hurrah! celebrations! - and those celebrations will be runs
Can’t think of a better celebration than a run these days! All activity makes a big difference to our lives, but here’s hoping for a nice spring so we can celebrate in style.
My quest is to carry on as I did in Feb with a small run at least 6 out of 7 days of at least 10 mins actual running, plus daily routines of 60 squats&crunches, planking a la ju-ju and balance and feet strengthening.
And to keep on feeling positive and better for it! 👍🏻😁
Nice routine you got there... anything frequent (and without the word burpee in) is good in my book! Loving the running plan, and hopefully the growing light will lift all our moods a little more as spring arrives. Have a great month.
For me, March is continuing my daily 5k's, I am going to get back to intervals now my foot is so much better. I also plan to start extending my longer weekend woods runs.
Continuing on the KB challenge and getting an established workout to reach for my goal of a pullup which at times feels like it aint never gonna happen.
Lastly, as the weather is dryer get my yoga and handstand training in... its lapsed over winter.
Finally, all being well I am off to Iceland on the 18th with my mum and I am really excited about exploring there on my runs and running on the heated pavements!!!!
I’m with you on the pull-up thing... I can still do precisely 0 sit-ups! I heard last week that just hanging from a pull-up bar is great for the needed hand arm and shoulder strength, which is something I now plan to do.
Have a wonderful time in Iceland... what a place to be running. I’m sure we’ll all have the green eyed monster when we see pics of that trip.
Nice quest... have fun on that streak and a great month.
Now I think I am recovered from injury I'm starting JuJu's Magic 10K Plan for the third time this month. Bit nervous but intending to run 10K in May so I need to get going!
Enjoy those intervals... how wonderful to see what we’re once beasts of run/walks become interval sessions!
Planking gave me a similar sense of achievement as C25K... progress is faster than you imagine it can be... gets a little boring though so good music is highly recommended.
Love that you’ll be active every day... have a great month.
Hi UNM, thank you for leading this March Quest and good luck with your 10k plan returning from your injury.😊
My Quest for March is to kick this plantar faciitis in to touch at long last...so I can get outside and get on with things.
I will continue with the daily yoga with Adrienne and my physio exercises and do extra strength work for my core a couple of times a week. I have joined Ju's plankety plankathon.
I am turning 60 this month and I so want to be doing so as a runner...😊
Physio appointment tomorrow, so will update with any news.
Good luck everyone let's march into March together!😊xxx
Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Sound like a good active month and hopefully it’ll have some running back in it before your birthday... you’ll turn 60 as a runner though, you don’t lose that status when injured 😀
Hi UnfitNoMore ....I am still questing...sticking to 3 times a week on my Garmin 10k plan...and am sooooooo looking forward to some dry and sunny weather 😎
I’m hitting the 10k up on the Nike 5k plan... they have a strange way of looking at things 🤣. Dry and sunny is coming... and we’d best make the most of it before it’s too darn hot!! Have a great month
Yeah... they have a hidden “get to your distance” plan (actually 2) called getting started and better athlete... but they have no specific targets, and you can just repeat them to go further. Their distance plans are all race based, so you go over the prescribed distance apart from on the marathon one. Must have a look at the Garmin ones at some point... and I need a new watch 🤣
Dry and sunny here... waiting for little miss UNM to get home though so fingers crossed.
Perfect quest... and as you’re enjoying yourself you have the advantage over your nemesis... enjoy kicking it’s butt and taking in the views back down. Have a great month.
My quest is to increase the intervals and up my speed for longer, Willows quest will be to slow the heck down and run for longer, 😀 I’ve just told him lol
February was a washout for me in more ways than the obvious! I'm still recovering from the latest set of germs passed on lovingly by the small people. So my goals this month are...
Get well!
A couple of weeks of just running 3 times a week
Restart JuJu's magic plan by the end of the week
Contine with Yoga
Continue Plankathon
Oh, and try and stay away from anymore germs!
Hope everyone enjoys the lighter mornings and evenings... Spring is nearly here!!
1) keep going with the plank challenge. I find it sooo hard, repeated week 2 (20 secs) , so will be 30 seconds next 😭😭😭😭. So for March, I reckon two weeks at 30 secs and two weeks at 40 secs. If I can do 40 secs of a plank by end of March, I’ll actually faint. 🙀🙀🙀🙀
2) keep running, 2 or 3 times a week, still around that 5, 6 k mark.
And finally, thanks so much for doing this. Keeps me accountable and focussed.
Away at the moment, so no questing until the 10th or thereabouts - running on snow at an altitude of around 10000 feet is definitely not in my comfort zone 😝
But targets for March are
#1 - 3.5k out of 5 on the dreadmill at 13 kph (4’36”/k pace) - up from 3 in Feb.
#2 - 8k at 5’00”/k, up from 7, preferably outdoors.
#3 - a gentle 10k, to check I can still go that far!
As always, your stats amaze me. Hopefully you’re gonna come back to some lovely running weather. Good luck with your quest, I’m sure you’ll be fine on that 10k.
Having had a bit of a ski accident, I am currently on the IC looking at the beautiful mountains. So my only quest for March is to recover from a strained lateral ligament and to be able to walk before I can run. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy Colorado as best as I can while UTS and Oldgirlruns continue skiing ⛷⛷
Keeping it simple so would like to get back to 3 regular runs a week and start training for HM distance (got to 19k in the summer but lost my mojo so would love to get there this year).
I used the Nike run club one, and it got me there, I ran it over about 5 months... the maximum is 6 and minimum is 12 weeks I think. Long run for me was scheduled to get to 15 miles, because of illness and injury early on it adapted and I was under 11 miles on my longest run but was ready for race day, so I’d recommend it.
There’s also a group on the Marathon forum for spring event training at the moment, which is a great place to see what’s working for others and have a look at the many plans out there.
March is quite an eventful month for me. On the 11th, it'll be the anniversary of me starting out on C25k. Given that I only need a shade over 22k to reach 1,000k since that first run, and the fact that I probably have four runs between now and the day in question, my immediate goal is to complete 1,000k in my first year of running.
After that it's really just trying to get out 3/4 a week as usual; with the culmination of the month being the Winton Trail 10k wintoncastle.co.uk/activiti... in my village on the 28th.
My objective is rather pressing ... run a charity 10k in Bradford on the 15 March. Plus keep up Parkruns, runs with local club etc and do 15-18K a week.
I'm start from a reasonably good base in that since C25K (completed Dec 2019) I've been consolidating. Current activity level is fine, meeting objectives above - except I am still working towards the 10k ....
Re the 10k - the longest run so far however is only 7k. I was aiming for 8k last week but because it was abroad and hotter than expected (I was still dressed for Ciara etc.) I bailed out after 5 and a bit K.
So back in UK now and going with running club tonight (will probs not do more than 6k) and hoping to do an 8k run on Thursday. After that I'm wondering about whether to do another longer one before Sunday week,.. or "taper"!!! ( is "tapering" something that applies???). Basically, should I run 8-9K a few days before or is there no benefit in doing that and it is better is to do a little leg-loosener on the Thursday / Friday???
Tapering can (and does) apply to any distance of event, but only really if you’re focused on time... my 6 month 5k race plan had a very easy week leading to “race day” so I would be at the start line with fresh legs just waiting to go, of course we can run a 5k every week... same with 10k really, a HM plan would have you going over 10k every week for a good while. So taper is optional, and certainly running a long run a week before should be doable, even with a taper after it. I’d think that if you can run 8 and have had a low milage week you should be able to physically handle 10... a 9 may help the psychology side of course. A nice short gentle run on the Friday will do your legs some good.
Whatever you decide about sneaking the 9k in, relax before you go to that event start line, you can do it. Have a great month around it.
Hiya after running 50k in February as I recovered from injury i've now signed up to try and beat that this month with 'running is my happy pace' for Mental Health charity. My entry is number 75..that would be amazing to achieve in km so I'll keep my goal set on that but there is no set goal.
While doing that I also would also like to get back up to 10k so I'll be upping my km loosely based on the ju-ju- plan.
75k could be very doable, just have a check on your weekly milage and bear in mind the 10% rule. The month is 2 days longer so that’s an extra run which will help!
Definitely Questing in March. Got as far as 9k in February, but getting back to 10k eluded me amidst the raindrops, wind and hail. I have been shocked to discover how my stamina has dipped. 😨 So it’s still Back to Ten, plus ever more strengthening. Keeping up with the easier Planketty Plank challenge (but glad we are staying on 40 for 2 weeks 😳) and adding it into my own little set of strength & flex stuff. Found a thing called Podrunner which has lots of different podcast playlists at set bpm, so I’m trying those out for a combo of pacing and intervals. I WILL get to that bigger goal of making 10k a “normal” run - but maybe not in March. 🤣🤣🐢
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