IannodaTruffe has given me the rather dubious honour of being the "first C25k graduate of the lockdown" today. What a notorious claim to fame....!
It has taken me a year, two restarts and a long spell on the Injury Couch before finally making it this far.
I am so glad that we can all still run. I was determined that my graduation was going to happen today, no matter what, even if I had to do it dressed as a tree (I run woodland and heathland tracks) or under cover of darkness. I'm relieved I didn't need to resort to such drastic measures!
I am really looking forward to finding out what lies ahead of me post C25k, so any tips and guidance you can share would be most welcome.
Hi and thank you! It's good to see you on here and catching up with others from my first round on C25k. You're a 10k graduate now too - that's brilliant.
Yay! Well done, Delly-dot, you never gave up and just came back stronger. That takes some real grit. Have a 🥉 and some 🥂! PS I love the idea of you dressing as a tree to avoid detection... Thank goodness it's not come to that yet! 😂
Huge congratulations on graduating, and I’m hoping that you’re the first of thousands of lockdown graduates... daytime TV sucks so many will need to escape it!
Some consolidation work is highly recommended... keep doing what you’re currently doing and it will become more comfortable... then there’s the magic plan in the pinned posts if you’re wanting to go further or longer. That’ll have you up to 10k/60 minutes. If you’d just like to go further in 30 minutes or faster over 5k, the same plan is the way to go!
Of course, first it’s time to celebrate! The bars and restaurants may be closed, but I’m sure you can find some suitable reward to indulge in!
Thank you! I shall follow your advice about consolidation. I had Jo with me on this C25k so I might play the other coaches during my runs to see what I've been missing. How long should I repeat the week 9 runs for?
There’s no set time... just wait until it becomes a little easier to complete the run. Consolidation is highly recommended for all runners of any experience level. It gives your body a nice break from the relentless progression and also a chance for any bits of you that aren’t on it as much as others... for me my breathing was a little behind my legs.
Yes and we have been with you from the start it’s so good to see people stick with it and learn to run and enjoy the company of virtual running buddies, when this virus is beat we can all run and celebrate
Thank you BTP! I will start consolidation runs later this week. I was unsure how long for but have now been advised to run them until I feel comfortable and ready to move on. Perhaps ju-ju’s magic plan after that.
Well Done You! I know from personnel experience the frustration caused by Achilles problems, so pleased for you, it feels great to know that all that hard work and determination has paid off. Just Take it easy now and get those consolidation runs in, they are very important!
Thank you 😊. I did celebrate 🎉. I allowed myself a glass of red wine 🍷 last night with my meal, my first in weeks! Just one was enough! Makes me sleepy now 💤. Must be my age!
Brilliant! Well done, DD! I found the three consolidation sessions (Couch to 5K+) and ju-ju’s Magic Plan useful, as well as doing several 30 minute runs without guidance and at my own pace. I like your tree idea, but am afraid that now we will all be panic-buying tree suits. There may be a lot of moving woods in the near future. (Macbeth knows all about that lark ...)😉👍🏻🎉
Well done, I did it last May after a couple false starts with a torn calf. After that I just replayed the last run and added on another 5 minutes when I felt able to so the baseline was half an hour plus whatever else I could manage and soon it was over the 10k mark.
Yesterday I thought I'd been doing 10k+ long enough to ask for my Bridge to 10k badge.
Well done you! Reaching and running 10k consistently is great. I shall replay the week 9 runs with different coaches for a bit of variety and then I may look at ju-ju's plan.
Hi again, DD. I just found a nice quotation which I think applies to all of us here: “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” (John Bingham)
(Nice, but it still found it a bit of a miracle when I graduated, though!)
Congrats in order! length of Consolidation for me depends on how strong you are. I began by trying different routes which went well until I did one easy going out but uphill all the way back. I struggled through thinking it was just a bad cramp but that pain worsened afterwards and lasted over a week. I’m just back now to comfortable 30mins, usually 6k, slow and on flat, and will continue these to strengthen further.
You’ll know when you’re ready to go further or faster.
Thank you for the good advice🙏🏼. I am surrounded by slight hills where I live, so gradients have been part of my runs so far - no steep hills mind you! It was a real novelty to run on the flat by the sea a few weeks ago!
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C25k really works
C25k week 6 run 1 revisited 😊
Just graduated :)) 
Just graduated c25k 
10K done today 💕
