Today I set off for the last run of the first week of the timed version of B210K. I deliberately left my phone at home and just ran with my sports watch to keep any eye on time and so that I could check my progress on Strava afterwards.
The whole run today was a bit of a puffer - I slowed down and then slowed some more as per the mantra, but it didn't help. Meanwhile the legs felt strong and not in the slightest weary for the whole run. I don't really know what's going on.
When I checked Strava later I was the slowest I've been in ages. In fact checking Strava is not good for morale at all as I discovered that I was doing a much faster pace in week 7 of c25k!
I wonder if anyone has any advice - its a bit disappointing putting in the effort but not seeing any improvement. Mind you, on the positive side, I ran 4k and 35 minutes - which is longer and further than I've done so far.
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Fionamags
Graduate10
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Don't worry it's perfectly normal to feel like this I did as well!😅 It took me ages to add extra minutes on to the end of my runs trying to build up to 5k.. it just does.
Relax, enjoy that you are running.
One of the issues I had was trying to run past the place where I usually finished..to help with this I started my run further away to trick myself...
You will do it, keep up the good work!😊🌷xxx
Some runs you may notice the toxic ten isn't so bad if you start slowly, and you will find your robot legs kick in...it's so good!
Thanks. The thing is my legs felt really strong but it was the breathing that never properly settled down. Good to hear you felt the same though. There's hope for me yet! 🤣🤣🤣
Give yourself some credit Fionamags!!! Today has been particularly warm so maybe that had some bearing on the breathing. It's only your first week on the programme and it sounds to me like your doing well. Keep it up and see what the next run brings. I'm sure I read somewhere that breathing exercises outside of running can help establish a steady rythym. Worth a try?? 🤔
Yay - look at that last sentence and celebrate - ignore everything else. Some days are just a bit 🥴 but the main thing is you went out and run. Happy running 🤗
You are doing just fine Fionamags. Please don’t worry. You ran. 👍🎉👊💥 Don’t be despondent, we all have runs where we feel disappointed for no reason at all. Compare yourself to nobody, not even yourself. ❤️
I’m not sure I can help much Fionamags, except to say that if you’re doing 4K in 35 mins, you’re moving much faster than I am! Some runs will be better than others but as you say, you’ve run further and longer than you have before- which has to be a bonus and deserves a massive well done you!
I know how you feel. I had the same kind of run two days ago. Just couldn't get my breath for some reason. I stopped half way to get my breath back but still struggled afterwards. I wasn't going too fast in fact it was my slowest run for a while. I could only think that maybe it was a bit of hayfever? Giving myself 2 days off and will go on the treadmill next time for a slow steady 30 mins and hope it doesn't happen again.
I can totally identify with this. I'm not doing the magic plan but am following some of the principles. Like you, I track my runs on Strava but don't look until I've finished. Really variable results and I posted recently about a recent run being a real struggle.
Strava is a mixed blessing! I can only say what I say to myself - take it easy and don't over-rely on Strava for your sense of achievement. Strava is great when you meet a target, but can be discouraging too. That said, I am guilty of using Strava to measure my progress and it isn't always positive. Am trying to focus on enjoying running rather than meeting hard targets! So a similar experience to you Fionamags.
You know what they all say, most of our running should be at our slow speed. That can vary, I'm currently running 5k in about 40 minutes. I've done a couple quicker than that, but it's very patchy.
With everything going on in the world, we owe it to ourselves to just get out and run. To be honest, at my age, I'm amazed I can run for as long as I do, how fast it is, well, I might get faster, I might only get faster very slowly with off days!
Wise words as usual Roxdog. I would like to see an improvement in the numbers but more importantly, I want to be able to get out and enjoy the run. Maybe like others say it was just a bad one - although I've had quite a few of those recently.
Well no point whining about it - i just need to keep at it and hopefully it will click again soon!
Not every runs feels great, as I'm learning slowly.
But I'm also learning to learn something and/or take something positive from even a bad run. At the very least, as Laura says a bad run is always better than no run.
Seasonal asthma is another possibility. I was really puffing and blowing on a run recently. I tested my peak flow when I got home and it was much lower than usual. I have the necessary inhalers and sorted it out. Lots of different tree pollens about at this time of year....just a thought.
I often struggle with breathing so my first 5 minutes is slightly downhill and I think that helps to take the edge off the toxic ten and get a rhythm going. Another thing I often do (being slightly asthmatic) is have a shot of Ventolin five minutes before I set off.
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
