Back on the Bridge

[Whydothis]

I was doing really well last year - straight through C25K, 3 weeks of 3x30minutes, then onwards to the Magic Plan to 60 minutes. Thrilled when I arrived at the 60 minutes, but then settled back to 3x30mins, and not always that. Then I allowed various excuses to stop me - mud, then frost, then having a dog to walk for a few weeks, then no excuse at all - so I needed to do most of C25K again to get myself running. So I have done a couple of weeks consolidating, and this morning decided to repeat the Magic Plan (timed), and this time to at least keep it up, and hopefully progress to the distance plan and go a bit further.

I am one of the world's slowest runners though - I see people posting their speeds, and it embarrasses me to think mine are only half as fast at over 13 minutes per mile! Hopefully I will catch up one day! It is particularly embarrassing as I am a fast walker - 15-16 minutes a mile for the first couple of miles if I am on my own.

Anyway - this morning I started with the first, shorter run. I set Runkeeper for 60 seconds running and 30 seconds walking, repeated 20 times, so I did 20 minutes running. I had never tried this jeffing business before, but enjoyed it. I was amazed to find that my second mile (as the first one included my warm-up walk) was very slightly faster than the second mile last time I ran, on Saturday - so perhaps if I do this once a week I might speed up a bit?

Anyway - the main point of this post is to announce to the world that I am not going to give up this time!

[Jools2020 Graduate10]

My goodness, is that slow? I think sometimes my runs are slower than that!!

I’ve started Jeffing, too - but it’s not to get faster, but fitter. I’m using a once a week Jeffing run to work on my stamina, to allow me to run for longer and get up to a half marathon. Which will be slow and I won’t be embarrassed at all! My last half marathon took me over 3 hours! I was on cloud nine and I felt like superwoman 😂.

Maybe with improving my stamina I’ll improve my pace, too, but it’s not my main aim. Although I did Jeff a 5K last week in just over 37 minutes, which was pretty fast for me. Have a look at the Facebook page, Girls that Jeff and you’ll see a lot of PBs achieved by Jeffing. Many people Jeff all the time, but I enjoy my long, slow runs too much to give them up.

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10]

Well done for getting back to it 👌🏃🏻‍♀️ That is a success in itself .Find your Happy pace …. It’s the best one 😄😉

[Lizcanrun Graduate10]

Welcome back! Well done for getting back on it. Don't worry about your pace. A slow 5K is better than sitting doing nothing on the sofa! Posting on here will keep you accountable 😊

[Whydothis 60minGraduate]

Thank you for your encouraging replies 😊When I went to bed last night, I suddenly realised my mistake about speed! Most people putting up speeds of 5, 6, 7 are, of course, working in kilometres, while since walking LeJog I have been measuring in miles, so I am more stupid than I thought, but less slow 😂. Now I need to do the sums and see how fast I am actually running 🏃‍♀️

I was doing 3.6k in 30 minutes when I finished C25K this time last year, and I doubt whether that has changed much. Tomorrow I plan a 30 minute run so I will measure it separately from the warm up walk and see how far it takes me.

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

Well done for the return! It sounds as if you have found a great way forward that suits you.

Don’t worry too much about speed, it’s all about running slowly to build stamina! They’re the most important runs 👍

[Oldgirlruns Graduate10]

Don’t worry about your speed Whydothis - I regularly ‘manage’ 10 minutes per km, anything less is a bonus! My last 2 parkruns have been around 47:30 - but that was with a fair bit of walking! I can walk faster than I run and while I’m envious of those who can do a 30min parkrun or do 10k in the time it takes me to do 5k, I know I’ll never achieve those speeds so I’ve stopped worrying about it. Don’t feel embarrassed- just enjoy what you can do and join us in the snails club!