Crossing the Bridge Gang Week 4

[damienair]

Hello Everyone,

Sorry work got a little crazy last week and I did not put up a new post. We are going into week 4 now. How is everyone getting on? I ran yesterday morning and completed a full 5K without any walking breaks for the first time in ages. I felt great. I just stuck to a nice gentle 7 min/km pace and ran in a time of 35:15. Consolidating is working. (Scary to think that I was a full 10 minutes faster for 5K two years ago)

How are all of you doing? How do you feel? Would everyone be ready to start crossing the bridge to 10K by week 6, in 2 more weeks? Lets continue to consolidate 5K for two more weeks and we will start crossing the bridge then.

So far in our gang we have, Devon_Straggler, Saratamsin, Raisemeup, DylanTheRabbit, Lablove, Kirst13, Tansycat, Foxile, MamaKeeves, Sammy_Lou, Popstess, Oldgirlruns, UnfitNoMore, Sueken, Joggingonthewildside, Tetleyteagirl, ThisGirlNowRuns, Knitruntalk, Howie1210, Meanmommab, Comaltdel, Tofino, kjm20, 51mc, berrinio, Tabbles

If I am missing anyone let me know. Have a good week everyone.

Damien

[Kirst13 Graduate10]

I'm doing slow 5ks, including the warm up and warm down walks and have done a couple of 5 milers (again I include the warm up/ warm down walks, so running for maybe 5 or 6k then). So I think I'm ready to start crossing the bridge (slowly- 7mins per k sounds very fast to me!)

[damienair Administrator in reply to Kirst13]

Very well done. Don't worry about pace, 7 min/km pace is just a gentle run for me. You run at a pace which best suits you. You are doing great and will be perfectly set up to cross the bridge. I need a couple more weeks myself. Happy Running.

[DylanTheRabbit Graduate10]

I missed my long run last week.

I realised a 100mile bike ride I've signed up to is looming. I started doing a bit of last minute panic training and woke up on Thursday morning feeling like someone had kicked my backside. I guess I pulled a muscle although I don't remember doing it, just fatigue maybe. A couple of days rest and it seems ok, I got a few miles riding in yesterday and it still seems ok. I'll try out a short run this evening and see how it goes.

I may hold back on increasing the running distances a couple of weeks until after I've (hopefully) done this ride, unless I'm feeling super awesome.

[damienair Administrator in reply to DylanTheRabbit]

Yeah your right. Take it easy just in case you make things worse. No rush yet, we will not be moving across the bridge for another couple of weeks, and even after that it will be slow increase in distance.

[Tabbles Graduate10]

Set out to run 8k today, as part of week 4 of the JuJu plan. Mapping and phone showed that I was at 8k running with about .5k to go. So thought I would take a slightly longer route to make it to 9k in 52 minutes.

Pleased with pace as I struggled with the 2 short runs this week maybe I was going too fast or the pint of blood I donated really affected me even though I left it 48 hours.

Short run planned on Wednesday and I am going to enter my first ever ParkRun on Saturday need to pace myself as 91M elevation.

9k splits

[damienair Administrator in reply to Tabbles]

Very well done and great pace over 9K. You are flying. You are almost on the other side of the Bridge. Enjoy your parkrun, you will love it. My advice is to take it easy. Run the first parkrun at a nice easy pace. That way it will make it very easy to turn up the next week and get a PB. 😀

[Sammy-Lou]

Hi Damienair thank you and we’ll done you! I’m ready to increase and cross the bridge! I’ve also reached my stone lose last week - well to be precise 1st 1lb! So with the diet and the inspiration from you and your gang I’m in the zone!! Happy running everyone!

[damienair Administrator in reply to Sammy-Lou]

Congratulations on your 1st 1lb weight loss. Great focus and great to hear that you are ready to cross the bridge. I will just consolidate with 3 5K runs per week first for 2 more weeks. Then we will start the move across together.

[Sammy-Lou in reply to damienair]

Excellent count me in please!👍🏃‍♂️

[Devon_straggler Graduate10]

Hi damienair and gang. Well, if you'd asked last week, I would have said everything is going great, all my runs felt really good, I was chuffed to reach my longest ever running time on my long-run of the magic plan (50 mins), and had a new pb distance on my 30 min run.

This past week has felt really tough though! All of the runs have felt much harder than normal, and I even stopped and walked a bit on the 30 min run I was feeling so 'not in the mood' (although I was pleased to get through my long run, albeit at a slower pace than the week before). This is mostly due to a physically tiring week at work and being dehydrated through too few opportunities to get a drink when working with cattle. Hopefully this week will feel a bit better again!

[damienair Administrator in reply to Devon_straggler]

Yes I hear you. Some weeks and certain runs definitely feel much harder than others. This week has been a disaster for me. But we just need to keep plugging away. I always feel that out of every 20 crappy runs there will be one great run which makes all the previous 20 runs soooooo worth it. Just keep running, you are doing great and you’ll have absolutely no problem crossing the bridge.

[Devon_straggler Graduate10 in reply to damienair]

Sorry to hear you haven't had a great week either. This week has been better for me - (slightly) less tired, much more hydrated, and ran in a couple of new locations which is nice. Hopefully your next run will be better.

[berrinio Graduate10]

Hi everyone, and well done on your runs. I did parkrun again last week at just under 7 min/km and for me this is really feeling too fast. I think I need to learn to go at my own pace and stop trying to keep up with other people, and just be happy that I’m running 5K - that’s my task for the next couple of weeks…

[damienair Administrator in reply to berrinio]

Well done on your parkrun. Yes when we start increasing the distances it will be important to manage pace by running a little slower. A 7.30 min/km pace should work well. If you have a running watch you can follow that pace more easily.

[Meanmommab Graduate10]

Feel I've missed some posts though not sure how! 🤦‍♀️Will need to pay more attention in future.Have been on holiday and had hip issues but hopefully better now so will crack on with consolidation and hope to be ready to cross the bridge in 2 weeks time.🌁

[damienair Administrator in reply to Meanmommab]

We will do it together and it will be manageable with very gradual increases in distance. Enjoy you consolidation runs.

[Raisemeup 60minGraduate]

Hello all, everyone seems to be doing great and as Damien says, some already flying! I'm approaching the challenge slower and may take a bit longer to cross, but as we are a mixed group of runners, of all ages, would be very happy to slowly jog over the bridge. The main thing for me is to give it a go and hopefully get to 10k and celebrate that, along with everyone else.I'll post more later as I'm going out for a 5k this afternoon and may run the local Parkrun course with a view to doing it for real soon.

Have an enjoyable day whatever you do☺️

[Devon_straggler Graduate10 in reply to Raisemeup]

Everyone is different, and hopefully this group will just provide you with support for getting over the line whenever you're ready. I'm a bit further ahead as I'd already started the magic plan when Damien suggested the group, but I'm doing the time plan. I only expect to cover ~7.5km at 60 mins, and I certainly don't do 5km on the 30 min run. So I expect to have to do the second half of the magic plan twice, the second time will be distance rather than time. So I'll be here for some time too!

[damienair Administrator in reply to Raisemeup]

We will start crossing the bridge together in over a week, but it will be nice and gradual, easy bite sized chunks.

[Raisemeup 60minGraduate]

Hi Devon Straggler, 7.5k in 60 mins sounds very reasonable to me and seems you're making good progress. I'm switching about a bit running either 5ks with a much stronger runner than myself, or using C210k app, or just a ' run and see' run! Fingers crossed it will happen for us all. 🤞

[Raisemeup 60minGraduate]

Hello all, just to say I ran for 6.3k yesterday on my local Parkrun course, plus an extra loop. I made a conscious effort to be really well hydrated, it was cool and overcast, I had good company and it felt OK. Time not great at a bit over 1 hour, but a tad longer than any previous run. I was pleased with it and I'm even more pleased that today, post run, nothing aches or is complaining for the first time ever!Go for it everyone, this old Bridge has hidden gems along the way! Best wishes ☺️

[damienair Administrator in reply to Raisemeup]

Excellent and very well done. Happy running.

[Tansycat]

Hi bridge team

I’ve managed to go beyond 5k twice now but…..

I’m noticing serious bruising of both of my knees. Yet I definitely have not bashed them or anything like that.

Is this Normal?

Has anyone else suffered this or got any suggestions for me?

[damienair Administrator in reply to Tansycat]

Hope your OK. No I’ve never known any issues like that with knee bruising. When start crossing the bridge we will do it together very slowly and build it up in bite sized chunks.

[Lablove 60minGraduate]

Still bobbling about at 5K about 9-10/k. I’m trying to extend my distance without stressing about time…. Hopefully I’ll be able to cross the bridge at some point, perhaps as the weather grows cooler.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Lablove]

We will do it together and build it up slowly.

[Lablove 60minGraduate]

Inspired!?!/challenged By the thought of crossing the bridge, set myself a mental longer route. Took 59 minutes but managed 6K the longest run I’ve ever done. After a bit of an incline I had to walk for a couple of minutes but ok other than that. Thanks for the ‘prod’.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Lablove]

Very well done. Motivation and self belief is key.

[Tabbles Graduate10]

Completed my first parkrun today, official time 29.57 Boy that hill was steep, but didn't stop. Great mix of people all ages , some pushing chairs , some with dogs.

First park run

[damienair Administrator in reply to Tabbles]

Well done on your first parkrun. And you did it in style too with a sub 30 minute 5K. Congratulations.

[Lablove 60minGraduate]

Sunday lunchtime run, 5.40 k felt quite comfortable today as it was a bit cooler.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Lablove]

Great running. Well done.