This week is our first Runniversary! I started c25k in semi-secret, but quickly came out, as it was going to be difficult to conceal. To my surprise, M fancied having a go too, so a week later I restarted week 1 with him. We both graduated in November. As Peter said earlier today, it’s the best thing I’ve (we’ve) done. Physically much fitter; mentally much stronger, calmer and sharper.
It’s such an achievement to do something you’d always imagined impossible. There’s still a bit of me that’s aghast that I am a runner. And then to go beyond c25k too. M has had a few blips along the way, but is currently back up to 5k. Earlier this year I gradually extended my runs, eventually seguing into the last few weeks of Ju-Ju’s Magic Plan to reach 10k. I’ve just started the NRC HM plan, intending to take it slowly and up to 16k/ 10 miles. I’m doing this primarily for the plan’s structure and guided sessions, and for the reboot. (Absolutely loving it!)
As Runniversary was approaching, it was time for new running shoes. That itself, was quite something to reflect on: I’ve done enough running this year to wear out a pair!! I also finally treated myself to a Garmin, which is helping me understand more about my running (and walking) and my body’s responses. After some testing and research, I’m pleased to find that my earlier experiments with nasal breathing have gauged me really nicely to heart rate zones. It’s fascinating to correlate the intuitive with the tech. (Cripes, you know, this is how bad it is: I’m even tracking my runs on different HR-zone systems! So interesting.) Learning to *really* slow down my easy recovery runs and to peg my paces in speed sessions is still a work in progress but I love that I’m seeing progress.
Thank you to c25k! And to the HU forums and running buddies. Wouldn’t have gotten here without you!! 💕💖👍👍💖💕
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GailXrunning
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Thanks, J. You are steaming ahead on the plan; I’ll be a long way behind. 😅 (But, hey, I’m not complaining to be running for the first time and tackling half of a HM plan in my 60s?😂 )
Thank you, P. It’s gone by so fast, hasn’t it? Thinking back to a year ago, who’d have ever thought it possible. Running for just a short spell in those early weeks of c25k was massive. In some ways that moment feels a long time ago. One of those funny paradoxes of how we experience time.
Do you still get to running your daughter occasionally? I recall she was moving further away.
Well, whatever the cause for this turnaround (as we said, so much can happen in the course of a year!), you both know that running helps face whatever life chucks in our path. Get on your running shoes, you two! 👟👟🏃🏼♀️🏃🏻(Maybe when it’s a tad cooler.)
Thank you, CBDB. 🙏 It is fun - yes - mostly. 😂 There have been occasional marital dramas provoked by ‘you said we’d only go as far as’ (none of which I’d ever said … or where I’d actually said ‘you only need go as far as… while I’ll….’!!!) The journey from 5-10k I did alone. Getting up before sunrise is not in M’s zone of possibility. Doing the easy recovery runs on the NRC plan have provided more opportunities for us to run together, which is nice, especially when actively trying to slow down. Sometimes M does his park laps while I’m doing the speed sessions… so semi-together, which is also a good method.
🤣🤣yes, arrangements are always needed. We have a bit of a different situation in our household. My runner-husband seems to not be able to run anymore due to very slowly healing calf tears. So this works really well for me, as he stays fit by walking at a pace that I run. So those walks (maybe one every two weeks) I call it synchronized-jeffing, he walks and I run! 🤣🤣
But I know the discussions…
But sounds you both have it all sorted out! Well done!
I remember being glad to be able to use my running when I needed to fetch the car to transport relatives... and was accompanied by my uncle in his 70s walking alongside me...
Thank you, Damien. 🙏 (I’m reading ‘great running’ in both senses!) I love what it’s brought to my life already, and M is also very positive even if his engagement has ebbed at times. The effects are tangible.
Congratulations on your Runniversary! It’s been quite a journey. Maybe you’ll discover even more heart rate zone systems in the year to come!
I remember I did try nasal breathing and was getting on quite well with it! Then my move took over and everything, even my running, went to pot. When I’m more settled I’m going to give it another go. 😊
Thanks, J. Omg! How many HR zone systems are there? I’ve settled on one pegged to MHR through the CERG estimate, which I’ve recalculated and amended in Garmin. I’m also monitoring a variant that Strava automatically recalculated from the same CERG-estimated MHR. (Garmin’s original estimate felt too low, meaning I was always going into z4 without much effort. Meanwhile, Strava’s original estimate was too high.) Anyway the amendments in both feel much more appropriate, although still different, and things seem to match how my body is feeling… I’m assuming that’s a good sign.
You’ve done amazingly well. I wouldn’t say that your running went to pot… just that you had to put the running pot in the back boiler for a short period! 🫕 (Looks like fondue is my only option!)
Once I altered my maximum heart rate setting in the Garmin app, everything made more sense with heart rate zones. So I just use the Garmin ones! I think going by feel is the best way here.
Yes, definitely on the cheese fondue back boiler 😂. Possibly just simmering gently as I’m getting back to it!
🤣 Currently, I’d say that’s pretty hard to imagine! The first part of the NRC HM plan has long runs up to 10k, so these weeks feel comfortably achievable from the perspective of distance. The speed runs and super-slow runs are new for me, but I’m very much enjoying getting to grips with their unique challenges. I confess I also enjoy watching my VO2max and fitness age respond!👍
Happy first runiversary! 🥳 How things have changed in one year! My runiversary was in May. We have a whole new wardrobe and vocabulary as well as a fitter body. Wishing you many more great runs and good luck with that 10 miles 🏃♀️ 🏃♂️
Thank you for the good wishes. It’s true, the specialist clothing has crept into my life. I started out with a pair of vintage Ronhills from my hiking years (think I bought them in the 1980s and they were held up by the toggle, the elastic having long since perished) and an old travel money belt. First, I had to upgrade the ancient shoes (I shudder to imagine how deteriorated they must have been!) and that also meant socks. Then the colder and wetter months called for a jacket and appropriate long-sleeved top. And gloves. Then the arrival of summer: a vest, some leggings and shorts. Omg! That I will go out into public wearing these is so far beyond my older self’s wildest imagination. As you say, how things can change in just a year.😂
Hey, Bambi2020 👋👋👋 Thanks for the good wishes, and lovely to hear from you. I do hope you are still managing to go out gazelling… or have a cunning plan to resume your gazelle identity. 👍🦌 🤞 It was such fun to follow in the gang’s ever-impressive galloping hoof steps through c25k and beyond (usually several k behind!! 😉🦌🦌🦌 🐌 ) I’ll never forget that! You guys were inspirational.
Great to see you on the forum still - how're you getting on? I didn't run for 9 months but have started to get back out there. I'm determined to make it stick this time and hope to avoid the niggles and injuries (which were miserable) and derailed my post-graduation running. I really hope you're well 🦌👍😀
Hi, nice to see you back! I’m doing ok thanks, keeping my hand in with a few 5ks a week with some occasional longer ones-have enjoyed the 6 weeks holidays off and now just trying to get back into a routine again . Won’t take you long to build back up to 5k again - think gazelle ! 😁🦌
Happy runniversary you too! Sadly Mr. L is unable to join me in any way. I do remember starting on the QT…luckily I had been walking regularly, but I eventually ‘fessed up towards the end!
I’m still quite happy with my Fitbit…so have been looking at the pace zones on Strava, which I assume work in the same way. 🤷🏻♀️
😂 Don’t be too impressed- I’m definitely a newbie to the tech, and the real experts here will see my green credentials! I guess I’ve gone from zero to a hundred (ok, maybe to fifty) in just a few days. You know, I still remember nowster explaining to me what ‘pace’ was.
I found Strava’s default estimates of MHR rather high (setting it well over 30 beats above Garmin’s default estimate); that’s quite a difference… and it then makes quite a difference to the scaling of the HR zones. The Garmin one, by contrast, felt too low and the results looked rather alarming even though I felt I was working within my capacity. So I did a bit of research (following the path of many others, I gather) and tried the ‘Norwegian’ (CERG) estimate, which came out somewhere in between, but closer to Garmin. With CERG’s estimate, I’ve then amended my MHR in both Garmin and Strava. Their HR zones have been adjusted accordingly, but - because they’re working with different systems - those zones are still different; much closer than they were, but still distinct. It’s interesting to see. So now I’m enjoying monitoring how I’ve felt against these two scales. It’s early days, but sometimes the one feels right, sometimes the other. I guess that’s why we’re advised not to over obsess the numbers; they’re estimates. Omg, did I just write all that??! That’s what having a staycation (at home) does for me!
Congratulations. C25k is a fantastic programme and running makes such a difference to your health and life. Looking back from my hospital bed, I completed C25k in 2015 because I was concerned about my health. Part of it was the hip I have just replaced and it gave me 6 years of being able to manage the condition. Good luck with the next year.
Thank you. I could not agree more: C25k is magic! Totally transformative.
You’re story is an inspiration and rings so true. My knees have been much helped by running. They feel so much stronger (and way better than they did 10+ years ago). It can be the opposite of commonplace ‘wisdom’ that the running is bad for us.
I started c25k with no great ambition or expectation. In fact, I started it more as ‘c25k curious’, having just downloaded and tested the Active 10 app. Same afternoon, I tested the one and then the other. (Until that day, I hadn’t realised what I could do with my phone! 🤷🏼♀️) From the get-go I was totally hooked: I immediately felt so much better, just from that very first session of week 1. I don’t think I had remotely realised how much better I *could* feel. Amazing programme.
I hope, after your big op, you are doing well today - and maybe even dreaming pleasantly of a post-recovery revisit to c25k.
Ahh, that’s a lovely thing to say, Sola. 🤗 You recall, I hope, that it was one of your posts that picked me up after I’d let things slip. It was not so long ago, and that little injection of motivation was critical. I got back on track and then reflected on what I’d do next: my ‘reboot’. That’s the magic of the forum and it’s brilliant community: there’s always someone there to say the words that are needed or show the way by example. We’re all human, and we’re not professional athletes, so it’s easy to let things slide even when we don’t want to slide. They often say running is a metaphor for life, and I have found that the little reboots along the way in running have their echoes in other areas. I love that you’ve decided to redo c25k with a colleague; such a lovely focus and goal in so many ways. I hope it’s going well.
Thank you Gail, this is the best place for inspiration and encouragement, it’s going well with colleague, today is our longer outing, we’ll go along the river she said, we can walk the first bit then when it flattens out we can do our run 2 week 2 then walk back, funny girl, we walked 2k did our run 2 week 2 kept going til we crossed another bridge walked back and my garmin says 9k 😂 😂 😂 she’s going to kill us and in this heat too
Fantastic Gail and congrats on the anniversary. Really pleased to see that you're still running and you're getting all nerdy about it too 🤓 Good luck with the HM progress 🤯
And another of the gazelles! 👋👋👋 Fantastic to hear from you. How are you doing?
In fact, I remember that you persuaded me that I could gazelle slowly and majestically! Thank you for that humorous - but absolutely perfect - intervention, StoneDragon. 🙌Unforgettable! I went out and thought not about leaden legs but about being that graceful beast. And it definitely made a huge difference to how I felt the run. 🦌🦌🦌 I still summon up that image when I need to.
Nerdy? 😂🤣 Actually, that looks a bit like me 🤓… or, with my reactive lenses more 😎? Ooo, does that mean cool nerd majestic gazelle, do you think?!😂
Gazelles are coming out of the woodwork! I'm so glad if I was able to help with your journey in any way and I remember that comment 🤣 You certainly are a cool nerd majestic gazelle!! 🦌🦌🦌 And you all helped me so much last year too.
I dropped out after my injuries derailed me last December and I then ended up in two COVID isolations and then caught COVID which scuppered any comeback plans. After being out of the game for the entirety of Winter I lost the mojo to get back in the game but there was always a niggle about getting back out there. I promised myself I'd restart running before my runniversary came around and that was Aug 31st. I tested the water with a W2 run on Aug 30th and it has been going pretty well. Completed by first W4 run today - it was hard (although not as hard as last time) and I loved it 😄
I'll try and check in a lot more often and hope to catch up with all the other gazelles that graduated around the same time as me last year. Looking forward to following your posts again. SD
Yes, I recall you mentioned the series COVID interruptions after the injury. A bad run of luck, so to speak. But it’s so great to hear that you’re back running again now. Well done , you. That’s something to celebrate. Once things drift, the biggest step seems to be the first one back. Runniversary is one way to focus the mind. It’s a bit like when some talk of the greatest challenge of a single run is to get on the kit and get out of the door (a regular refrain of Coach Bennett: celebrate each and every step!) I’ll be looking out for your posts and cheering you on and back to top gazelling form! Very best wishes. 🙌🦌👌
Hurray!! Thank you, Granspeed. 👋🙏 You’re not belated at all! I’m still in celebrating mode. Each outing of c25k felt such a huge achievement. That’s definitely worth remembering, and holding on to in the present.
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