RED January Completed - yippee !!

[Ant50]

I'm slightly amazed to be writing this, but I have just completed my 31st daily consecutive run for January, so that's RED January well and truly done. I must admit I didn't put a lot of thought into this before I started it, I just happened to run on Jan 1st, 2nd and 3rd as a way for trying to make amends for eating too much over Christmas and running too little. I then saw a post about RED January and thought, let's give that a go, let's see how far I can get before I give up.

As my first three runs had all been 5k each, I also decided to try to stick to 5km for every run, which I managed. I decided to completely ignore pace and just run every run at whatever pace felt right for that day, as a result my 5k times ranged between 29 mins and 40 mins, with most around the 31/32 min mark. I think this approach really helped me to stay injury free, plus lots of pre and post run stretches.

I have to say a massive thank you to nowster who's posts on RED have been great. A couple of days when I really didn't feel like running, I spotted that nowster had already run and that gave me the push I needed to get out there. So thanks and well done to nowster who I am sure has completed run 31 by now. (Well done to anyone else who has done RED, if I have missed your posts).

From now on, I am going to take it easy, I plan to drop back down to my normal 3 or 4 runs a week and I am going to start to build up my distance again. Whilst running 5k every day has been great, the downside is I think I have programmed my body to expect to stop at 5k, so might take a little bit of time to build up the distance again. Then I will have to think what the next challenge is going to be !

[nowster Graduate10]

Well done! Yes, I have completed the month. I hadn't realised you were doing it too!

So that's 31 times 5km from you (ie. 155km)?

Like you I wasn't sure whether I was going to do it at the start. After the first week or so I realised it was possible. By the second week it had become a habit.

I'd suggest doing some very different run durations and paces to re-train your legs. And some rest days, of course.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

Yes, I kept quiet on posting I was doing it until I knew how far I would get. Not sure how you found it, but the first few days were OK, I then felt tired around days 8/9 then it got better again. By the second week in, it just felt like part of my daily routine, but a couple of hard days when I had been sat at my desk all day.

Maybe you approach of mixing up the run lengths was a better one?

Will definitely be doing some shorter runs now, before focusing on distance again and as you say taking plenty of rest days.

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Congratulations 🎈🎉🎊 on getting through RED January 👏👏

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Many thanks, much appreciated.

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

TED January? Do we get a talk about it too? 🤣

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to nowster]

Whoops

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Congratulations to you Ant50 on completing RED January by running a 5K every day, you and nowster both deserve a medal, well done.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Many thanks for that. Maybe there's an idea for a new REDJan virtual badge !

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to Ant50]

You could ask the administrators about that.

[Instructor57 Graduate10]

Congratulations, well done 👍👏👏👏

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to Instructor57]

Many thanks. Will remember this achievement for a while !

[Sandraj39 Graduate10]

Well done on completing your RED challenge!👏 I am full of admiration for both you and nowster ! Would love to try something like this at one point but am worried I would end up injured!🤣 Enjoy your return to 3 or 4 runs a week!🙂

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to Sandraj39]

Yes, I must admit I was concerned about injury, but I had been running quite a bit in December so I felt strong enough to do it, but I also told myself that at the first sign of any injury I would stop. Luckily there were none, but definitely had stiff legs a few times afterwards.

[buzzards Graduate10]

Congratulations on completing RED January!👏👏🎈👍 Ignoring pace and focusing on distance must have taken the pressure off.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to buzzards]

Thanks. To be honest, I think not worrying about pace is what made it possible, I just told myself 5k every day whether it took me 30 mins or an hour. I also became very good at stopping my runs at precisely 5k !

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10]

Well done!

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

Thanks.

[H4CS Graduate10]

Fantastic achievement, you must have some grit and determination to go out everyday and do that distance, very inspiring 🎉

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to H4CS]

Not sure I would quite describe it like that 😂 but there does come a point where you think “I’ve got this far so I’m not giving up now”. I was also thinking it would be much better if it was RED June as opposed to January - not the best month for running !

[H4CS Graduate10 in reply to Ant50]

I like winter running as keeps you cool 😅 hope you are relaxing today after all that hard work!

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to H4CS]

Sometimes too cool ! Yes definitely relaxing today and probably the rest of this week 😂

[Hareshaw-Granny Graduate10]

Great achievement Ant50, really well done, congratulations. You are an inspiration.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to Hareshaw-Granny]

Thanks. Not sure I have been called an inspiration before !

[Cmoi Graduate10]

Well done Ant50 !

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to Cmoi]

Thanks !

[Freecloud Graduate10]

Huge congratulations Ant50 that's some achievement. It's kind of scary to know that there are 2 crazy people my age here now with yourself and nowster lol. I think it should be renamed MAD JAN 😜.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to Freecloud]

I like it, yes MAD Jan is a much better name for it. Remind me not to consider repeating it next January, or any other time of year for that matter !

[damienair Administrator]

Very well done on your RED January. I’m going to plan a RED February.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to damienair]

A great idea on two counts, hopefully the weather is a little better and its three days shorter 😀 seriously good luck with it. Will look out for your posts on progress.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Ant50]

Thank you. I’m going to do the same as you. A comfortable pace. I’m currently running 5K in around 32 mins and I want to get below 28 mins during the Summer. So I’m going to use this to build a good base level of fitness.

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to damienair]

I suspect that just by running a relaxed 5k each day your time will improve. I noticed that towards the end of the month my 5k time was consistently quicker. Like you I normally run a 30-32 min 5k, but even without pushing my pace I found I was at about 29 mins, so guessing if I wanted I could have pushed this further. I guess the very regular running improves your pace without you really noticing. If all goes well I reckon you will be well on the way to 28 mins after the month.

[damienair Administrator in reply to Ant50]

Cheers. I need to lose the Covid stone too, so this will all help. I was comfortably running 5K in 27 minutes 2 years ago. The return is underway.

[GailXrunning]

Congratulations! Impressive achievement. (+That’s one big commitment you sort of accidentally tumbled into this January!!)

[Ant50 Graduate10 in reply to GailXrunning]

Thanks - remind me not to accidentally fall into it next year. Although I must admit that not running today felt very, very strange. Words I thought I would never say !