Greetings and welcome, fellow runners. This is the May Quest.
Ne’er cast a clout ’til May be out.
@roseabi asked if I’d do this month’s quest.
A big thanks to @Instructor57 for hosting the April Quest.
Hopefully the month went well. Or maybe something unexpected happened.
Maybe you went above and beyond what you’d planned to do.
Whatever you plan to do in your running journey this month, please let us know in the replies to this post.
What is the Quest?
The aim of the Quest is to help you find a focus or goal that you would like to achieve by the end of the Quest period.
The Quest takes one calendar month. You can join at any point during that time.
Some popular goals are:
★ To run three times a week
★ To slowly increase distance
★ To train for a specific race
★ To add Stretch and Strength exercises to your weekly routine
This is a personal challenge, so it’s completely up to you! If you want to join, all you have to do is COMMENT BELOW with something like:
“I would like to join the Quest…” or, “Count me in! I want to…”
Every week I will put up a new post and we can all chat about how we are doing.
Last month for me was mainly about recovering from illness. I’d caught COVID-19 at the start of the month. Thankfully what I got was relatively mild and I bounced back to normality by the end of the month.
My intention this month is to keep up my usual routine of running most days with walks on rest days, and doing longer runs at the weekend if possible. I’ve an inking of doing the Metric Marathon (26.2km) soon, probably tomorrow. Hopefully without any mayday.
NEED SOME INSPIRATION?
⭐ Here’s Iannodatruffe’s post about what to do next after graduating Couch to 5K:
Hello! Great to see you hosting our quest! Looking forward to this month for many reasons. I adopted a formula for myself of 2/5/7, meaning at least 2 runs, 5 rows and 7 S&F sessions. But I do count my 15 min stretches and my James Dunne challenge into the seven sessions.
So my quests are:
Running: continue in my Zombie, Run C25k journey (complete by June)
S&F: Finnish the 30-day James Dunne challenge this month
Rowing: continue in the 10k plan (complete by June)
And an additional exciting one for this month: explore/try Nordic Walking a bit more for my walks and runs
Thank you for hosting this month's Quest.For me it's quite a simple Quest For May , and that is to carry on with a minimum 3 runs a week (maybe more if I have the option)
Building up my distance to beyond my previous 14k max of 10 months ago .
It was tough at first as I hadn't done anything like that before for many years (Actually it's still tough now) but certainly now noticing benefits in my running , some weeks are certainly tougher than others .
Thanks Instructor57 for keeping us accountable in April and to nowster for agreeing to do so this May.
My quest is to continue the graded return from my fall and ankle injury (at the end of Feb). The rehab has gone smoothly. I’m running 3-4 times pw and I’ve got my long run back up to 7k/ 50 mins. My aim is to rebuild to where I left off at c.17k and then HM (thinking of this as a 2-month quest). I’ve kept things easy in April, prioritising consistency, and took the opportunity to do the NRC mindful-themed ‘April Stack’ as a mini interim project (which I completed yesterday). I have tried the odd gentle stride just to gauge things, but this coming month I’d like to get some proper speed sessions back into my routine. We’ll see how that goes, and I can adjust accordingly. I’ll start with some short speed sessions and, as with the distances, rebuild gradually.
I’m continuing with some key physio exercises for the ankle rehab (and likely long term). A team of us are also just over half way through the 30-Day Challenge on Strength & Flex to improve our strength and mobility (with help of running coach James Dunne). We’ve been discovering more of our glutes and how to ‘fire’ them. Very effective. This week will be adding resistance-band training.😬
I can sympathise with the ankle rehab stuff after my own sprain. I was lucky in that I recovered from it relatively quickly (just over a month).
And this time last year I was also discovering my glutes. I probably still don't engage them enough! They definitely are complaining at the end of a much longer run.
Good luck with the speed sessions and rebuilding those distances.
Hi! I have my first HM tomorrow, so my plan for May is to start consolidating at this distance, so I can turn it out without having to follow a beginners plan. Long term is to be building up to the big one at Brighton this time ish next year. 3-4 runs a week, goal distance up to 20 miles.
Hi, thanks for the timely reminder to set a goal. My quest is to actually finish a Quest-no more broken promises to myself!!. Time for me to post on here and be accountable. 3 runs EVERY week with at least one over 10k. No more tough day at work excuses- I always feel better after the runs anyway ...need to get out of the door that's all 🏃♀️
Running has been more erratic at the start of this year. January and February even had a couple of weeks with only one run. Things have gradually improved and the last few weeks have seen me back to 3-4 runs per week- 1 to 2 very short, 1 about 6k depending on the Garmin plan which I am following and one 12 k. Today I had planned a 13k but have been decorating and decided maybe not , but now I am thinking... maybe yes.What better way to begin the Quest...thanks again! Looking forward to your metric marathon post!
The balance on one foot is where JD Starts us off (soon picks up though😁)
Hellow,
While I decided last month to do a walk of minimum 3K every day, I have now changed it to also fit in a bit of running. So my quest for this month is the below, but not limited to them. If really able, I can try to fit in 3 runs in a week. Let's see how it will go...
- do 5 walks of minimum 3K a week
- do 2 runs of minimum 3K a week
- listen to my body and not walk or run if too tired
Quest for May is to try and do 5K with continuous running. As it is only a month or so ago that I have been able to do 3K with continuous running and no walking, I am not promising anything. The recommendations here on this site are that having reached 3K continuous running, this should be consolidated for about a year without trying to increase the length so I will be careful.
Not a year for consolidation. That's the recommendation for not running two days in a row.
The recommendation for consolidation is only about four to six weeks, not a year. If you're doing 3km in 30 minutes, you're best increasing the time gradually, by up to three minutes per week. Only do that on one run per week and do shorter times on the other runs. Have a look at the Magic Plan for an example. healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
Actually it is indeed a year for consolidation that is recommended by this site after having completed the C25K which ends with a 30 minutes continuous run.
My quest for May is to run at least 13km a week. Whether it be over two or three runs. I also want to complete the James Dunne 30 day challenge (I’m currently on day 6).
I've been running intermittently and I have an event coming up! So my Quest is to get more consistent with running this month - 2 times a week at least. Inspired by CBDB , I am also going to start the James Dunne challenge to get some strength work in. I need to be running comfortably just under 9k by 29th May - preferably staying ahead of the sweeper so I need to work on increasing my pace.
Me 🙋♀️I'm in for the Quest. My actual Quest this month is to reach 10K, but I'm aiming to do that next week so assuming I achieve it there will then be a vacuum in motivating goals and the need for a new Quest. I want to work out where to go next - I am not sure whether I want to increase distance or not. Running 3 times a week is really hard to fit in, and other things are falling by the wayside. I'd like to be doing yoga every day. I also want to go paddle boarding at least twice a month. On the other hand it's been amazing increasing running distance, time and speed by following the Magic Plan, and has made me curious about what the onward possibilities might be.
As to what's next? That's really up to your own preference. You might want to stay at 10km (it's a great distance to run regularly) for a bit. You might want to inch on to longer distances. The next obvious milestone is 10 miles. Or you might like to try different types of runs (eg. trail runs).
I have two targets for the month - to survive my planned walking trip to the Lake District this coming weekend, and which has been a major incentive in me getting back to running 10k. The second is to run 3 times per week, covering at least 5k twice a week and at least 8k on the weekend run (ideally 6k and 10k)
The walking trip has two longish walks planned - the first (warm up) walk on Friday will be to walk to the top of Blencathra. The second (Saturday) is a long walk from Borrowdale to climb either Scafell Pike or Great Gable and Green Gable. Both these walks are around 18k in length. If I survive that, we might do a gentle Sunday morning stroll up Catbells. I've done two consecutive days hill walking before so I am hopeful that I will succeed. (Snowdon followed by Tryfan).
The outcome of this will determine my ability to complete the other runs, though I will be claiming the walks instead of a run for my second and third run this week (I ran this morning and probably won't be able to fit another run in before arriving in the Lake District early on Friday morning) and also my Monday run next week.
There will be two factors in when I can start running again - when the blisters heal (if I get any), and when the leg muscles recover enough to run again. A third factor that I'd rather not think too much about is if I aggravate my dodgy left knee. I'm not ready for another long break from running.
Tip for preventing blisters: socks. Wear thin socks inside your thick hiking socks. The inside sock layer sticks to your foot and protects it from any rubbing by the outer sock.
And if your quest this month is to survive walking the peaks and fells, it's still a valid Quest. It doesn't have to be all about running, you know. 😉
I've had colleagues who think nothing of running such hills. (Most of them have moved on to other jobs. Probably something about itchy feet.)
Hello nowster ! Thank you for hosting. Well, thankfully covid seems like more of a distant memory now (we had it at the same time didn’t we 😁) so this month I’m trying to up my distance a little bit, keep running three times a week, also aiming to get to the bloomin’ gym on rest days. Oh and try to keep stretching!
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