I completed Couch to 5K in August by following advice and the programme to the letter. The reason I was, and am still, so resolute about it was that I had previously torn both Achilles’ which had taken a year to rehabilitate including RICE, daily self-massage up and down each side of the tendons, and physio exercises including eccentric heel raises/drops and low-impact swimming, cross-training, gym… There’s nothing like a long spell on the Injury Couch to get your head in shape, so being on the IC is not all bad if it brings robust, long-term life lessons. This process was a while ago and specific to my injury needs so don’t take it as yours if you have a similar injury now, seek specific medical advice that works for you.
After C25K I chose to do some slow and steady consolidation and had enjoyed the nine week structure of C25K with three runs per week. I set myself nine weeks of consolidation runs, running thirty minutes three times each week, which, apart from a couple of weeks out with cold/Man Flu (aching joints and muscles, “Don’t run if it’s below the neck”) went well. I repeated just one run to get back into it after a two-week break, and found that although I had seemingly not lost fitness, my recovery from that repeat run was slower. I found the same slower recovery after the following couple of runs.
I was taken by surprise after what happened to be my final run, W9R3, of consolidation: Within about half an hour of finishing that run I felt I could easily repeat it immediately. I didn’t, because it was consolidation and there’s always “The 10% Rule” saying not to increase distance or duration by more than 10% per week, unless you fancy inviting injury. I hadn’t had that feeling before and haven’t had it since, yet!
Staying with much-needed structure, I opted for Ju-Ju’s Magic Plan (Duration). C25K then Consolidation had given me a ‘go-to’, standard, foundation run of thirty minutes. I had expected from my own history and from advice from Dendev75 that running less than my ‘standard’ thirty minutes would be difficult so had steeled myself for that. If I hadn’t been prompted by Dendev75 to watch out for that, it would have been much worse. It’s so important to trust the plan, otherwise I would have felt I was really backsliding by running for less than thirty minutes on each outing.
In common with around ninety percent of runners who complete C25K I wasn’t running 5K in thirty minutes and had parked that notion with little to no attention to 5K time. That continued through my consolidation runs. W2R3 of Ju-Ju’s Magic Plan at 39 minutes was naturally my first 5K+ run though I found it a bit of a stretch. It felt good to have finally run 5K.
It was just after that in W3R1 of fifteen minutes that I appreciated the value of a shorter run following a recent new longer run. They don’t have to be run in order of duration within the particular week but, personally, I have found it helpful to have the shorter run of a new week follow the longer run of the previous week.
I found W3R3 of Ju-Ju’s Magic Plan at 44 minutes a bit tough, and although I have in decades past run a couple of half marathons, started to see again that my running could open out into whatever duration or distance I want it to. Bear in mind that coming into C25K I had, through lengthy former injury, not even expected to be able to ever run again so that was BIG for me.
So, onto Week 4, and more later 😁.
Ju-Ju’s magic 10 wk one done
