Bad Run, Good Session or Unorganised Jeffing 😁

[OldManRunning]

Apologies for the selfies 😂 Well to start, today's run did show some evidence of my misjudgement the other day of running on consecutive days, achey thighs and calves and some stiffness in knees none of which appeared on my route through C25k; although I did have achillies tendon and ham string problems that prolonged the journey.

But that is not my point although it may reinforce the advice given here not to go out on consecutive days when in your early stages of running.

My wife and I are lucky enough to be enjoying the beauty of West Wales, we are staying in a studio apartment so other than the bathroom we can't escape each other. This morning I awoke to the query 'are you going for a run?' I intimated I wasn't sure yet but.. Within the next 30 minutes I had been asked twice more. Being an astute kind of guy I twigged Mrs OMR wanted some space so I obligingly said yes although I'd prefer to wait another day.

I found a run on the NRC app entitled 'Worst Advice Ever Run' with coach Bennett which was good and 30mins long.

With no real intentions other than to kill 30/40 mins and knowing it's a tad hilly after completing my warm up walk I passed through the kissing gate and started downhill to the next one, a distance of exactly 0.5k paced at 5.58, a little fast but it was downhill. Half way up the other side I lost the breathing pattern I had been trying to maintain and I disappointingly ground to a brisk walk. By now the gremlins had got in and the thought of aimlessly wandering around or sitting on the bench by the bay entered. Then my mind went to Jeffing, my early perception was 'it wasn't proper running' but I had read a lot by now and the thought occurred this could be a useful way of conquering these damn hills and legitimise my walking so I turned my session into a disorganised Jeffing session only walking on upward gradients. Some of the debunked advice by coach Bennett certainly helped putting my mind in the right place to think this through. The amount of time spent on each activity was a mish-mash and my average pace was 7/k. I really started to enjoy it now and didn't feel I'd failed because I walked. In fact I was enjoying it so much I could see it was possible to get a 7k and or 40 min run in (my furthest and/or longest). I ended up doing 7.5km and moved for 52.31mins. With elevation gain of 114m and cadence of 174spm. I'm guessing we are trying to achieve a lower spm but I don't understand it.

I managed the 0.5k uphill kissing gate section to finish without walking at all and ran straight passed 2 new acquaintances who were trying to talk to me so I could complete 7.5k 😂 I did go back and explain 😁

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable hour and Mrs OMR was de-stressed by the time I returned 🏃🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️😉

Moral 1 of story, don't dismiss ideas because of pre-conceived thoughts normally drawn from bad advice.

Moral 2, try and book holidays in flatter areas. As Mrs OMR told me "Remember you are 67 after all!" 😂

[Chinkoflight]

Much better at picking up a hint than I and I'd be delighted with those times btw, positively speedy. 😁 In the early days, the thought of stopping for a walk would have left me with the certain feeling I wouldn't be able to start running again. Now I know I can run 5k comfortably, probably daily even , jeffing and intervals are easy. ie stop starting. I now do some short runs of 20 mins as intervals of my own design. I use the small inclines for the effort now and then relax. I guess if I was on my first 10k, target for March, I wouldn't be able to stop start to get there. But it may all be in the mind.West Wales is lovely, spent a week at Stackpole Quay last year and loved it.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

Beautiful photos-that’s such a great place to walk and run. I’ve got many happy memories of spending all my childhood holidays in west Wales. I’m super envious of you being there, even with the challenges of the traditional Welsh hills! Sounds like you had a superb time out and about and well done for taking the hint-I bet Mrs OMR appreciated it.

I’ve done that “worst advice run” a couple of times and really enjoyed it too. Coach B is a wise old owl and has been the best thing for my running since c25k…so much positivity about keeping it steady, running at your own pace and finding success in as many ways as you can.

Enjoy the rest of your time away 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 ❤️

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Perfect, I love a good Jeff, that sounds a great run, once I did a bit of an experiment and ran 5k without any walking, then a few days later did the same run but jeffed one minute run one minute walk, both were almost exactly the same time but I felt less tired at the end of the jeffed run, my pace was more consistent too without the usual slowing down in the second half. Spm is steps per minute and depend on so many things like length of legs and stride, speed, pace etc.vi don't think it matters too much what it is, mine is often way higher than that b cause I'm short