Wow…we…are…in…May already!!! Where has the year gone so far??!!
What an exciting month this is going to be for our country…all change again….I love all the pomp and circumstance that comes with a right royal occasion…it makes me very proud….
And…obviously May the 4th can not go unnoticed!! Star Wars day….on Thursday I might run with a light saber or just put a Star Wars t-shirt on, just as a nod to the amazing Star Wars films…
My daughter turns 20 tomorrow so there’s lots of excitement in the house as there always is when there’s a birthday , even for the dog last week when he turned 10!!
I am going to be joining in the quest this month as I strive to make more time for myself & my running…getting those trainers out of the door with me in them and getting some mileage in…if you saw my post the other day it’s obvious that I get so much out of running so I need to remember that and get myself out there…we all have some wonderful places to run and the weather is cheering up now so we should all make the most of it…
I will be cheering you all on too & I’m looking forward to reading what you all have planned for this months quest 🙂
If you have recently graduated here is what the quest is all about…
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. You need, please, to be a C25K Graduate before joining the Quest. The reason for this is that pre-graduation your week is very much structured according to the C25K programme, and I wouldn't want the Quest to interfere with that.
Most popular goals are:
★ To run three times a week
★ To slowly increase distance
★ To train for a specific race
★ To add strength and flex 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 would like to...”
So come and join us…my quest is to get out of the door at least 3 times a week and add some strength workouts to my routines
Good luck everyone and May the 4th be with you 😉
MummyCav
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Mummycav
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Go go go Mummycav absolute scenes in your house!! Happy birthday to your daughter and a belated one to your dog. Keep out there. You might find it helpful to put 'running' in the middle of the page and write all the things around it that it gives you...fresh air, time alone, mental wellbeing, music, physical and mental health, nature, trails, challenge etc etc. Then rather than think of running as one thing, think of all the things it gives you and what you get out of it. This way you're more likely to go 😊😊😊😊😊😊
hi GTFC ..Thankyou…that’s such a good idea!! I’m def going to do this…you are like Mr motivator!!
Thank you for your birthday wishes..time just flies, doesn’t seem 2 mins since she was born!! And Monty just fit in with us straight away..he’s a lovely little fella x
How lovely to have you leading the quest Mummycav for me it's to continue to walk and run with my neighbour, and go for the odd longer walk at least once a week.
Thank you for asking for our May quests! Last month my quest gradually refined to focusing on locking in the slow and steady runs. I settled into 2 x 40 minutes and 1 x 20 minutes runs per week and getting to 40 minutes/just over 5k with plenty left in the tank. Pilates twice per week and one other workout once per week. One day off.
This month I want to change that up a bit and am undecided what to do. I'm considering two options and very open to advice! Baseline is to run 3x per week with the Pilates and workout continuing.
1. Keep 1 x 40 and 1 x 20 slow and steady, and start working through the speed runs in the Nike Running Club app for the third. Goal: run a 5k at pace at the end of May to see where I'm at.
2. Join the Magic Plan at week 3 by increasing one run slightly and reducing the other two, maintaining the slow and steady pace. Goal: 60 minutes by mid June over the remaining 6 weeks of the plan.
I think either are do'able, just can't decide which. Part of me would like to do a bit of both, i.e. some speed work on a shorter run while pushing the longer run a little longer each week, but I think I read somewhere one shouldn't push both pace and distance. Would welcome your thoughts on pros and cons all round.
I do need a plan and a goal, otherwise I'll lose discipline.
hi chrisl72 sounds like you’re on a mission of improvement here!! I love the sound of it all but yes, I would work on one of the other…if it were me, I would probably go for distance first..the longer you can run for means more mileage obvs, then once I was happy with the time I was actually running I would work on my pace…In my humble opinion if you worked on increasing both together you might burn out because you’re going too fast…you know what you’re capable of..whatever you decide you just need to remember to enjoy yourself, because you can 🙂
I did a bit of both. I used the shorter run to go a little quicker pace. If I was doing it again, I’d consider using some of the speed runs on the Nike Run Club app. I wonder if you’ve got a bit mixed up-the “don’t work on speed and distance at the same time” means it’s best not to try and increase both distance and speed in the same run. Keep your long runs comfortable. Keep your faster runs shorter. They’ll both challenge your body but in different ways.
If you’re building to 10k, hit the distance first at a comfortable pace before working on getting faster at it. It doesn’t mean you can’t include speed runs as part of your training. It’s really common for run plans to build your distance to include a bit of speed work. The Nike Run Club 10k plan in the pinned posts definitely does, and the Magic plan post has information about including intervals if you want to. Most of your runs will still be run at the slower pace. Elite athletes will still run 80% of their runs comfortably so you’d be in good company!
See what works for you though-as Mummycav pointed out, you might find you get tired and prefer keeping all your runs at the conversational pace as your distance increases. I wasn’t really ready for taking faster runs seriously until I’d hit 10k and started half marathon training but I did enjoy playing a little with fast and letting it fly on those short runs! It’s a great feeling!
Thank you both so much - that is really helpful both Mummycav and MissUnderstanding .
I have checked out the Magic Plan post - I had the printable plan on my desk for some time but overlooked that it also talks about exploring pace in one of the shorter runs!
Funny that you should mention the NRC plans, I had been exploring the 10k and half-marathon ones (only the latter in the app sadly) and noticed they mix it up a bit between speed and distance, but had been wondering if that was meant for more experienced runners - particularly because they provide 5 runs per week.
I didn’t realise there was a post here on the NRC 10k plan - fantastic to have links direct to the guided runs, it wasn't at all clear how to find them in the app. I saw your reply there, MissUnderstanding which answered a further question: the NRC plan 'week' can be extended to cover the 5 runs over 10 days or so, which will help guard against overdoing it.
I kept my options open in yesterday's run by keeping it to 15 minutes at an easy pace so it was consistent with the Magic Plan short run if I wanted to follow that.
Last month my Quest gradually firmed up over the first couple of weeks - I will experiment a little this week and next, by trying the NRC guided intervals First Speed Run and see how it goes. I've been working so hard at locking in the easy pace it will be nice to take the brakes off a little! I'll then try the 44 minute run at an easy pace either over the weekend or sometime next week.
I will definitely not try to run faster on a longer run though
Hi Mummycavc and fellow questersI had a bit of a wobble in March, although I did manage to keep running (just only 3 / 4k) all S&F stopped. I could really tell that I was finding it harder, so April in I built up my distance again and tried to do a bit of S&F.
For my May Quest I want to run two 10ks during the month, one being the HU Virtual 10k on the 14th. Plus get back into the S&F habitat with two physio exercises sessions a week and to slowly work through YWA Move playlist from 2022. I really enjoyed it the first time so as long as I do 2 sessions a week I'll be happy 😊
I've had a major wobble this last few months, and running has been really low on my list of priorities. I'm getting back now and this month's very modest quest is to run at least 25k this month.
I know the feeling Archerygoddess …since I started working my running has fallen off a cliff!! I am trying my best to get out there, the weather is perfect for me and running at the moment so that’ll help…we can do this ..let’s get out there as much as possible!!
Thanks for hosting and loving your quest for yourself…think we all need to make a bit more time to enjoy those runs! Hope the birthday celebrations were fun 🎉
My quest for this month is a bit topsy-turvy compared with usual, in that my number one goal is to complete two good strength workouts at the gym and increase the mass I’m holding on my squats by 20kg over the month. That’s the target I’ve been set by my physio! As well as that, I’m aiming to do a couple of Pilates classes and a swim, plus my daily set exercises and stretches at home. I’d prefer to be focussing on runs, but this is what I need to do right now so I can run the way I want to in the future. I can already see progress in my knee pain, although I think it’s going to be a bumpy ride with ups and downs. Just enjoying the runs and seeing where they go is the aim there. Maybe the distance will build? Maybe it won’t but if I can run without pain, that will be a win!
So…
2x gym workouts with progress in squat weights
2x Pilates classes, 1x swim and daily home exercises
Run for joy with gentle build in distance if knee allows!
I am sure you’ll get there, building up with your squats will give you that strength you need…listening to your body and doing just what’s right for you is the key & it sounds like you’re doing just that x
Hi Mummycav and thanks for hosting this merry month of May! 🌞🌱🪺🌸🦔🐞🐝
My son was born in 1977 and grew up with Star Wars…so it was highly appropriate that his first born came into the world on Star Wars Day! May is a little birthday heavy for me…3 grandsons and Mr. L all have birthdays this month!
Quest wise…keep running 2-3 times a week…fitting in walks in between the runs and be more consistent with my home workouts. 🙂
oh wow…that’s a fab day to be born!!! Although, it’s added to the list of birthdays for you!!! June is the busy birthday month for me…my daughter had a lovely birthday yesterday, I cannot believe she is 20 though!!!
Your quest sounds perfect…nice and simple…just like mine x
Happy belated Birthday to your daughter - hope she had a fabulous day 🎂🎉🥳.
Well my quest is not to have a particular plan and to be kind and patient. I'm 1 week clear of Covid, had a terrible time of it and so glad to be out of the other side. Sadly I am not going to be able to do the HU10KM but aiming to be back to 10KM in a few months all being well.
So given the glorious ☀️ in Sunny Sussex, I thought I would go for my first run in nearly 3 weeks with no pressure and plenty of options to bail out if necessary. Anyway I am pleased that I managed a very respectable 4KM with no stopping. Heart rate was very high but have put that down to the virus as it was a very conversational run (yes chatting merrily to myself along the country lanes like a mad woman 😆).
I am only aiming for 2 runs a week, both short (5KM and under) until I feel confident that I've finally kicked the virus out of touch. I will be doing a lot more strength work though and some chilled out stretching/Pilates/Yoga.
brilliant! No pressure runs are the best are t they???
Sorry to hear you’ve had Covid, it really takes it out of you so better make a gradual comeback. Pilates and yoga will definitely help build yourself up x
Some simple goals this month: keep going and avoid injury.
I seem to have picked up a bruise/blister on my left little toe after Friday's Half Marathon to the chippy.
And tomorrow (May the Fourth) I'll be in a polling station from 6.20am to after 10pm, so no running.
I intend to take part in the HUHM on the 14th. I won't be able to start at 9.30am as I have to be somewhere at 11am, but I plan to do it some time that day.
Fabulous nowster !!! Doesn’t matter what time you start I’m sure you’ll nail it…and a little blister in your toe won’t be holding you back for long!! woo hoo!
Thanks Mummycav for hosting this month's quest. Hope you're all well and that you had fun at your daughter's birthday celebration! I've taken time out from the quests since November due to an achilles tendinopathy and have been building up again gradually. Today I managed to run 5k pain free so I think I'm on the mend but will need to wait and see how the tendon feels tomorrow. If all is well then my quests for the remainder of this month will be:
I finally remembered that I still needed to put my quest down 🤣. It's outlined a bit already in the last April Quest post, though it's now more concrete! (From April: healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... )
Running: I am building up for a 10K on Sunday. After that I'll do at least one recovery week, tapering down on distance. Then building back up to consolidation runs and, probably in early June, join a program for a faster 10K (one in German for a change 😉 - gogirlrun.de/10-kilometer-c... )
Strength & Flex: Because I somehow ended up with too many unused classes that I need to book before the end of June, I'll be trekking to the studio 4x week (Reformer, Wunda Chair, Tower, and Mat classes). Thanks to Cowladyrunning , I also have some Pilates videos for runners to choose from via pilatesforrunners.co.uk/ . I'll do that on at least one of the non-studio days.
And I'll continue walking about 11 km / day... I haven't decided yet on whether I want to switch to some biking...
(Edit: I decided to add a recovery week before consolidating...)
Ah, it is actually not that much... It's pretty much a continuation of what I am already doing 😎 although tbh I am a bit leery about all that Pilates 🤣
A big YES from me, running three times a week and slowly increasing distance and speed, I have a 5K run next week for charity, so that will keep me on my toes this week training for it!
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