Last week, I finished the Couch25k+ runs (Stepping Stones, Speed and Stamina), and they were great, but this morning, I knew I wanted to experience something different.
On Friday, I slipped on the last five steps of our house's stairs, ending up in a rather deep, awkward, but safe squat at the bottom. I had my phone in one hand and two empty mugs in the other. Both made it safely down the slidden steps, and I thought I had as well, as besides the shock, I felt okay.
But not much later, starting with an indoor rowing session, I realised I had some sharp pains in my ankles when compressing them at the catch. This is part of the rowing stroke, where you sit in a horizontal squat and start to push with your legs, compressing and putting pressure on the ankles in Dorsiflexion mode.
I thought I’d better stop and let my ankles recover a bit. So, on Saturday, I did only a little walk in high boots and wore a supportive compression sleeve on my ankles—this, although the weather looked immensely beckoning to any runner!
This morning I thought, I certainly can plan in my 15-20 minute walk, but let’s see if there is a short run from NRC Coach Bennett that I could use to try out how my ankles are. I’ve been missing Coach Bennett during the C25k journey.
So, looking forward to some runs (and yes, being tempted by the 10k plan), I came across a new (?) NRC Plan!!!
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RUN BEYOND PLAN
Description: Running isn't just about pace or distance. Sometimes it's so much more. Tap into this plan to take your runs to a new place.
4 weeks
12 runs with 3 runs per week
Both Distance- and Duration-based runs
It’s for all levels
Plan overview
Running isn't always about pace or distance; sometimes it can be about much more. Three Audio-Guided Runs per week will each help you explore running through a different lens, so you can run beyond yourself.
Experience level
This plan is built for all runners because it's all about you. Push where you want, pull back where you need. You're in control of your training, don't overthink it.
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And I was intrigued by the very short runs in each of the 4 weeks, the first being a 1-minute run!!!! ONE MINUTE!!!!
I had to try this, also because it would give me the chance to do a walk and try out how my ankle felt when giving a run a go.
So that’s what I did.
First, I took a 5-minute warm-up walk to the place where I had some railings to do my 4 minutes of dynamic calf stretching, slow-motion running man, and hip openers. Then, I took another 15-minute walk “on untrodden paths” as part of our Active10 #25day walking challenge (see healthunlocked.com/active10... ).
And then I did the 1-minute run.
AND IF YOU HAVEN’T LISTENED TO THIS RUN YET, GIVE IT A GO! COACH BENNETT IS HILARIOUS!!!!
He managed to get a lot, a huge a lot, said in that single minute, making it meaningful … I’ll not spoil it, as it’s too good.
Nevertheless, I followed this minute with another 10 minutes of joggling, as my ankle felt fine, and I wanted to try them out for a bit longer.
So there you have it! I started a new 4-week NRC plan, and I think it will be a fabulous plan for any consolidation period after C25k, as the longest run is a 5k.
Anyone else want to try this new NRC RUN BEYOND PLAN?
‘A Whole Run’ NRC ☀️🏃♀️👍😊
