Moving from the treadmill to the pavement during week 3. Quite the difference!

[Mike_Bravo]

Hi to all,

So, I've joined this site and begin writing my first blog on the eve of week 4. As the title suggests, I found quite a difference moving from an old treadmill we had lying around in the garage to the good ol' local park/ roads. I had figured if I ran and briskly walked when 'Laura' told me to, it wouldn't make much of a difference whether I was moving over still ground, or whether the ground was moving beneath me.

How wrong I was.

On the treadmill, running three minutes wasn't too challenging at all, but running the same distance around a local park proved much more challenging/ satisfying.

I made the move not out of choice, as I was somewhere without a treadmill this last Wednesday, but I'm glad I did so.

I do think that if I'd continued in the garage I would be faced with a bit more than I would anticipate if I then went on to do a short marathon in the real world.

I've just discovered that I'm running for 20 minutes the Friday after next, which seems a lot more than 3, and I can't wait to see what I'm like after that at 7 in the morning! At the moment I'm laughing at what I'm expected to do in 5 weeks, but hopefully that will fade with time.

I think it might be nice to have an option to put in how far along you are on the C25k when you join this site, and then perhaps have encouragement to post a blog weekly or something like that? I imagine that might also help people tempted to give up on the programme. Just an idea,

Bye for now, and kudos to everyone that's decided to kill spare time with fitness,

Mike

[LMS2110 Graduate]

I arrived at C25K with zippo in the way of fitness training for many, many years. I discovered very early on that once one is 'out there', possibly the greater challenge is the mind training! For that reason I decided NOT to look at the activities of weeks ahead and just to do each challenge as it arrived! That worked for me .... I think had I known of the physical expectations beforehand, I'd have wimped out or given up, believing myself incapable of amazing athletic feats! Round about week 5 or 6 I then saw a blog from somebody who listed all the details of weeks ahead ... And whilst scary, by that time my 'mind-over-matter' training and discipline paid off and I felt confident and capable of moving onwards successfully. I think that's why the programme is the length it is and why the incremental challenges work ... It has to cater for all sorts of different 'starters' and it needs to keep everything achievable for most without risking injuries for those arriving with no running background at all. Little by little a trust /faith in the programme is instilled in even the most reluctant and doubting of runners!

As for your venturing outside, well done! Yes the outside is harder than the dreadmill, but consider how much more thorough it is for training your whole body. Different surfaces, inclines and dips, uneven running inc potholes, varying weather and wind speeds, all vastly influence the way you'll run and ensure that different muscle groups get a complete work out as you go. Enjoy your outdoor running, I really hope you find it fulfilling in lots of different ways, especially if the summer weather hangs around for a little while.

All the very best of wishes for your marathon training, that's an amazing ambition, great!! Keep blogging to let us know how things are going, and good luck as you run out in the open towards your first C25K graduation target. Enjoy the weeks ahead.

Cheers, Linda

[Mike_Bravo Graduate in reply to LMS2110]

Hi Linda, thanks for commenting!

As I've said in my second blog, I have such a 'can do' attitude that realising I had a 30 minute run to do in week 5 wouldn't put me off at all, though in practice it might not be so after 5 mins.

I think it's very impressive that the C25k has worked for so many different people of different ages and capabilities. I don't consider myself to be unfit, despite my BMI claiming I'm overweight, but still didn't find week 1 at all unrewarding.

I still fancy running a marathon of some variety. If I can run for 5k + with relative ease in 5 weeks, it seems silly not to use that to achieve things like running for charity or just for personal targets.

It would be interesting to make a poll on how people celebrated graduating from the programme. For me it will be feeling able to move on to the programme aimed at graduates of the programme, but for others it might be a break from it all/ a drink/ night out/ take up of a different sport/ etc.

I hope you have had a nice weekend, thanks again for the comment.

Mike x