Back home and back running

[LandRoverMad]

Well here I am at last after a long absence. It is nice to be back home and even nicer to be back running and back with the community.

First a big thank you to all those who have posted blogs about returning to running after a break and also to all those who replied to those posts. They have been a great help to me.

When I checked back I had not run for 5 weeks. It was just too hot in Spain and I definitely do not like early morning runs. Hence the break. Therefore I was wondering how to go about getting back on track.

So what I did was to stick with the week nine podcast but divide the half hour in to two 15 min runs with a 5 min walk in the middle. It seems to have worked for me. Now I will get back to the 30 min run for a week or two and then move on to 5K+ podcasts.

Maybe think about doing a Park Run sometime in the future. Will have to think hard about that one !!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

If you have a park run near you, then I would thoroughly recommend it. Don't make the newbie mistake of going off too hard or you may suffer for it. I did, but am looking forward to the next one.

[LandRoverMad Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks Iannoda for your response to my post. Apologies for the delay in replying work and travel have kept me rather busy. Thaks for the encouragement to do a Pk Run. I do have one doubt. I have only ever managed the 5k including the 5min warm up walk and cool down at the end. Although there have been a couple times when I completed my route without doing the cool down walk. Now if I do a park run should I look a plonker and start off walking, or should I find a distance 5min walk away from the start? Or maybe just set off at a very slow run? Be nice to know what you think on that one. Cheers.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor in reply to LandRoverMad]

If you look at the times that people are doing on your local park run page then you can gauge whether you will feel exposed. At the one I attended, the last runners took 50 mins to cover 5k and still had big smiles on their faces as they were cheered home. It is a very supportive, informal and friendly environment, not unlike this forum.

I would recommend a slow pace to start with, keeping loads in reserve, but if you have to walk it really doesn't matter, does it? Do your warm up before you start though.

If you are worried, then maybe get a couple of full 5ks under your belt first, although there are loads of people on here who do park runs from early in their C25k career, ie. before graduation, and have loved it.

Once done, you will be hooked , I am sure.