W6 R2.....Eeeuuw!

[Iwant2run]

Two of my weekly runs are done after I've taken my kids to school. I enjoy these, in the morning light, in the lovely park. The other I have to do after work on a Wednesday. The Wednesdays (always R2) have been ok so far, though tougher than the morning runs, but tonight I wasn't looking forward to it at all. Although I managed it, I felt quite deflated afterwards. It was too dark and spooky in the park, so I took a different route, and there were some unavoidable (though gentle) hills. Funnily enough, my i-pod showed a decent distance and respectable pace compared to my previous runs, so why do I not feel the usual sense of accomplishment?

[runsandknits Graduate]

I did the same run today and although I felt like I'd run at a better pace and covered more distance, I spent the rest of the day feeling quite grumpy and frumpy... Must have been something in the air today. Onward and upwards!

[Iwant2run Graduate in reply to runsandknits]

Well done runsandknits. Maybe today's run was a weird one - I must admit, it took me by surprise after Mondays 20 min run. Also, I did have a mentally and emotionally challenging day before my run, so that may have been a factor tonight. My legs and feet are hugely tired....

[RuthP Graduate]

I have been feeling the same with W6. Not sure why but I don't feel like I've accomplished too much and don't feel so energetic to go out and do it again!

[iloverunning Graduate]

I had a similar experience with both run 1 and 2 of week 6 - especially run 2 last night. My legs felt like lead and ached when I got home. I didn't enjoy it half as much as I've enjoyed the previous runs either and it took me all my concentration to keep on going. Like Ruth I didn't feel as though I had accomplised anything, unlike the tremendous sense of achievement felt after W5R3. I'm not looking forward to run 3 tomorrow night........

[runsandknits Graduate]

Keep going everyone - we've come so far! I think what frightens me most is actually doing it if that makes sense? I'm so used to failing at any fitness plan I come up with that I think part of me thought I'd be nice and comfy back on the couch by now, but sheer stubbornness won't let me do that this time!

[Iwant2run Graduate]

Hi folks, it's my rest day today, so maybe that's why I feel a bit better? Strangely, I am looking forward to tomorrow's run, and now that I've read here it's all longer runs from now on in, I do want to see if I can do them. Laura has prepared us so far, so why should we not succeed? I may eat my words tomorrow, but on the other hand, I may not. I think part of what running is teaching me is not to be so defeatist.

[L17-12W Graduate]

Hi, I have just completed week 7 r 2 and wanted to say that I found week 6 the most difficult of them all, as have others from the comments on the forum. Don't get despondent, you've all done amazingly well getting this far, as have I. I changed my route starting week 7 and it felt a little better and I now feel like a real runner!!! The mental block of using the same route for all my runs weeks 1-6 were places that I stopped and walked, I wanted to be back doing that again, but by changing the route its all new and the different surroundings also gave me other things to look at and took my mind off the pain! Keep going, keep looking on the forum for new ideas and set yourself a challenge to run a race, mine is the Great South 5K in October, its something to focus on. Good Luck folks

[hardworker]

I'm glad you said that about w6. I have just finished it for the second time as after I'd done it the first time I went on holiday so thought I'd better do it again before moving on to w7. Well, I found it really hard both times !! So I do hope w7 is better , and I shall take on board the idea of changing my route,thanks

[KTBinkles Graduate in reply to hardworker]

I'm sure you will. Like others I found week 6 killed: I should probably have taken Laura's advice and repeated week 5 as I had found the 20 minute final run pretty annihilating so the first attempt at W6 R3 I "failed": simply could not run further than 20 minutes, (but I was determined to make that so I didn't feel I'd gone backwards from week 5) I walked a little and then ran 3.5 mins more before finishing my cool down. I wasn't feeling great and am battling wind on the outward or homeward part of each run, a couple of days later I attempted it again and managed to do it. Today I ran W7 R3 at a Parkrun so my 4th 25 minute run in a row. Did the first 5 mins as my warm-up walk. After my 25 I walked 2.5 mins before finishing off the 5k running and came in almost bang on 35 mins. Much more protected from wind, but it's encouraged me that I might make the 28s for week 8.

[annasee Graduate]

Hi all, totally empathise with you agonising about whether you are going to make it. Have been doing that every single run (apart from maybe the first couple of weeks which i found ok). The prospect of longer runs really filled me with fear, and I was ready to fail and just stop every time i went out there. Even today, because I still had a slightly sore throat & felt a teeny bit feverish from the cold i had last week, I was saying to myself, "Should i be running? Should I stop now? Should I give up?" a lot of the time. Stupid, as I've actually done all the runs as required, without stopping on any of them. A couple of times repeated a run, and when I had the cold I took 2 rest days, but apart from that did as Laura says. Today I mapped out a route before I went, on google pedometer, so i knew roughly how far it would be (I'm on week 9, R3, but hadn't managed 5k) Then slogged my way round the slightly different route, used my own music and my watch to know when it was 30 mins. After 30 mins, thought I would carry on for a bit more as I could still breathe. (This is all very slow, you realise, I'm not Superwoman!). At 40 mins, thought i would stop as I didn't want to overdo anything. I'm conscious of my knees - they're not sore, but I don't want them to get sore either. The pedometer told me i had just run 5.2k. Take heart all you doubters! If i can do it, you certainly can. I had never succeeded at any fitness activity before. Look forward to hearing reports of you getting through the doubt threshold

[Iwant2run Graduate in reply to annasee]

Thank you so much for this. It really helps to hear how other people have got through the mental barrier.

[Lippie]

I have read a few posts like this...like to read ahead...and I wonder if it could be that everyone is psyching themselves up to do w5r3 that there is a kind of feeling of apathy following it? There does appear to be a post 5k slump, so could there be a post w5r3 slump too? Just a thought....I am only up to w4, did r1 this morning, so I appreciate I haven't experienced it, but there does seem to be a pattern. X