Week 4 Run 1. Slow and Steady.

[Horrorhiker]

I'm working nights at the moment, ( I work a crazy shift pattern) and this makes doing c25k, or indeed anything at all, a bit of a hassle. I felt rubbish at work last night, woke up with aches and pains and feeling really lethargic. Also, I was nervous about starting week 4 as I was aware that this is where the ante is up'd a bit.

After looking around this forum, and generally around the net, I was thinking that if I got in trouble, the key was to slow down, and this really did come into effect today.

I started the run, felt a little apprehensive but kept going. I consciously slowed a bit (only a little) from my usual pace right from the start, and low and behold, the run went well and I still had plenty left in the tank at the end.

I think most of my battle with c25k is getting over impatience.

Anyway, anyone moving onto week four and is worried, try not to be. Slow and steady definitely seems to win the race here.

[Anniemurph Graduate]

Yes, slow and steady will do it all the time! Good luck with your next runs, and let us know how it goes

[Horrorhiker Graduate]

Will do thanks.

[annasee Graduate]

I reinforce slow and steady - definitely the way to go for those of us new to this running business. I've managed to do 2 runs this week of 5.2k each, in 40 mins. I wasn't aiming for speed or distance particularly - just thought I'd see if I could do 40 mins as I'd done the 3 x week 9 30 min runs but wasn't at 5k. So by plodding on for a bit longer, I've now managed the 5k, without any huge effort, and feeling fine afterwards. Bit alarming to see how red i look when i get in the door afterwards, but apart from that, it's no big deal. Those are words I never thought i would write, 2 months ago

[susan22 Graduate in reply to annasee]

That sounds great. To me 5k in 40 mins is a good pace. I am much slower, but am happy just to be able to run for 30 mins.

[Horrorhiker Graduate in reply to annasee]

Nice one. It's great how this programme always has an inspirational surprise round the corner. Just when you can't think you could do any more, you find yourself running for longer and longer. And yeah, getting redder and redder. Ha ha.

[annasee Graduate]

I was too! It's honestly only happened in the last week, and even though I had a bit of a cold for about a week, and this week took 2 rest days before running today. So I haven't been breaking any records, nor was I trying to go faster, it was just curiosity to see if I could carry on for 40 mins. I think I must have finally found that mystical "rhythm" of which people speak. My feet just seem to get on with it for seconds at a time without me thinking about it. You may get there sooner than you think! Also, it's mostly very level where I run, so can't be equated with people who run round a hilly landscape for 5k. This is just suburban streets with the odd sloping bit. (Plotted my routes so I go down the steeper bits and up the shallow streets, I'm not some kind of a masochist ;-))

[Lippie in reply to annasee]

Hahaha...not just me then? I really hope that I am going to be on a downward slope when it get to do my next run bit!!!!