W6r3 done, and I should be chuffed!...

[mugsy273]

Well, here I am back from w6r3! I should be absolutely over the moon that I just managed to run for 25mins without stopping. And part of me really is...BUT there are a couple of things that are raining on my parade and making me feel a little deflated, and it's the first time I've felt deflated during the programme, as usually always come back from my run feeling positive and amazed!:

1) about 12mins in, I got this really sharp pain at the top right of my rib cage. I've had stitches before, but it felt too high up to be a stitch. Still tried the belly breathing Laura suggests for stitches anyway, but it wouldn't touch it. It was so painful, like I had been stabbed, and on quite a few occasions I though I was going to have to stop. I somehow managed to complete the 25mins but it was really unpleasant and painful, and actually got worse during the 5min warm down - has anyone ever experienced this before? I'm worried it's going to happen again, and that next time I may be forced to stop

2) I decided to time my run on The Mapmyrun app. It says that my average pace was 6:38mins per km over the 25mins. I have no idea if that's ok or not, and maths has never been my strong point, but what I do know is that this means that I'm not going to be able to complete 5k in 30mins at the pace I'm currently going at - which has come as a bit of a blow, as I thought my pace was quite good Argh! Do most people manage to complete 5k in 30mins by the end of week 9??

[Hidden]

Don't beat yourself up about not running 5k in 30 mins, I graduated 2 months ago and still only manage 5k in 32.30 mins! But I can do it, I couldn't before! And I can run just under 6miles, I'm not showing off, just saying that 5k in 30 is not mandatory!

As for your stitch, I'm no medic, but do listen to your body, if the pain is really bad you body is telling you something!! But don't stress out as you might find that your next run you don't get that pain. I found that at the beginning I had a really painful rib, I'm not sure what happened but it caught me when I breathed in sharply or turned etc. lasted a week, I survived... I love running (but not this damn dark evenings)

[flossieflyblow Graduate]

Sounds unpleasant, poor you. If it's gone away now and you feel ok I suppose have another go and see if you are ok next time. If not, maybe get the GP to have a quick listen to your chest and give you the 'once over'!

Please don't worry about the 5K thing. I've been looking at the forum for a few weeks now it would seem that loads of people don't get to 5K, me included. But the main thing is to be able to run for the 30 mins without stopping. It's certainly something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing a few months ago. I'm confident that the 5K+ will get me there!

[hop_along Graduate]

Hi Mugsy,

Answer 1

Yes, I have had a pain like this before. It affected me more in wks 1-2 to be honest. Whilst all my research on stitches said they were normally on the left mine was always on the right! Another thing that used to bug me was that sometimes it started during the beginning of the cooldown (not during the run)...

However, eventually after wk3 it faded away. I'm now at the end of week 7. Something that may have helped is that I did slow and controlled side stretches after runs in case it was muscular.

Answer 2

As stated above don't worry about pace at this stage. What we are all doing is laying a foundation for running becoming a lifestyle choice. There is plenty of time for new goals and challenges. However if we start to expect too much too soon we might feel like giving up which ultimately doesn't achieve anything except a journey back to the couch

Keep going and take care.

Hoppy

[mugsy273 Graduate]

Thanks guys, you've made me feel much better about the pacing issue! I guess my goal at the mo needs to be to be able to run for 30mins and graduate. After that, my next goal can be to improve my speed! Going to see how my next run goes and see if the chest pains re-appear, and if so, I'll go and get myself checked out!