Need your help to continue running post graduation

[saelewis]

Hi-

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season!

I graduated a month ago and due to a combination of illness, vacation and out of town guests, I have fallen off the wagon. Although it took me forever to complete C25K, I always had a podcast and a new goal to focus on and knew just what to do.

Now that I have completed the program, both my direction and motivation seems to have evaporated. Not only have I not been running, but I haven't even done my nightly walks or other exercise that I normally do.

Please help me figure out what I should do and how I should go about running regularly with a clear plan, approach and goal.

Thanks!

[waletta Graduate]

Give yourself a goal now for the next week or so & tell us about it. I think that writing it down helps & we'll encourage you. Then in January Realfoodieclub is starting another quest. A lot of us newly graduated were feeling a little directionless & it has really helped. If you haven't seen this, type in search xmas quest & interim quest to see the sort of challenges that people have been setting themselves. I really think you'll enjoy getting back out there.

[AnnieW55]

Life does happen and running often suffers but I, myself didn't run for a couple of months in the summer due to the heat - I just can't run when it's hot and hats off to those who can.

To get back into it you could choose to run a couple, or more, sections from c25k (that's what I did) and build from there. You could download the graduate apps for speed, stamina etc, aim for a Park Run or another local to you race, or just something that will need training for. Join a club, or run with a friend so that you have a set day or time to run. Or just concentrate on doing your walks and build from there. At the end of the day you need to find what it was that got you out there and use that discipline again.

Good luck

[saelewis Graduate]

Thanks! After much trepidation, I just decided to do week 6 from the 5K101 series which consists of two 12 minute intervals with 3 minutes of walking in the middle. I felt so good that I rewound the podcast three minutes during each run so I ended up running 30 minutes total. Now it was quite slow but I am so pleased that I could still do it. I was playing head games with myself and almost felt like I was back to square 1.

So, waletta, my goal for this week is to run Saturday, Monday and Wednesday for 30 minutes, either doing it the way I did today or just running all the way through. I won't care about distance or speed, just getting myself out there and making it happen!

AnnieW55, that's a good question to pose: what got me out there today? I think it was mostly disgust with my laziness since I also took on a few other things in my life that I was putting off. Buy it's a great question that I definitely will grapple with.

[waletta Graduate in reply to saelewis]

Well done Saelewis. I'm sure you can do it. I think it's a good idea to not worry about the speed or distance. You'll soon be back into your stride now you've got back out there.

[newrunner27 in reply to waletta]

sorry, just realised my post might sound like I am arguing with waletta .... I'm not.... just getting out there is the main thing...

[waletta Graduate in reply to newrunner27]

Didn't take it any other way so no worry there. My aim is actually to get to 5K. Good luck with your aim.

[newrunner27 in reply to saelewis]

Having a target is often good too. I'm never quite sure why I stop a good habit - (eating sensibly is my most frequent example) but to get going again I definitely need something to aim for. At the moment I'm working towards actually doing 5k in 30 mins, not 38! Of course you may already have met that one......good luck.

[ju-ju- Graduate]

First... You sound a bit low to me and you have made the first step in asking for some support... As the others say give yourself small goals and then a treat after each one. Consider why you did the programme in the first place, and remember what you loved about it... You need to have a look at some 10k plans and get runners world mag for some inspiration and a new plan... Good luck!

[birdistheword Graduate]

Firstly don't beat yourself up over not running, I do that too much! Life gets in the way but now you can run, running will always be there to come back to!

I've found even 20minute runs in the week have helped me stay with it!

I have a mantra 'any run is better than no run'!

Perhaps make yourself a playlist for the next time you go out?

[liquoricet in reply to birdistheword]

I thoroughly recommend zombies run! It's a silly app with a storyline and I go on my runs wanting to hear west happens next. You could also enter a race (that's v motivating!)

[saelewis Graduate in reply to liquoricet]

Thanks! Do you use 5K training or Zombies Run 2?

[liquoricet in reply to saelewis]

I did the 5k training (instead of NHS c25k) and then the zombies run1, then 2. If you can keep running for 30 minutes you'll be fine with the main app. My 5ks are more like 45 mins but it doesn't matter, the episodes are either 30(ish) or 60(ish) minutes long

[saelewis Graduate]

Thanks to my public commitment in writing above and all of your great suggestions, I ran on Saturday although I was aching all over from my Thursday run. I kept putting it off until practically dusk, but I finally just got out there and ran. I am less sore today and am more optimistic about my run tomorrow. I will give the Zombies app a try!

[waletta Graduate in reply to saelewis]

Well done. I was wondering how you were getting on.