Ran without Laura for the first time

[moonmar]

Today I decided to see if I could manage without Laura - and I don't think I can really.

Decided to run along the canal tow path, which was where I started running last June (40 years after the last time I had run at school!).

Downloaded Rock My Run on my iPhone and started the Nike app. I thought I had also started Laura without music but it seems I didn't. Rather than stop and fiddle with the phone, I guessed where my five minutes warm up finished.

The RMR track was good and was timed for 30 minutes. When it finished I caught my breath for about one minute and then started running again. When I got home the Nike app told me I had been moving for 46 minutes.

Upon reflection, I have decided:

- I need to know when to start running after the warm up.

- I need a change of music from the NHS collection - I enjoyed the RMR tracks.

- I also need Laura's encouragement to keep me going. Though I must admit the last kilometre seemed a lot easier than the first 3, after the breather.

- Comparing my first runs with the Nike app I am running for twice the distance, but not faster.

Just thought I would share.

[Photo taken last autumn, but this was where I was running today].

[rcp27 Graduate]

When I started C25k, I actually tried a couple of different podcasts, there seem to be a number of them around the place, with different approaches to how to offer motivation and different taste in music. For the first three weeks, I would do the first run with Laura and then try others for runs 2 and 3. Of the ones I tried, I liked Laura's the best, but as the running portions got longer, it became clear to me that no podcast can really give the right motivation tuned to suit my particular situation. As I don't have a 5 km long route that is entirely flat, the points where I want motivation are the uphill stretches, but Laura doesn't know that. Sometimes I get towards the end and really need a push to get over the line, and other times I'm feeing great and don't need the help.

Most of my runs are on the streets near where I live, and in the first few weeks, I got a good idea of how far 5 minutes brisk walk from my front door gets me, so that's how I time my warm up/cool down now. I sometimes go down to the path along the river, and that involves crossing a main road and other obstacles that are best tacked when not running, so by the time I get to the right place to start, I have already been walking for more than 5 minutes and provided I make brisk progress, I can just jump straight in.

The main problem I have had with the format of the C25k program is that I don't know in advance what distance I am going to cover in a particular run. I tried a few "out and back" based routes, but I didn't really take to that idea. Based on the streets around here, there is a shorter 3.5 km loop and a longer 5 km loop, and of course I can do them in either direction, and there are a few cut-offs or extra loopy bits that I can add in to suit a slightly different distance.

In the last few weeks (I am half way through week 8), I have gone a bit off-piste with the program. I have picked a route that, if I stop at the earliest point to give me a 5 minute walk home, I should complete the time required, but with the potential to continue for a bit longer if things are going well for me. This tends to mean only a bit longer than required on weekdays when work gets me down and a full 5k or a bit longer at weekends. Obviously this approach doesn't suit the podcast, so instead I went through my iTunes library and put together a playlist of all of the reasonably fast paced, uplifting songs that make me feel good, and I play that on random (in case you're interested, it's mostly Mika, the Barenaked Ladies and a bit of Weezer and Ben Folds, with a few odds and ends besides).

[GoogleMe Graduate]

Woss the problem with a bit of extra walk at the end?

[Nilzed]

set a timer on your phone toknow when to start your run. Though i am like rcp27, my run starts when i get to the path i run on, which is longer than 5 minutes feom my house, i have to pause Laura and make her wait for me. I usually do my warm down beforeclimbing back up to street level too, because right after the run, i am not immediately prepared for that climb!

[moonmar Graduate]

Thank you. Will give it a go tomorrow morning.

[Hidden]

I felt very lost when my MP3 player cut out and I had to finish a session without Laura. I prefer to run with her. I like the photo of where you run. It's lovely for those of us who have nice areas to run in and makes a real difference. Best wishes.

[Tattoojunkie30 Graduate]

Ah I have an answer to this....a very carefully timed ipod running list! Because right up until week 7 I ran with Laura but once I got to week 7 the music was so dreadful that I almost quit so I made my own playlist with itunes....first song to warm upto Aerosmith I don't wanna miss a thing....exactly 5 mins long then the rest of the songs I have are timed to exactly 30 mins.....and trust me kenny logins highway to the danger zone is a blessing when your trying to run up a hill!