Week Six Run Two: Laura on strike and shouty ladies....

[Miles_Yonder]

Good morning, fellow C25Kers,

Greetings from the land of the hills. I trust you're all in good form and are enjoying your runs, or quite, rest days?

This morning saw me tackle the second run of week six. Logic would dictate that two lots of running for ten minutes interspersed with three of brisk walking would be easier than the straight twenty minutes of running which W5R3 contained, but no, if anything, today was tougher. It was a hill start but to be fair, I think it would have been a push no matter what I'd started with.

Anyway, the usual morning routine of getting up at 0359 and a rather organised, competent get-ready this morning. I was hugely impressed with myself. The usual rice cake/peanut butter (crunchy, always) breakfast (see attached photograph....) and figs breakfast, accompanied with sparkling water, a quick get changed and I'm out the door.

A nice cool morning today, but it's a bit too cool as myself and the fine Laura embark on our brisk warm-up walk. It is cool as well; I'm shivering a tiny bit but I know I'll soon warm up. Nice and quiet this morning so far, not much traffic about. Surely today will pass without incident? Well, you'd like to think so, but who knows?! Soon enough, Laura tells me it's time to start running, for the first of two the ten minute runs. Okay, Laura, you are the boss!

A couple of minutes in and I'm wondering if this is my day; it feels a bit of a struggle already; I think it's the hill. Onward I push and it's not really getting any easier. As ever, my phone cuts the sound to one headphone as and when it sees fit; as a treat when I graduate I AM getting a proper MP3 player as this carry on is preposterous! At around four minutes in, I go to waggle the headphone jack, which sometimes helps evenly distribute the sound and then..... nothing. Not a thing. ?! ??!! ? It seems Laura is on strike, for some inexplicable reason. She really is a l'il minx. Well, I can do sod all about it now; I've just got into my stride and I'm not stopping half way through or I won't get going again! Perhaps my phone REALLY dislikes Laura's musical choices?!

Luckily I use my stopwatch too to monitor how things are going so I decide to just press on and sort it during the recovery walk. So, on I go in silence, which feels really, really strange at first. I can hear..... everything. The birds, what little traffic there is, my footsteps, my laboured, dreadful breathing. I'm not entirely sure I like being able to hear everything! At least if someone comes up behind me wielding an oversized bratwurst or something, in a freak sausage attack, I'll hear them. Be just my luck that, as well. I'm settling into it now, thankfully. Those first few minutes weren't easy! A quick look at my watch shows it's 7m 35s, not long to go now and the hill has levelled out and will descend shooooooortly...... there we are, descending. Thank goodness. Nearly ten minutes now; hang on, Laura, I'm a -coming!

Ten minutes finally arrives and I reset the stopwatch for three minutes, for the recovery walk, extract the phone and see what the bloody hell has occurred. I hope it doesn't require a restart. It's paused. PAUSED! It seems my emphatic grabbing for the headphone jack (not a euphemism!) has somehow paused the thing. Right, no major emergency, I'll just get to the correct part of the recording; I'm sure Laura appreciated her impromptu rest. I scroll through trying to find the right part and when I find what I think it is, three minutes are very nearly up. Ah well, Laura will be telling me to run now and by the time I've put the phone away, I've been walking for three and a half minutes. I'll start running now; Laura will be telling me to do so shortly anyway.

About fifty bloody seconds later, Laura pipes up. Well, I got that wrong, didn't I; talk about poor timing! Anyway, I keep running, I can always stop after ten minutes if I want, going by my watch. The second bit of the run goes okay; I mean. it's not easy as such, but I'm enjoying it and feel like I'm settling into it now. I feel I'm doing well and a glance at the watch reveals that ten minutes is nearly up. Yay! At almost ten minutes, Laura informs me there's just a minute to go. Shall I stop now, or carry on for the fifty-odd seconds? Sod it, I'll keep going; this whole mess is my fault anyway, I think. So I do and almost eleven minutes later, it's now time to go back to walking briskly. Phew. That was hard work, but I got through it. I'm unsure how Friday's big run will go after today's performance, but Friday is, after all, another day.

On my warm-down walk back home now and two young ladies on the other side of the road look over. I look back and raise my water bottle in acknowledgement. One of them then pipes up: "GOOOOOOOO ONNNNNNNN BABS!" rather emphatically. I quite liked that. I'm still a bit breathless (and quite probably a bit beetrooty) to I give them a thumbs-up and a smile. I seem to be attracting hollering folk, lately.

Soon enough, I'm home and time for the recovery home-concocted chocolate milk, report in to you fine folk here, stretching and bath. I dunno where the time goes!

So, rest now ready for run three on Friday; a little apprehensive, but it WILL go better than this morning. It's bloody got to!

Good day to all and to all, a good day.

[runner56 Graduate]

Another eventful morning MY

I took a little sneaky extra rest day over the weekend as the alarm 'failed' to go off on the bank holiday so I am a day behind you niw. I suppose even alarm clocks deserve a day off but I have a sneaking suspicion that Mrs Runner56 had an input.

Run 2 tomorrow and after the struggle of run 1 I approach it with dread.

Good Luck on Friday.

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to runner56]

Nothing wrong with a bit more rest, Runner56! I hazard your alarm clock needed a bit of a rest too! Week six is a bit deceptive, isn't it?

Don't dread run two; it's not THAT bad, despite my malcontented ramblings. Think I just had an off morning. You'll be fine; very good luck for it! And thank you for your kind regards!

[karlotta Graduate]

I feel your pain where an absent Laura is concerned...

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to karlotta]

Yes, she really enjoys hiding from you doesn't she?! Have you managed to get that issue sorted yet?

[karlotta Graduate in reply to Miles_Yonder]

No she had her last chance last night and betrayed me again. It's Runkeeper all the way now...

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to karlotta]

If this carries on, I might need to take a look at Runkeeper. Laura simply must cease being so evasive!

[spoonierunning Graduate]

It's the music I tell you, the music. Your phone is simply protecting your oral receptors.

Well done on completing it despite the technical issues.

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to spoonierunning]

Thank you, Spoonie! yes, my phone recoils in disgust, I think, at what it has to play. I still don't mind some of it!

[Redskins03 Graduate]

Well done Miles for completing run 2 week 6 - it is all running from now on no walking inbetween!!!

The run this morning not too bad, a bit of rain but incident free. My legs seem to feel heavier after I start running again after a walking break, it will be interesting to see what happens Friday.

Only 10 more runs to graduation

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Redskins03]

Morning, Redskins! Well done to you too. Time is really getting on now, isn't it? W6R3 is just around the corner, already!

Well done, sir; glad to hear your run was incident free and went well. I wish I had a bit of rain though! Yes, I am looking forward to Friday in a way; I enjoyed last Friday's long run. I got the heavy legs too, though midway through the first run. Good luck for Friday: we can do this!

[Redskins03 Graduate in reply to Miles_Yonder]

Today was the first time I have had rain since starting the programme so I can't complain too much. It was a struggle with heavy jogging bottoms (not quite progressed to shorts) all the best for Friday

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Redskins03]

Thanks Redskins. I ditched the jogging bottoms for shorts last Friday, and bar a bit of shivering before I'm properly warmed-up, I'm glad I did. I'm getting excited about Friday already. Hope you have a really great run!

[Nellyharte Graduate]

Poor you not having Laura to guide you through but you finished and that's the main thing. I changed technology this morning for my w6r2 and instead if the podcast I used the app but it wouldn't connect to my music and as there is no Laura music on the app it was a very quiet run and I really missed the music (even Laura's choices). Like you I hope to graduate and treat myself to a nice new iPod touch......only 10 runs left!

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Nellyharte]

"So, what was the biggest challenge of C25K? The longer runs? Getting started initially? Convincing yourself you could do it?" No, it was ensuring that Laura worked as she should the whole time! It's surprising just how many folk are having technological struggles with Laura; sorry you did too. I hope your W6R2 went well other than that! I think I pre-empted the problems by double-checking the run timings and setting my stopwatch before each segment, something I'd recommend to everyone should similar occur, that way at least one has a better idea of where in the run they are and what to do next! Ten runs to go; good luck for Friday, Nelly!

[Treemouse Graduate]

Haha, good morning M_Y and gang,

I Decided to opt for large knickers this morning after getting totally fed up with the disappearing act of my usual underwear; I noticed that Mr. Treemouse was finding my new attire quite amusing, and I shall reprimand him severely for that later!

I too had technical problems and Laura and I fell out. I decided to use the fit4life NHS C25K podcast, as it lets you use your own music. Great, I thought, however it turns out that you cannot select a playlist off your phone, only tracks. This is not good, as I have all my mindfulness tracks on my phone, and meditation and running are not exactly compatible in my book! The next problem was that I wanted to try and guage my pace/distance, but Endomondo stopped working on me last time, making me look like I'd wimped out after 1.20 KM, so I thought I'd give runkeeper a shot and use that to track my run, whilst playing my 80s gay disco playlist. So I got everything set up during my 5 minute warm up, with Laura telling me dutifully that if I haven't completed all the previous runs, to go and do them. Quite smugly, I carried on walking to Sylvester's 'Do you wanna Funk?' and as I get to the park where I'm normally told to start running; no Laura. So I fumble for my phone, and it seems Laura and Runkeeper have had a row, and Laura has started sulking and shut down. In the interim, I walk round in circles and find another C25K app which will play with Runkeeper. (This warm up walk is about 10K by this time, and a woman walking her dog thinks that I am completely demented !) Eventually I set off without Laura's encouragement, but with Donna Summer's 'I feel love' remix blasting in my ears and making my feet feel a bit lighter.

All in all, not too bad a run despite the technical issues, oh, and the awful realisation that the crunchy noise I heard at the end of the second ten minutes was, in fact, a snail

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Treemouse]

Mousey! Ahhhh yes, your underwear issues; no matter what goes wrong on one of my runs, I should spare a thought for you and your underwear mishaps! Glad to hear that you opted for more suitable under-attire today though poor you; Mr Mousey should have more sympathy: it's a very serious problem for the skimpy-underweared runner!

LOL! Oh dear. and I thought ***I*** had it bad; your technological problems were far worse! It sounds comical but I really shouldn't laugh! It seems that it doesn't take much to upset Laura! Did you manage to keep time okay during all this carry-on?! Endomondo has been really reliable for me so far; I quite like it. Sorry you've had issues with it. It sounds easy, doesn't it: download podcast, go running. So easy it sounds, but if it's not vanishing Laura, it's underwear and if it's not that it's shouty folk! :/

Poor snail friend. They're tricky things to avoid when you have a vanished Laura to worry about! Glad to hear your run went well otherwise though.

[Becca66 Graduate]

I know exactly what MY means about being able to hear one's own breathing. There I was this morning, trotting along, and I took my headphones out so I could take my fleece off. I'd thought I was doing really well but clearly my lungs didn't agree - there was some gruesome gasping going on. Got that fleece off, got those headphones back in to deaden the nasty noises and carried on…

Note to self: the birdies only sound happy when you're walking. When you're running, you can't hear them past the gasps and wheezes. Stick with the headphones.

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Becca66]

It's astonishing, isn't it? I didn't like it at all whatsoever. I had no idea my breathing was like that; I was so relieved to get the podcast running again. Goodness alone knows what passers-by must think; I'm sure at least more than one has wondered whether or not to call for an ambulance!

[Miles_Yonder Graduate]

Thank you, Kitty! I thought I'd include a photograph this morning of the now famous peanut butter rice cake; felt only fitting I take a bite first and position the jar of crunchy behind!

The rice cakes are quite bitty, yes, so I refrained from over-patting and creating a rice cake shower! But thank you, it was a slog! Hopefully Friday will feel a bit easier. (!)

It's actually a new 'greeting' to me! They seemed friendly enough though; bit raucous for that time in a morning, but then, they probably thought being brightly clad and out running at such a time was odd.

I may bear that in mind next time I encounter any undesirable hollering folk, thank you! I don't get it really; I an age to get through the day without loudly 'encouraging' passing runners!

[Hidden]

Really well done getting this run under your belt. It's a pain when Laura cuts out and you have to run without guidance. I think a few people have reported problems at times with the app. I bought a cheap MP3 player right from the start and have always used the podcasts which I find reliable - except when I forget to charge it properly. All the problems with your phone no doubt made the run feel tougher than it might have been. I am sure you will find R3 a lot better as you will be able to get into your stride then. It seems to be the return to intervals that feels so tough. Good luck with your next run and best wishes.

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Fitmo. Yes, I think it could well be the intervals. I'll see how Friday goes. I use the podcasts too; I used the app once and didn't like it. My phone has seen better days and generally objects to a lot these days, so I don't think that helps. I do have an MP3 player somewhere but I really have no idea where I've put the thing! I hope your post-grad runs are going well.

[Hidden in reply to Miles_Yonder]

Thanks you. Post grad runs are not going so well - I tried the C25K+ podcasts (Stepping Stones, etc.) but they are much too fast for me and I find it difficult to keep to the beat - it doesn't suit my stride and this resulted in an (albeit minor) injury. Prior to that, and immediately after graduation, I did try taking walk breaks but find it hard to get going again. It's knocked the confidence a bit not having had a decent run recently. Intervals have become quite popular recently for new graduates but, as someone said a few weeks ago, they are not for everyone and I think this might just be borne out by the fact that week 6 is so tough. I don't know, just my viewpoint and personal experience. Good luck with the third run - I think you'll be fine once you get into stride. Best wishes.

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Sorry to hear that. I hope the injury has cleared up. I've seen a few people say the same about the Stepping Stones programme. What about B210K? I intend moving onto that once I graduate, but may have a week of runs myself first, with my own music, and maybe try to add two or three minutes onto each of the three runs on my post grad week. Parkruns too; have you done that yet? My apologies if you've mentioned it; tiredness has taken over!

[Hidden in reply to Miles_Yonder]

Thank you. The injury was very minor - back to normal in time for the next run that I did. I've downloaded the Samantha Murphy podcasts for B210K. I will just use it for the music, warm up, run and then warm down. I will probably use about half of it as I just want to stick to the 30 minutes (or less) for the moment. I'll see if that does any good. I've registered with my local Parkrun but have yet to go along there - no particular rush, again, just see how it goes. Using my own music would be nice (am great country and western fan) but I object to paying for downloads so need to find out if there is some way of transferring music from a CD onto an MP3 player - I've got loads of choice on CD (and on vinyl - very old fashioned me). Good luck with this morning's run - it will be done by the time you read this. Cheers.

[Hidden]

Are you sure it's not just your headphones that are faulty with a dodgy connection? Bit cheaper to sort that buying an mp3 player

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Hi Spiky Yes, sadly, it's definitely the phone and not a headphone issue. It's the same no matter what headphones I've got plugged in and I have tried a few. Thankfully the phone is up for renewal in a couple of months or so, so I'll hang on I think until then. I can put up with the haphazard sound for a little while longer!

[poppypug Graduate]

Well done Miles, another very entertaining post and a photo to boot ! Can I ask you, do you run near a town centre or something ? There just seems to be so many random people around so early in the morning , or are they still out from the night before ? You are doing great , you will be graduating before you know it ! All the best to you xx

[Miles_Yonder Graduate in reply to poppypug]

Hi Poppy Yes, I live nearish to town and one of my routes is near a student area with a couple of twenty-four hour convenience stores. Bank Holiday Monday was drunks, definitely and today.... well, I'm unsure of that. The two girls were coming out of one of the shops so either it was a late night or an early morning: one of the two. I like urban running; cities are always interesting. Countryside running looks so peaceful but the thought of running headlong into oncoming traffic really doesn't fill me with confidence! And thank you kindly, you as well, of course; can't believe how quickly the time is going! Good luck for your next run too! xx