So, have been doing C25k over the past hmm, 10/11 weeks? with delays and sickness breaks and so on. Have progressed through, but the last few weeks have been a real struggle due to my problems with breathing. As detailed previously I found I could not breathe properly from the diaphragm after the first few minutes or so and my stomach would become really tense. No matter what I tried to counter this, nothing seemed to help and as I got up to the longer runs it was really not any fun at all. After about 15 minutes or so I would be really wheezing along and not enjoying myself at all, really.
Which was really beginning to bug me. I want running to be a pleasure, not a chore to be endured. I do quite a bit of other fitness activities and don't have similar problems there so it made no sense to me.
Several people suggested slowing down my pace, but I couldn't really get my head round that. I was running at what I felt to be a fairly gentle natural pace. Although I was covering the full 5k in week 8, so clearly it was not slow per se, but I couldn't figure out how to go slower.
Then I was out for a walk with my 4 yr old a couple of days ago and he wanted us to run. So I had to 'run' keeping pace with him. so I 'ran' along, doing fast leg movements but tiny steps. And had a Eureka moment!
I was running slowly!
Admittedly a little exaggeratedly so, but today when I went out I tried a modified version of the toddler run: reduced my stride length by about half and increased the frequency of my steps. I had no music to distract me.
It was a revelation.
I trotted along, past 10minutes, breathing deeply and slowly. Past 15 minutes, my tummy relaxed. Exchanged a few words with a passing couple around the 20 minute mark without any problem, and carried on.
As I came up to 30 minutes I had only covered 4.47km, so well short of my usual distance, but rather than panting like a knackered pitpony, I was still completely in control of my breathing so decidded to carry on to do the full 5k.
Next time I looked at my watch I had done 34 mins but gone over the 5k so thought what the hell and kept going.
I stopped at 40 minutes, having done 6.23km. I was breathing hard, for sure, and my left calf felt tight, but I still had a bit left in the tank and enough puff to burst out laughing in elation.
I can't believe it has taken me till the very last run to work out how I should have been doing it all along, but I am
absolutely over the moon.
I only started doing any kind of exercise in March, after having a minor stroke scare, and went out for W1R1 in early April, having not run more than a bath in the previous 30 years. On W1R1 I was literally on my hands and knees halfway through and was spectacularly sick during R2. Now I can run for 40 minutes.
In that time I have lost 8 kg and brought down my body fat by several percent - admittedly not all down to running, I have changed my diet substantially, quit drinking alcohol and do spinning and crossfit, but it is definitely C25k that has had the most impact on me personally, and given me a new confidence and sense of purpose. I only wish I had discovered it years ago.
Right. Now I have a date with a hot bath and a foam roller.
What to do on a 2nd rest day ???
W9R3 OMG I ACTUALLY MADE IT :-)
Whoa! The w5r3 Twenty-Minuter done!
Finally made it
Who’s afraid of the big bad W5R3?
