Maintaining your achievement: Just pondering... - Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K

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loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate
14 Replies

Just pondering really. My daughter (11) is very much like I was at school in regards to PE as she finds it hard. She starts secondary school in September and I know PE is going to be even worse for her :(. I remember with horror being made to run 800m and 1500m just like that and walking until the teacher saw me and picking my feet up a little. Now it blows my mind that I am running 5000m with relative ease on the road and at a decentish pace and I am 20 years older than I was then. If only c25k had existed in those days.

Anyway my husband has started the c25k and so has my daughter (she is enjoying it). Last night I went out with her and did week one. She is a lot faster than me so I ran the intervals a lot faster than I do normally but obviously it was mostly a walk. Is this a good thing to do? I enjoyed going out with her and she enjoyed it so all a bonus on that level but wondered if going back to interval walking and running was a good or bad thing to do at this point?

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loubee33 profile image
loubee33
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14 Replies

Interval training is a key component of ANY training plan and is great for overall fitness... and you have the added bonus of doing it with your daughter which is awesome! And - you're pushing harder on the runs anyway as you're well trained and she's faster! :)

It's meant to be fun remember? I can't think of a more perfect way of spending time with your daughter than out on a run in the open air...

You can still sneak in a 5K I'm sure... not too long and you'll be racing after her over 5000m anyway.. :)

If it's making you put in effort to run faster that can only be a good thing. I think it's great youre running with your daughter. My daughter was useless at PE at school but she has recently completed C25k and is running Parkruns in under 25 mins. It has really boosted her confidence and she has learnt that there's more to keeping fit and healthy than bullying PE teachers !!!

loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate

It was lovely. I was really proud of her as well cos she ran really well. I agree about PE at school it was soul destroyingly awful and for 20 years I have continued to be the gawky awkward unfit person. I started swimming regularly a year ago and moved to the C25k after I had my eyes lasered and I could not swim for four weeks. I did it as a stop gap but loved it straight away. I am sure that my 11 year old self would have responded the same way but instead I was labelled as slow and a bit rubbish and that was that really.

loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate

I did think how lovely it would be to go on a long run with her Aussiegtc

AncientMum profile image
AncientMumGraduate

Sounds perfect to me loubee. You get some serious speed training, your daughter gets fitter and healthier AND you get to spend time together. Win, Win, Win!! Have fun :)

notbad profile image
notbadGraduate

I agree with the others, at running group last night we ran 1km fast as we could 5x with recovery breaks in between. So I'd say go for it, mixing it up is good and it's great fun to have company to spur you on. Btw, PE is not taught as it was 20 years ago, chances are your daughter will have a happier healthier experience.

GoogleMe profile image
GoogleMeGraduate

I agree with notbad. Our children are not us, even when it superficially seems so. The downside of my sons' splendid secondary school seemed to be that it was a sports college (the last fad but three I think, I'm losing count) and they, like us, are very unsporty. However, the focus is on fitness for the majority, there's a greater variety of sports on offer and I was startled to find that my elder son actively enjoyed PE. My younger son has complex needs and got into some serious bother - so hey presto, school funds him to go to the leisure centre with an assistant and he does climbing or the gym. (Older ones get to go too) As the LEA officer said, more likely to keep those activities up in later life than trying to force him to continue with team sports. Both of them enjoyed doing the running fitness tests regularly.

Sadly neither of mine will run outside school (apart from free running aka showing off to girls) despite me murmuring about C25K and Zombies Run etc I think there is a reasonable chance that they have, like me, taken careful note of other family members' obsession and decided they don't want to go there. I very much plough my own furrow when it comes to running.

And we'd probably all benefit from keeping some interval training in our running schedule, so this is great.

[BTW at primary my younger son said his teacher was mean to him in PE. I was rather surprised at this and said what does she do? "She says 'It's time for PE' "]

loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate

I hope this is the case though her experience of primary PE has not been a brilliant example.

Binkibelle profile image
Binkibelle

I took up and enjoyed many physical activities after school, and wasn't made to feel like a failure. (Running 5Ks, weight training, gymnastics) I'm afraid my personal experience of PE at school was not great, I don't have any faith that it has changed.

You are showing her a great example and having fun x

loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate in reply toBinkibelle

My experience was pretty dire. Dd was made to play two back to back netball games and was the only one in her class made to do so. When she asked why she was told it was because she was not putting enough effort in. However she said how can she put effort into netball when no one throws her the ball......vicious circle in some ways. Well done for doing stuff afterwards.

kpisofficiallynuts profile image
kpisofficiallynutsGraduate

This is exactly what I was thinking of doing for my son who also starts secondary school and is also not PE minded. I thought going back to Wk1 which I could do at a faster pace than the first time round would actually benefit me in getting my running speed up, as well as help my son overcome his 'fear' of PE and PE teachers. I don't even mind if he runs slowly just want him to have the stamina to run for a PE lesson - I'm sure cross country will rear its ugly head - and who knows he may become a running convert like his mum ;-)

loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate in reply tokpisofficiallynuts

Cross country is done at my daughters new school and I said the same to her. It was a mixed bag tonight but she did it.

loubee33 profile image
loubee33Graduate

Well tonight we completed week 1. My route planning was a bit naff and we ended up doing 3k and then having 2k to walk home. My name was mud but I think she was quite proud when she got home.

in reply toloubee33

Awesome... think of the 2K walk home as "ensuring that you had sufficiently cooled down before resting"... :)

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