Week Seven. Oh the aches !

[Redheadcat]

Hello,

I've been progressing through the programme quite well so far until this week! Last week I found the twenty minute runs not too difficult, but now doing the 25 minute runs this week my body seems to be objecting! It's not to bad during the run itself, but now I seem to ache very badly afterwards and need two days rest rather than just one. Is there some leap between 20 to 25 mins which causes this?

I'm a middle aged woman aged 54 and somewhat overweight so it's not surprising I ache really!

Have to say that the C25K is excellent and I'm really enjoying it so don't want to give up!

And I wont.

[davelinks Graduate]

Are you stretching your muscles? Make sure you are, and do it properly

[dagshar Graduate]

Not sure about a leap, but it was roughly at this stage that I used to be really achy especially the next day. Fortunately I was never in pain whilst running. It took weeks for this to disappear completely and doing regular stretches certainly helped. I seem to be going through an achy phase again, but witj slightly different muscles. We are asking a lot of our bodies (especially as we are not in our 20s anymore) so we shouldn't be too surprised. Enjoy the pain as a proof of you hard wotk, but clearly if it doesn't get better with time or starts hurting while you are running, then you should seek medical advice.

[Ugifer]

I would echo what has been said above - the ache is your muscles recovering from the damage that you do to them running. That sounds like a bad thing but actually it's just the opposite.

Both your muscles and your cardio' fitness improve by being stressed and then over-recovering. That means that every time you do an activity that's beyond your comfortable level, your body recovers past where it was before. It's a whole series of tiny steps back, followed by slightly larger steps forward.

So long as you are aching rather than hurting then you are only causing the microscopic stress damage that will provoke your muscles into recovering stronger. However, if you are still aching by the time of your next run it may mean that you need slightly longer breaks between runs (or better stretching, as suggested above).

If you start to feel that you are hurting rather than just aching then you need to take it easier and maybe rest for a while until you recover. So long as it's just aching then "embrace the ache"! It's doing you good!

[Redheadcat Graduate]

Yes I have been stretching before and after but I probably need to do more stretches and as you say, do them properly. Is there a stretch routine someone could recommend? Thankyou

[MarkyD Graduate]

Hiya RHC... here you go... post-run stretches:

nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/...

*** THESE ARE ***NOT*** OPTIONAL ***

[AncientMum Graduate in reply to MarkyD]

^^^ Do these and you'll be amazed at the difference

Also, take an extra rest day between runs if you need you. Good luck

[Tomas Graduate]

I'll just repeat what has already been said. Stretch, stretch and then stretch some more. It might not be as much fun as running, but it's actually quite pleasant once you get used to it.

[Redheadcat Graduate]

Great. I'll do the stretches recommended. Thanks to all.