Week 8 runs

[nice_42]

Hi guy's

Any help would be great

Just having a nightmare with the runs so far 😯😯

Just not able to run for the whole 28 mins

Without stopping in between

So annoying at the minute but keep going

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 😢😢

[davelinks Graduate]

Your last sentence says it, keep going. You have no physical pain? so try and push through, disregard the mental gremlins saying you can't go on, when you can..are you going too fast? when you get those feelings back off and slow up slightly...

[AdamB Graduate]

You've managed 25 minutes at week 7 three times. It's only a measly 3 minutes more. Try slowing down (I know, we always say that). Do your week 7 run. At the end of 25 minutes just try for one minute more. Once you've got to 26 minutes try for that second minute extra. At 27 minutes, why waste all the effort? You know you can do that last minute. One little extra effort and you'll have cracked that week 8 run

But do it SLOWLY...

[MarkyD Graduate]

I break it down into tiny goals.

(1) When I feel that I need to stop and walk... I do a quick evaluation/inventory of my body whilst continuing to run. Are my legs so tired I have to stop? Is my breathing OK? Does my chest hurt? I find that there is nothing specific making me want to walk. I call this The Evaluation.

(2) Next, I pick a landmark about 50 metres in front of me - a driveway, lamppost, shadow, drain cover - it can be anything that I can see - and run to that. I agree with myself that if(!) I reach the landmark, I'll re-evaluate at that point. I call this The Landmark.

(3) Once you reach the landmark, I do a quick evaluation, and then pick another landmark 50 metres ahead, and run to that. Often I do not need to do another evaluation, I just pick the next landmark.

(4) Repeat (3) until Laura says 'That's it. You've finished'.

A variation on this approach is to count steps instead of picking landmarks. So you may agree with yourself to run for another 60 steps before the evaluation. And either approach (steps/landmark) can vary the distance. So if I'm really tired I pick a landmark in 20 metres, not 50. I try and use lampposts because they tend to be evenly spaced and I don't get any say in the distance between landmarks.

Warning

If your evaluation says 'I can see blood', or 'I have a persistent, sharp pain in my ankle/shin/knee/hip' or 'I am dizzy and might black out' etc then revert to walking.

[dagshar Graduate in reply to MarkyD]

I will use this on my next long run....

[AncientMum Graduate in reply to MarkyD]

Excellent strategy Marky, this is definitely going to become part of my running toolkit. Cheers m'dear.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

This looks like the old geezers acting as agony uncles (sorry guys ^^^^up there).

They are all right. The long runs at the end of C25k are the real test. I remember finding them a real slog, and only stubborn determination will get you through. Your body can do this, but you are telling yourself that you can't. Only you can give yourself permission to run on and only you make yourself stop. So it is clear what you have to do. It is ninety percent in your head.

I still occasionally get the overwhelming urge to stop in the middle of a long run, but by using strategies such as those described by MarkyD, I manage to push on through, very often arriving at a place where the running is effortless simply because I have distracted myself.

Slow down if needs be, but push on and in time you will look back and wonder what the problem was.

[MarkyD Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

47, but feel like an old geezer most of the time

[Rignold in reply to MarkyD]

LOL. 47 is not Old Geezer territory then?

[Hidden]

From an Aged Agony Aunt - also agree, slow it down just a bit. There does become a point where you pound away and feel you can go on and on - honest.

Distraction is also good, if not landmarks, a bit of feel good music. I use Rock My Run from time to time. They have mixes for all paces. You don't have to like all the tunes, they come and go quickly and before you know it another track another couple of minutes.

[ancientrunner Graduate]

Lot of good advice there, I try do something similar to MarkyD and you do get beyond it. I also find that if I do stop within about 5-10 secs I am really annoyed and wish I hadn't. Good Luck

[MarkyD Graduate]

I've just seen the tags for your post. Now I understand why you need to stop running

[nice_42]

Why

[MarkyD Graduate in reply to nice_42]

"The runs"

That would stop anyone from running!

[Rignold]

A lot of good advice here, as per usual. Almost all of which I would discard except for the two words: SLOW DOWN.

As AdamB points out, we do always say that, but only because everyone is always trying to go too fast, or thinking they need to be doing 5k in 30mins, and more or less without fail, when they do slow down, they succeed.