New to the board, just finished week 4

[Larkspur]

I have been reading the posts for a week or so, and have been wondering "Who is Laura?"

I have just downloaded the podcasts and now it all makes sense!

I think that these will be really useful to me as I endeavour to tackle week 5. It's a daunting week isn't it? I don't have a smartphone or a music player, so I am going to borrow my husband's ipod on my running days.

However for now I am concentrating on the fact that I ran week 4 run 3 today, and the final 5 minute run felt strangely comfortable. I think that for the first time I found a really comfortable pace and stride, and it almost felt as if I was floating along for most of it. I did feel very tired for the final 30 seconds, but I felt exhilarated when I reached home. Generally I am not really sure how I should be running, how I should be breathing and how to hold my body.

Do you have any advice on technique and breathing, or any useful links I could read?

I have been following the programme just from a running schedule scribbled down on a piece of paper, so I think it's now time to harvest the internet for help!

Thanks!

Lark x

[Lotty41 Graduate]

Welcome aboard the forum. There is lots of info on here and people with a huge amount of experience in running (I for one am not, only been running for 8 weeks!) All I can ssy is listen to what Laura tells you. You have to find your own pace & speed, as for the breathing Laura says breath in on a count of 1-4 and breath out the same for me this did not work so I found out what we comfortable for me and breath deeply (helps with the stitch!). Good luck.

[gary_bart]

If you've managed to find the spot where you feel like you're just floating along, try and stay there. I don't think it's possible to do better than that. As for breathing, I've never managed to consciously control mine. I think it varies from person, and even from day to day. The only thing I do is allow myself to breathe noisily when that's what my body wants to do. Sometimes you can find yourself out there being polite ... to all the zero other people out there ... and what your body wants to do is breathe a bit more heavily than normal. Oh hang on, there is one other thing. On rest breaks or "running rest breaks" where you find you need to reduce your pace for just a bit, to get your breath back, it seems to help to carry on breathing like things are still tough. You get more oxygen by breathing more than you need to at that very moment. Apart from that, thinking about breathing tends to make me feel oxygen starved.

[smurf1303 Graduate]

Welcome, still pretty new myself, but I'd agree with gary-bart, just breathe in whatever way your body seems to want.

[Idolitorus Graduate]

Pace wise, go quite slowly.

The usual addage is you should be able to hold a conversation (if required - it's not compulsory!) but not be able to sing (definitely not compulsory!).

If you cannot converse, you are going to quickly, if you can sing an aria as you run then pick up the pace.

Find that middle line and take it nice and easy. A nice, gentle loping pace is fine.

This programme is designed to slowly increase your fitness level to a point that you can run for 30 minutes (possibly 5k but that usually comes later) non-stop. It is not a speed course. Once you are able to run for 30 minutes without collapsing in a heap you may want to increase pace or maybe increase the distance up to 5k if you have not already reached it but that is for the future.

Good luck.

[Larkspur]

Thank you for your replies. I ran week 5 run 1 today. I took it slowly and didn't worry about breathing. It felt great. I floated through the first 5 minutes and I got through the other two

I was overtaken by a lady running with her baby in a buggy, and for 10 seconds or so I felt really slow and debated in my mind whether I should pick up the pace. However I remembered what you said, and kept it steady and comfortable.

I think that over thinking has been my problem. When I relaxed completely today, I found my rhythm quite quickly. This was also my first run with Laura's podcast which undoubtedly helped.

I feel really optimistic about the next run!