Week 5 Complete (with a few ups and downs)

[ShesLikeTheWind]

Well yesterday I completed W5R3 but not feeling as elated as I hoped.

In Week 4 I had my first "f-word" on Run 3. The route I have been running is fairly flat but I knew that as my distance increased I would be coming up to a steep hill, so I decided to switch to a slightly different route in the same park that would get me to the same point but over a more gradual incline. As luck would have it I hit the incline just as Laura announced there was just 60 seconds left of the first 5-min run and suddenly the gradual incline turned out to be a massive hill! I struggled valiantly on but had to admit defeat and slow to a walk before the 5 mins was up, though I completed the rest of the workout.

When I got home I realised I had actually run further than on the previous run, so had obviously been going faster which was probably my problem (in addition to the hill!). So I found myself a completely new route in a different flatter park and tried to tell myself to slow down.

Last Monday I repeated W4R3 (successfully!) and as I didn't want to get behind did the Week 5 runs on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. All went well until I woke up Sunday morning feeling hungry and totally lacking energy, which I put down to not having eaten much the day before. I had a larger than normal breakfast and waited an hour but still didn't feel much better, but set out for the run as I knew I would be too busy to fit it in the afternoon or evening.

I was kind of dreading the thought of running for 20 mins non-stop but started out ok. By ten minutes in I would have happily slowed to a walk. By 15 minutes in I could have easily thrown myself down on the nearest bench in a pathetic heap. But I kept going and made it to the end!

When I got home instead of the usual elation at having completed a challenging run I just felt exhausted and a couple of hours later I got the first symptoms of a cold. By evening the cold had fully developed and I'm now feeling pretty rotten

So now I'm not sure if pushing myself to do four runs last week was a mistake and left me vulnerable to a cold (I seemed to get a lot of colds during previous attempts to take up running years ago)? Or if W5R3 felt so tough because I was already getting ill?

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to take a break from running this week and need to repeat Week 5 which I'm not looking forward to!

[OK, lengthy moan now over! ]

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

I found doing 3 runs was enough to see me through the programme but no more. When I was silly (did 5K X 2 in week 7 - over confidence crept in) my legs told me off and I stuck to set days with lots of rest in between. Stopped cycling after week 5, felt C25K took 100% of my leg power!!! Julie

[misswobble Graduate in reply to JoolieB1]

Stop and consider the positives rather than dwelling on the negatives. Always go slowly, which will help you no end when things get tough. Hills are the spawn of Satan to C25kers, and you can avoid them completely til after Graduation if you wish. The sniffles is probably just coincidence

You're doing fine. Stop worrying! x

[dagshar Graduate]

A lot of people have colds right now, so the way you were feeling before that last run, might have been because you were already under the weather. I don't think the extra run would have made such a critical difference, so don't worry too much. However, generally it is a good idea to always have at least one rest day, mainly to let your muscles and joints recover and continue to adjust to what you are doing to them! Hope you feel better soon!

[Jeleybelly Graduate]

You did well to complete your 20 mins with the beginnings of a cold, sure the cold isn't a result of your running tho

Hope you feel better soon