My progress, pace, time, post-C25K...

[Joanee]

I am at the end of Week 8 and am now starting to look to post-graduation planning. I fear that I might fall off the wagon, so to speak, post-Laura, so I think I need to have a structured plan. So, graduates or near-graduates, how is this: Continue with alternate day runs (with occasional 2-day breaks), slowly building up the time until I am at 5 K, maybe doing some of the C25K+ podcasts, and maybe doing one longer run per week as I progress. Assuming I will progress! And add in some stretching and strength exercises or some form of cross-training. (I have not even been stretching, which I likely should be doing).

I run outside and have been keeping myself away from tracking time and distance until after I graduate. Yesterday (W8R2), however, I succumbed to temptation and turned on a tracking app on my phone. Ran the extra 2 minutes so I would have a baseline for time and distance for 30 minutes at this stage. Then discovered I had forgotten to turn on my phone's GPS. So, I think this is telling me that I should return to Plan A, which is to not get hung up on such things for another week or so.

I seem to have a nice slow and steady pace that works for me. I have been trying some slightly faster running bits in the last 5 minutes when I feel I've still got some energy, and can see that I can develop a faster, steady pace that will work for doing some interval-type training.

Anyway, overall i am pleased with my progress. I thought I would likely need to repeat some weeks, being old, but I found that the pace of progression is just right for me. I would not say that the running is easy, but I can do it, and I feel pretty good afterwards. I still have to slow way down on hills, but they are not such a challenge as they were initially. I don't seem to be prone to muscle aches, just general fatigue of the calves by the end.

A random observation - I think that Week 8 is possibly a low point for music - I am having fun making my own running playlists as a treat for post-graduation. No more electronic pop elevator music, weird semi-rap, and creepy songs about me and Julie.

I love this forum.

Joan

[Sandraj39 Graduate]

Sounds like a very sensible plan to me Joan and similar to the one I had when I graduated in October! I am now up to 8k on my longer run with plans to do my first 10k event in March! The only thing you might like to add to your list is running on different surfaces. As a lover of the muddy trail I find that my countryside runs have helped strengthen my legs which has really helped my 5k times when on concrete. As for the podcast music, I used the android app on my phone which has no music sound track. Instead you can link it to the music on your phone, but I am probably telling you this too late as you will soon be able to enjoy your own music which is fab! Since graduating I have used mostly the Runkeeper app. Good luck😀.

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

I can only share my running journey as a 52 year old who graduated 15 weeks ago. I found it good to commit to 3 runs a week (usually Mon, Wed, Fri). I think 30 minute runs are a good starting place, then I had a good run and carried on for 5k. I moved on to 3 X 5k. That was pretty challenging,miso I carried on with that for several weeks. I didn't deliberately try to speed up but I did find a slow increase which was good. On a good 5k day,mi just carried on to 5.5 k which showed me I could do more and then over the next few weeks, let it creep up on a good run - 6,7,8 then even 10 but couldn't actually believe I could do that.

Important thing is how are your legs on the run, how do your legs recover? If a run was a challenge, maybe have a slower run next time

[GoogleMe Graduate]

"Julie" is a character building experience, pleased you have shared it!

To add to all your ideas and also Sandraj39's excellent varied surface suggestion, I would suggest that a key thing to do is to sign up to RealFoodieClub's Quests here - you set your own goals on a six week cycle and report in weekly. Really useful for keeping the momentum going (and also over time teaches you a lot about appropriate goal setting)

For the stretching... well, I didn't add it in for ages and still wouldn't be seen dead stretching before or after a run, the walks bookending the runs are enough for me, but I do yoga every morning now, a practice I put together from Ekhart Yoga's free YouTube offerings (with an eye to what is most important for runners) There's also more Laura available in the NHS Strength and Flexibility podcast programme which is worth your consideration.

[KayFitz Graduate]

Hi Joanee! It's good to hear all your progress and plans for post-graduation. I am starting W8 this coming week (in fact on my birthday). I'm pleased to now be able to do the 25 min runs without feeling like throwing up. Hopefully 28 mins won't be too much of a shock. Today I upped my speed for the last two minutes. Will start W8 at a slow and steady pace! Looking forward to hearing your graduation news soon.

[Joanee Graduate]

Thanks Kay and GoogleMe. The Quests sound like a good idea. For some reason I also find it hard to get into stretching - I have never done yoga, but am going to start going to a parent/kid yoga weekly session with my daughter and her two small kids - we tried it before Christmas and it was really fun. I'll also have a look a the NHS strength and flexibility program and the Ekhart Yoga - these are great tips - thanks. I have done some long-distance walking trips and found that after days of walking all day my legs feel strong but less flexible - so I do know that working on flexibility is important.

I am starting Week 9 this week - though I did 30 minutes the last two sessions of Week 8. I can't say that it is easy, but I seem to get through it ok. I am thinking, however, of looking for a flatter bit of terrain than the roads around my house.