day 1 week 1

[supahotchick]

After much procrastination I finally did day 1, at the gym on the treadmill. For me the most difficult aspect has been motivating myself to get started.

The guidance is great, i took it very steady and if anything feel I could have gone harder and faster. I imagine the various levels of guidance through the weeks will get me upping my game. I suppose on reflection it's best to get started and finish without being totally wiped out and discouraged from attempting the next session.

Already I am thinking bluetooth headphones would be handy, any recommendations?

How do you stop yourself doing too little/too easy or on the flip side, overdoing it?

[Tomas Graduate]

If you follow the programme, do the three runs every week, take the four days rest every week, then you have stopped yourself doing too little and also stopped yourself doing too much. The programme works. Thousand and thousands of people have gone through it and come out after 9 weeks being competent runners who THEN could start to push themselves and focus on long distances and/or fast times.

Congratulations with having taken the all-important first step. That's often the hardest part. Now just stick to it for the next 9 weeks. You'll be amazed!

[Tomas Graduate in reply to Tomas]

P.S. Bluetooth headphones are against the rules. Did you not listen when Laura was explaining that? (or maybe it isn't until run 2 or 3 she mentions it... it's been a while).

Basically it's about getting used to the feeling of a rubber-coated string of copper getting stuck to your sweaty body. Without having gone through that (and listened to Julie... don't ask... you'll get to that as well) you can't get your graduation badge. And believe me, it is a wonderful badge.

[RuNananana Graduate in reply to Tomas]

I must have missed that - what does she say about Bluetooth headphones?

[Tomas Graduate in reply to RuNananana]

That they prevent the runner from the joy of the wire from a corded headphone sticking to your skin. And until you have experienced that you'll never become a REAL runner.

Sorry Nana. I'm being facetious. It's my warped sense of humour. Nothing wrong with them, and .Laura doesn't offer an opinion on them. Now Julie, that's a different matter....

[RuNananana Graduate in reply to Tomas]

Lol - now see - I would say - until you've experienced getting your hand caught and violently yanking the earbuds from your ears, and subsequently spent 5 minutes searching the ground for the rubber things - you're not a runner. Lol

[Tomas Graduate in reply to RuNananana]

Sounds good to me too lol

[Linda_pink Graduate in reply to Tomas]

Oh no, I don't run with headphones, does that mean I can't graduate???

[Tomas Graduate in reply to Linda_pink]

I think you might get away with just threading a wire through the left sleeve of your running top, behind your neck and out through the right sleeve. I've heard a rumour that they allowed that in a previous graduation test.

[RuNananana Graduate]

I just followed Laura's instruction. There will be a point where she says, "if you're feeling okay, you could try going a little faster...." You have to listen to your body. When I started, I was doing the treadmill, and if I felt any tension in my shins, I'd slow down a bit until it eased off - I managed to avoid any injury so far!! (knock wood!) Laura knows what she's talking about. You'll find a fair bit of Laura love around here.... lol

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

The advice on here is generally to run slow and then slow down. I ran the whole of the programme as fast as I could, once I realised that panting for breath was not sustainable and slowed down just enough to keep breathing steady. Probably the compromise is to run as slow as you need to.

Take your choice but do follow the plan and take your rest days.....they are crucial. keep us posted.

[Runon Graduate]

As far as bluetooth headphones go 'Jabees BSport' at around £29 from Amazon are sweat/rain proof and I've found to be very good 'in ear' phones. More recently I've gone for KitSound Manhattan Headphones (£25 from TescoDirect) These are smallish, lightweight bluetooth headphones (as opposed to EarPods) and are great to run in though I've no idea how waterproof they are (they seem to be sweat proof but I haven't tried them in the rain yet!). One thing I've discovered about bluetooth headsets is that they have the bluetooth receiver on one side only and that it is important to have your transmitter device (watch or phone) on the same side as the receiver as human bodies tend to absorb a lot of the bluetooth signal.