I am sorry. My next post was supposed to be optimistic and joyful. I wanted it to be heart-lifting and motivational.
Unfortunately, I am lady hoodoo and I act as a magnet to all disasters.
Is running my destiny? Or can I overcome my destiny of not being a runner?
I was (still am) ill again ;( so in total I am more ill than running. The programme schedule just slipped so badly for me. I am not sure what to do now. Start from kind of beginning / continue where I stopped / repeat the last run / give up ...
In occurs that for me it never rains, it pours
I am not healthy yet, and I should wait a couple more days to make sure that it is all fine. But how to motivate myself after yet another break. I think I will never get to the first big achievement W5R3. I tend to go as far as the beginning of week 5. You are all saying go for it, you can do it, believe in programme. But how can I believe if my schedule consists of more breaks than runs, due to this I don't run 3x per week, so my body is not used to it. The ones who follow my struggle know that it wasn't piece of cake for me: 1.5 month following the programme, 3 months break, 2 weeks following programme, 1 week break, 1 run (W5R1 - completed last Thur), now 1 week break again (may need a little longer).
I am crumpled.
I will not write a new post until I will finally do my W5R3. I've no idea when it will be. I'm not sure if I'll have enough inner strength and motivation to push it forward. But I don't want be the one who needs your help all the time without being able to give something in return.
I am sorry Bigfatsal that I cannot return the favour of motivating you. I hope your recovery will be fast and I wish you all the best. You are the runner, so you will run again. Take your time to heal. I'll do my best to support you along the way not only the programme, but also recovery. As I am becoming an expert in break times and coming backs
Written by
IgaT
Graduate
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Oh dear, it sounds like you are having a bit of a rough time.
You did W5R1 just 8 days ago so there is no need to think about going back to the start of the program just rest up until you feel better and move on to W5R2, you have a better aerobic base than you realise.
I don't wish to sound heartless but nothing good will come from feeling sorry for yourself. It appears that you have completed week 3 and week 4 in the month since you joined this forum and, when all is said and done, that is not too bad at all considering the bouts of illness. Rest up, get better, and you will do W5R2.
Don't give up IgaT you WILL get there eventually, I can sense how much you want to do this and so you will. I understand how you feel, a little. I am so frustrated and annoyed that I can't run at the moment and worried about when I will be able to. I have resigned myself to possibly starting from scratch again - at least this time i will know that I can get to half way through week 6!! Keep posting too!!
I will do my best. Thank you for your kind words Bigfatsal I will try to do W5R2, if I don't manage, I'll repeat W5R1 as many times as it needs and get to magical W5R3 eventually I hope, one day.
Yay, you go girl!! I know you will get there, as will I, it just will take us a little longer than some but that doesn't matter at all as long as we get there in the end! xx
But... I don't think we can let you go that easily? You are part of the forum of friends
You have had a rotten run.. ( sorry for the pun) but it happens to so many of us.. and to some really long breaks, regularly...So, if you still want to do this, do it, but keep our support.. this is about you, not giving things back, ( although we all do that every time we post ) !
I have just headed out yesterday after another spell on the IC, and it is hard when that happens... Broke my ribs last October, crocked for a long time, then Bronchitis early in the year...and then the blessed thing comes back.. ten days off... My issues are, I know very, very minor and unimportant, compared with others.. misswobble had a horrid, horrid fall, and if you read the latest post from Irishprincess , well, these are just a couple of examples.
This is your running journey, but I can't bear to think of you crumpled and feeling so low...
Thank you Oldfloss I know that many other fellow runners are struggling with injuries and illnesses, often much more serious than mine. It is just very difficult, as it is happening in the beginning of the runner journey. I am still struggling with motivation to run even if I'm healthy, as it is hard for me to run and I didn't get to the point that I actually enjoy it. OK, it is not 100% true, half a year ago when I had my beginnings soon before long illness I had this 1 amazing run when I enjoyed every step (after warm-up ;).
Regardless, I will do my best and try to run as soon as I feel better hoping that it will be enough to push me forward and be back with running and taking care of myself.
It is really up-lifting that I am not only one who struggle from the beginning. And regardless how long it will take, I can do it, the same as you did it. You achieved it! So maybe it is still possible for me to reach my dream Thank you
No problem, you'll get there and you'll then start to enjoy running. I still surprise my wife (and dog) when I say I am going for a run, but it is addictive.
And now laid up with a bug, I am really missing the running, but again i'll get back on it.
Hi Igat. I know what you mean. I started last October and have just completed week 7, after injuries and bugs. It does sometimes feel like an uphill struggle, and I used to long for the motivation I initially had. However when you do manage to complete runs, it is such an uplifting feeling! You have to listen to your body and you will make progress.
Sorry to hear you feel defeated at the mo 😔 Sill, it won't always be dark at six!
Unless you have a serious illness stopping you, what is the problem? I know you had a cold etc but is there something that you feel will recur if you run? It seems you are a bit fearful. We don't know what your medical history so can only offer to gee you up a bit 🙂 We are more than happy to do that 😀
Try and put things into context. It's a nine week walk jog walk programme that you can tackle slowly. It gets you outside and moving. It will make you healthier, but you have to keep doing it to feel better. You will, but you have to keep going. We want you to feel better. Many of us came from unhealthy starts and are now leading healthier lives just because we finished the programme
You can too. You just have to go for it! Come on! 🙂
My health problem is not a long-lasting (this time, I hope), but it made me stop on the day I had my run scheduled. I think it is UTI with very acute beginning which made me not walk for whole day only sit and pray with some medications that I had at home and hot water bottle between my legs. Next day was a bit better, so I went to buy some over the counter medicines, as my magic pills finished. If they won't help and tomorrow I'll still feel not good, I'm going to GP. In general I cannot made this part of my body irritated, as it may cause inflammation to increase rapidly.
I admit that I skipped / postponed my weekend run for Monday, when the illness took over.
I'm fearfully waiting for the end of my medicine packet to see if it helped.
Why don't you try running twice a week? You don't HAVE to do 3 runs a week, I got as far as the 28 minute run on 3 runs a week and kept getting overuse injuries as there wasn't enough time for my body to recover until the next run. As soon as I gave myself a break and allowed everything to recover I moved on really well.
I still run twice a week, and I've just completed my first half marathon (slowly) . The programme is a guide, like any plan, we're all different (thank goodness for that!)
Make it fit you, give yourself a break, allow your body to heal, then give it another go - but slowly, you'll get there.
Thank you, I am adjusting it. My illnesses are unrelated to running, I think. I believe I'm allowing my body to regenerate and I try no to rush things.
I'll echo what Madge50 said (apart from the bit about running a half marathon *shudder* ).
I started the plan (again) in April last year, and graduated in January (or was it February) this year. Along the way there was the occasional week (or month) off, a very long time going over and over weeks 5 and 6 (scared to move on? me? never!), before I finally made it through to the end. Instead of looking on it as a failure to get through the plan in 9 weeks, I chose to see it as success that I'd kept on running (mostly), despite the number of times life got in the way and things didn't go to plan. Since graduating I'm not sure I've managed more than one week where I got three runs in - two is manageable, but the third one just doesn't seem to fit at the moment - but I'm still going.
Do keep running, do keep posting here - we're on your side!
I know you're on my side. I don't want to post another "problematic" post. I want to share my success story and every successful run when I feel I am one step closer to my dream, when I feel I am becoming a true runner. With every step that makes me smile.
However, currently my life is getting a lot in the way, as you nicely put it Thank you all for your kind words. I will keep running, keep pushing, keep going on my path to healthier, slimmer, happier me
Ha ha! 😉 Nothing to be afraid of there, only took me nearly 4 years 😂 (To build up the confidence and stamina to do it - not to actually do the distance 😂) - but that's my limit.....
I never intended to, but this running lark gets in your blood, and once you get some bling.....well.....what can I say.......😉
I hope I will grow this longing for running and finally overcome kind of laziness / tiredness that took over. Thank you Madge50 , as you reminded me that each of us has different path to go through. Some of us will complete the programme in 9 weeks, others in 9 months, or even 9 years, and it is all fine. I am not alone in my much longer than expected and planned journey. If I didn't accomplished it within half a year it doesn't mean that I cannot accomplish it in upcoming months. In the end I am already in week 5, not week 1. I can run for the whole 5 minutes without feeling that I am dying!
Oh IgaT , you've got the 'not good enough' gremlin snapping at you. I had to tell myself time and again 'it's not a competition' and 'I'm doing this for me'. I had a five week break a couple of months after graduating after having some bad runs and just generally losing all confidence in my ability. Don't push yourself to 3 runs if it's awkward but don't give up either (I will come and find you)😉
You will be surprised how your body will bounce back after time off. I am always amazed. Once you're recovered, just keep the tank topped up as it were, run when you can. That week 5 run will be yours. Don't give up☺
Thank you McFitty . I think I don't have gremlin, but fully developed dragon I am quite sure that my body actually could run the whole 5k even today, maybe not 100%, but if I could learn the steady slow rhythm and normal breathing. It is my mind that stops me. 'Not good enough', 'not strong enough', 'I am not a runner, I never was, never will be', 'it is not for me, I can't even breathe when I run', 'you were never good with anything consistent' - all of those devils and more. And the worst one: you're not suppose to run, that's why you are getting ill when it gets serious and one step from proper Run (like this 20 min), after which I could say to myself that maybe beginner, but I AM a runner.
I feel so stupid and weak writing about it in the forum. Where are so many people who struggle so much more and conquer their weaknesses. But I am here, because I need your support and I will never be thankful enough for all your kind words and even the one a little bit more rough. I started writing, because I knew I couldn't do it by myself, I tried too many times in my life. This is my last attempt and I believe that in those kind of time when I am full of doubt and on my lowest you will somehow make me believe. You know what? It is working Now I cannot wait for my next run, I wanted to go out today, but I think it is not wise. I struggle where is the border between ill and lazy and where is the border between recovery and lazy. I don't wont to rush into it before I recover, as I may do more harm. But all of you made me believe and now I WANT to run I hope this feeling will stay with me and when I will be healthy I will confidently put my shoes on and go complete another run
When I got to the end of the programme in 2013 (and it took me a lot longer than 9 weeks, I can tell you!!) I got an ankle injury that meant I couldn't run. I was devastated after all my hard work. That was January and I didn't start running again until the April when my ankle was healed. A runner friend of mine said, "don't worry, the body doesn't forget", meaning that I woukdnt have to start from scratch again (even though that was what I was afraid of and had been whinging about), and do you know, she was right.
Now OK you haven't got to the end of the programme yet but your body is already accustomed to doing the.running that you HAVE done, so in a few weeks, or whatever, when you go back to it, you will probably surprise yourself by what you can still do.
Go on ... Give it another go. You know you want to really .....
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I will try to do W5R2, if I don't manage, I'll repeat W5R1 as many times as it needs and get to magical W5R3 eventually 
I am quite sure that my body actually could run the whole 5k even today, maybe not 100%, but if I could learn the steady slow rhythm and normal breathing. It is my mind that stops me. 'Not good enough', 'not strong enough', 'I am not a runner, I never was, never will be', 'it is not for me, I can't even breathe when I run', 'you were never good with anything consistent' - all of those devils and more. And the worst one: you're not suppose to run, that's why you are getting ill when it gets serious and one step from proper Run (like this 20 min), after which I could say to myself that maybe beginner, but I AM a runner.
I've only just gone and bl**dy well done it!
Week 9, Run 3: I AM A GRADUATE!
W9,R2 done
W5R2 done!
