Advice required please!!: Well, today was gonna... - Couch to 5K

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Advice required please!!

Mshaunb profile image
7 Replies

Well, today was gonna be the day I ran for 30 minutes. I didn't I got to 12 and then pressed the 'Stop' button on the treadmill. I found myself making all sorts of excuses such as:

It's been 6 days since I ran for 28 minutes....partly because I usually have to wait 3 or 4 days for a painful knee to die down and partly because I'm on a trip to the US.

I was tired from the long journey yesterday.

I'm usually used to running outside.

The gym was warm.

I was confused by the "minutes per mile" speed setting

Etc etc etc.

But I think the real reason is that I'm used to doing my runs as laps around a disused all-weather pitch and I calculate before-hand how many times I need to go round it to get to x minutes. So every time I go past that clump of nettles, or a certain man-hole cover or a marker where the old goal posts used to be I know how many more times I need to pass it. 30 minutes should take me round about 17 laps. And I knock off the time one lap at a time. All I had on the treadmill was the CNN news (subtitled) and the music from the podcast with Laura's occasional interventions......so now I'm thinking....

How do I set myself these small countdowns when I'm on a treadmill.....and when I do decide to move away from the running round the pitch to other places....how do I motivate myself?

Also, should I have another go at 30 minutes tomorrow or maybe do a 20 then a 25 then a 30 again..... I didnt actually feel tired ....just warm and bored....

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Mshaunb profile image
Mshaunb
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7 Replies
RuNananana profile image
RuNanananaGraduate

I so completely relate. I had to stop listening to Laura on the treadmill because I just found I was getting toooo bored. I have so many things going: the screen in front of me, the screens up on the wall, the music playing (Deezer) - and I too had to come up with "markers" on the treadmill. It was hard because I started becoming numbers-obsessed. I now cover up the display because of that... Instead of visual markers, I switched to music markers. I did the warm up walk at a comfortable/mildly challenging pace for 5 minutes, jogged for 10 songs, and then walked for the warm down 5 minutes. I wasn't really going for minutes on the treadmill, but moreso distance. I know that my warm up is 0.40 miles, and warm down the same. If my total distance was between 2.75 and 3.20 miles, I was satisfied. The song total time was usually between 27 and 31 minutes.... close enough for me!!

Mshaunb profile image
Mshaunb in reply to RuNananana

Ha! I can see how that would work....I'm certainly going to have to get rid of the timer under a towel or something. It made the 12 minutes seem like 12 hours. I think a timer is fine during the early stages of C25K where the switches between walking and running are more frequent.

RuNananana profile image
RuNanananaGraduate

Oh - and one other thing - some days you will have good runs, and other days you might not. Some times there's no rhyme or reason. You still ran for 12 minutes - and that's something! Where are you in the C25K? That should dictate what you do next, really....

Mshaunb profile image
Mshaunb in reply to RuNananana

I'm on a slightly different program to the NHS one. My runs go 20, 25, 28, 30 and then 35 to completion. So I'd reached the penultimate.

davelinks profile image
davelinksGraduate

Yes, it can be a battle with the gremlins sometimes, but, never give in! .. now where have I heard that before?

I got out for a 5k run today before the rain came, I warmed up, then 2 mins into the run the gremlins popped up and said I didn't want to do this today! I said to them I'd stop just over a km down the road and turn around and walk back, they shut up! just as I got to the point I said I'd stop I carried on running and said in Arnold Swarzenegger style, I LIED! I started to feel better after that and carried on to 5k.. I was well pleased with myself.💪

So, you must not let them get the better of you, push them aside and they'll fade away!😊

ancientrunner profile image
ancientrunnerGraduate

Never run on a treadmill but do think it would be quite tedious, and if you add in jetlag I think you did well to run at all.

ladyharvills profile image
ladyharvillsGraduate

I was the same yesterday. Doing Stamina, after the first 10 minutes I had to stop and walk/jog/walk the rest. Just couldn't catch mt breath. I'm usually ok doing Stamina, but just couldn't manage it yesterday. It happens to us all occasionally.

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