I'm still running very early to avoid traffic (single track country lane, no pavement), even so, managed to pick up a couple of early drivers each day. Very early is getting a bit later now each day as the nights get longer and it's just too dark to start too early.
W5d1 went fine. I found that I was able to just dig in and do the three intervals. I forgot to turn at the appropriate time to head back the way I had come. I left it until the end of the middle run, rather than half way through, so realised I would be starting my cool-down too far from home. So I thought I would push myself a little and extend the last run. I decided to run until the next field entrance. That meant I did an extra minute and a half or so. Good preparation for w5d2. I still haven't figured out how this old geezer is able to do this, but that's the magic of c25k. I haven't done anything like this since a teenager doing cross-country runs at school, over 50 years ago.
W5d2. I was able to do the two intervals of eight minutes without too much problem. I don't really have any issues with my legs feeling unable to do what's necessary - I tend to forget about them and they just get on and do it. I do sometimes have to slow them down a bit. For me, the secret is getting enough air into the lungs. It was important for me to get breathing sorted out as soon as possible in c25k because I had an illness several years ago. This was a blood disorder, giving me a heart condition where some of the valves were damaged. This means that I have been left having less "puff" than I would otherwise have. But getting this sorted out early in c25k has had a tremendous effect on me not becoming so easily breathless even under normal conditions, i.e. going up stairs, even getting into bed could be a chore, believe it or not, leaving me out-of-breath. But I already feel the benefits that running has given me on that score. For that alone I'm grateful.
W5d3. I decided before doing today that I would have a little game with myself, in addition to what Laura tells me to do, of course. W5d3 is the first time we are expected to run without any intermediate recovery walk. I love running to music - any music that Laura's podcast provides is fine by me. But I especially like it when the rhythm of Laura's music coincides with my running rhythm (so am very much looking forward to c25k+). Unfortunately, in c25k there have only been a few times when I have synced with Laura's music, but when I have it feels great. I wasn't really looking forward to running for an extended period (20 mins) to a number of different tracks with beats that varied so much as no doubt w5d3 would. Now, I know what follows is going to sound pretty geeky. To the running portion of the mp3, I dubbed on a click-track to run to, set to a beat that I felt that I could manage (144bpm), that would provide a good continuous rhythm to run to. Just an experiment. Was it a success? Did it help? When I started running, that beat felt a bit slow, but I stuck with it. It turned out to be the right thing to do because by 10 minutes in I felt fine - the legs just kept going and my breathing had sorted itself out too - I seemed to be getting enough oxygen into my lungs without too much effort. I totally buy-in to something that Jan-now-runs said yesterday in this reply: healthunlocked.com/couchto5.... I put being able to do this down to the nice, steady, untaxing pace. Living proof of the slow and steady mantra. In fact, when Laura said, "There's only two minutes left, you're doing so well. Feel free to slow down if you need to, but just keep on putting one foot in front of the other," I was feeling so good that I actually upped the pace a bit.
This programme is amazing, and it's supported by a forum of amazing people giving the best advice. I go forward into week six and beyond with a confidence given by proving that c25k works.
Week 7 Run 1 Done
Week 6 done!!!
From couch to 5ks in 29 Runs, 116 ks, 880 minutes (14.6 hours) - Graduation Run: DONE DONE DONE!!!!
Week 6 😊 App FAIL 😣 RAIN ☔
Done, done, DONE!!! (week 9 run 3)
