Week 7 Run 2

[TimB19]

Third 25 min run banked. New running shoes broken in and no blisters -worth paying that little bit extra undoubtedly. I'm working my way up-next stop is running socks and then proper running shorts. While the current shorts are ok, if not a little bright, the simple fact is that their primary function is swimming rather than running, the proof being the Speedo endorsement on the side (and no, not they they're budgie smugglers...)

One further acquisition has been a downloaded running tracker app. I'm beginning to seriously eye up Park Run but before I do I want to know how far 25 minutes is taking me. Just over 3k is the answer, averaging about 8 mins per k. Not bad, but interestingly the second run with the app not only covered a couple of hundred metres more than the first, but also contained one split of a shade over 7 minutes. What was also of note was that even though I believed I was keeping a steady consistent pace, I actually wasn't. All things to consider as I continue through the journey.

MJ suggests varying the route. I have been running the same course throughout. It's a large park, all on grass. As the weather sets in, parts of it are getting muddy and uneven. Time to go on road I think-or even head down to the local docks and hit the canal paths. Wondering whether the usual course has been too familiar and has caused me to set my pace accordingly. Also thinking that running on firm ground will assist, particularly now I have the decent shoes.

And now starting to look beyond the graduation in the next couple of weeks. Am doing sober October so should assist. Do I consolidate for a couple of weeks or gradually build up the running time incrementally at a similar rate as present.

What do others do?

[DawnRun]

Well done. I found it hard to know what to do after finishing the couch25k course. I haven't as yet really started to try and run further, so I'm happy doing just 5km runs, I have a good course on which to do it. Park run in a nice location, helped me continue running and not give up. Although running can get addictive, I don't think I am alone in saying that it is also easy to stop doing it, when you get busy etc. So for me I needed parkrun.

I thought if I didn't go on an do something different I would stop running but so far I haven't. I learned to worry less about times ( I'm not that fast for my age). I suppose it depends on your threshold for boredom. The hardest thing is you lose the rapid progress, this is compensated by other things though ( such as you don't look like you are going to collapse as you breathe more easily as you get into the habit of running 5k 3 times a week).

Personally I would say leave off park run until you are happy with your running but many do parkruns during the couch25k plan or immediately after it. I waited a month or two and I found I enjoyed the parkrun a bit more that way . It does depend on the parkrun you do though some are more serious than others I find. I'd also go easily if running on footpaths etc from running on grass, and maybe run a shorter distance if you are on footpaths, just till your feet get used to it. Changing the scenery is a great idea for motivation.

[TimB19 Graduate in reply to DawnRun]

Thanks so much for the response. Great advice-on balance I think I will consolidate the 30 mins

[Glossy Graduate]

I'm out to do w7 r2 later on. I have a garmin watch which tells me distance, speed etc. The geek in me really likes it. It was (a couple of years ago) their bottom of the range one but tells me all I need to know.

I know that including my warm up and cool down I do 4k at the moment.

I'm hoping to brave a park run next week when I'm on W8 although I am worried about being the last one in, having seen the times on the Parkrun website my local ones don't have any 40min+ finishers.

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Bluebirdrunner did an excellent post all about consolidation running a couple of weeks back, which seems to be the accepted wisdom on here (and imho rightly so!) to make sure that your 5k or 30 minutes running is an established part of your running life, before you decide to speed or go longer distance.

I've followed that advice and been fine (one injury but nothing to do with that - a pesky shower tray incident!), also I've seen a few other folk have followed JNRs advice and everyone seems to rate it highly - me included. You don't want to get all excited and over-stretch in the early days and end up doing yourself a mischief as my gran would have said.

At this stage in the plan I started adding new bits to my route, but at the beginning rather than the end, so that I couldn't easily benchmark my progress. I did that deliberately and also to keep the pace down, so I wasn't setting out fast and losing out at the end of the runs.