Consolidate?

[KatieBham]

I'm in the US, and so grateful to the NHS and all of you. In 9 weeks Laura has turned me into someone who wouldn't run unless chased into a runner who should graduate on Friday.

I've been mostly lurking here since week 4, and I've spent 5 weeks trying to figure out what "consolidate" means. (And hoping it's a UK to US English barrier and I'm not just stupid!) I've googled & queried my friends to no avail, but I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to start doing it next week, so I'm asking your help! Do I just run for 30 minutes until I feel good at it? Break the 30 minutes into chunks with walking breaks to get faster? Vary speeds?

Thank you in advance for any education you can provide!

[SaskAlliecat Graduate]

Hey neighbour to the south, I'm in Canada, graduated a couple months ago. I took it as taking some time to enjoy the 30 minute runs and getting comfortable with it before trying to move on to other goals, if you choose to do so.This will allow your legs to adapt to your running and help prevent injury from pushing it too fast or too far too soon.

Good luck on your graduation run on Friday, you're almost there 🙂

[Sadie-runs Graduate]

Hi Katie!

Well done, runner!

I think it's a great idea to plan for what you want to do after graduation. I did the same thing in week 9. I even devised a spreadsheet so I could log my runs (geek alert!)

SaskAllie is right. Consolidation kind of means practicing what you can already do in order to build your strength and stamina - so, keep up with the 30 min runs, three times a week if you can. This is what I am doing now, two weeks in from graduation. After around a month, I might mix it up with some internal running in order to improve on speed/pace or (I haven't decided yet), I may improve my distance. For now, I just want to enjoy being a runner and run for running' sake.

Enjoy your last week of the programme!

Sadie-runs x

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Just reinforcement really... a strengthening up of what you are already doing. The 30 minute runs.

Once you have confidence in running for that time, you can try other things; C25K+ podcasts for example.. Interval running and Strides...

You decide which way you want your running journey to take you after that... distance or speed ? Or neither.. you may just wish to run because you can, and simply let it evolve

great to have you with us, and I hope you will keep posting now and let us know how things are progressing