Short run better than no run?

[LookNannyruns]

Some would say obsessive I would say dedicated. I take 1 or 2 non run days between each run and try really hard not to miss one. I think because I am a relatively new runner ( I will believe I am truly a runner when I can celebrate my graduate anniversary in Nov) I have a an unfounded fear that if I miss several runs I will lose all that I have gained and be back to week 1 fitness . Is this something others have experienced?

Yesterday was a run day , I walked up to town and back for the Monday market, played badminton for 2 hours, gardened for an hour , walked back up to town for pilates in my running gear. I ran back home which was disappointingly only 15 mins instead of my usual 30 . Now I have written all this not to boast about my active life but to try and understand my obsessive/ dedicated need to run when I have told myself it’s a run day . I felt cheated by only doing 15mins and I am fighting the urge to do another 15mins today to make it up.

Perhaps I’ve just got addicted to that amazing feeling of ZING that I get after a run? I’ve found that this programme has increased my fitness more than I expected. Our local sportspark runs classes for over 50s which I have been going to for many years but now I find myself joining the regular classes as the others often seem too sedate . Can this couch to 5k programme be the secret elixir of youth???

If you have recently started this programme I hope that you stick with it and find all the knock on benefits that come along too. This aged crone wishes she had started many many years ago .

[SlowLoris]

Yes is the answer.

[VictoriaRuns Graduate in reply to SlowLoris]

Yes.

[pinkaardvark Graduate]

I totally understand that feeling of fear of losing performance if you don't get out and run. However it is important to have longer breaks every now and again and I have found my performance improves as a result, especially if you feel the niggles building up and not clearing before the next run.

Having run for 7 months now, I still don't consider myself a runner. I have this belief that it should get easier at some point and when I can just pop out and run 5k without a second thought then maybe I will be a runner. My next long run this week is 15k, I will complete that but I will still feel a bit of a fraud hehe.

[LookNannyruns Graduate in reply to pinkaardvark]

Well if you feel like a fraud then heaven help me! Congratulations on doing 15k what a star.

Good advice about occasional longer breaks, I keep forgetting that there are no run police checking up on me ..

[pinkaardvark Graduate in reply to LookNannyruns]

To be clear. Not done 15k yet. That's this week's goal 😀

[LookNannyruns Graduate in reply to pinkaardvark]

Then congratulations in advance - now you’ll have to do it 😉

[GoGo_JoJo Graduate]

I'm the same. I think I absolutely must run on a run day!! I think it's just a fear that having done so well we'll go back to the couch given too many off days.

Like you I'm finding it hard to fit everything in at times.

Yes, 15 mins better than zero!! 👍😁

[LookNannyruns Graduate in reply to GoGo_JoJo]

Yes and the fitter I get the more I want to do! I’m happy to say that I no longer feel the same calling back to the couch

[Whatsapp Graduate]

I don't think its a bad thing to be concerned about missing runs. It is better than slipping back into pre-running ways. However, the truth is its actually good to give yourself a break once in a while, mabe even taking a week or two off. I didn't run for a month last year, and I felt amazing during my first run back.

Nothing in the rule book says that you absolutely have to run for 30 mins every run either. Your 15 minutse today will be fine, cos thats what you could fit in. When you have more time you wil run 30mins and on another day maybe more. Just enjoy it!

[LookNannyruns Graduate in reply to Whatsapp]

Yes, I’m sure that as time goes by I will settle more easily into patterns that suit my time and energy levels. It seems to me that whilst one is fairly new to this running game we are our own stern personal trainers 🙂 i did enjoy my 15 mins and have to remember when that first 15min run was a huge milestone.

[Hidden]

I get really ‘difficult’ if I don’t run on a run day... There’s something about the buzz and high you get. Still at least it’s legal and we won’t get busted for it.

[LookNannyruns Graduate in reply to Hidden]

😆yes I never heard of an illegal running farm!

[pinkaardvark Graduate]

I didn't run last night.. it was a running day and I didn't run . I just didn't feel it after getting back from yoga and thought at 8pm it was getting a bit late, but that's no excuse really. So now I have to go tonight after the gym grrr.

[LookNannyruns Graduate]

😆ah that devil procrastination gets us all in the end . Still you did yoga so the couch stayed empty ...