Supposed to be a rest day today, but decided it would be boring to just do a walk and, if I was going to add in some gentle jogging, I may as well crack on with week 4!
Set the treadmill to 5 deg incline and really noticed the difference - got through the runs without stopping, but it was really hard work.
Conscious that I am now breaking the “rest day” rules - I’ve now done a run for the last three days in a row, but am kind of “listening to my body” - in the absence of feeling tired, and any significant aches and pains, seems OK to crack on.
And I loved it at the end when Jo (Whiley) said: “you are now running more than walking in these sessions”. Felt like a real milestone
Written by
HoagyM
Graduate
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Well done for reaching week 4. It takes guts and determination to get through those early weeks.
However...
Rest days are not an optional extra. They are absolutely integral to building 'running legs'. When you run you stress bones and tendons and create microscopic tears in your muscles. Your body responds by repairing the damage and building strong muscles but only if you take rest days. If you don't then at best you won't progress as quickly and at worst you will injure yourself. It's fine to do non-impact exercises and sports on 'rest' days - swimming, cycling, pilates, strength training etc but don't run.
Yeah, fair comment and thanks for taking the time to do a full reply, much appreciated. As a keen golfer and hiker, my body is used to daily aerobic exercise, which is why I think the programme seemed relatively easy once I found my natural (slow) jogging pace... what’s new of course is the impact of running. Will try to get back to “taking it steady” again!
The thing to think about is that sometimes your body takes a while to let you know it isnt happy, by which time it may be too late as you have already over-run and on the road to the injury couch.
Rest days are an important part of the programme to allow your body to repair and recover.
There is lots of information for new runners here:
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W4R1 Done!
Getting harder
W4R1 completed!
W7R1 - harder!
