Hi

[GG63]

New runner, 7 weeks into C25K. Find it tough on the streets and prefer the treadmill! Menopause for me has caused anxiety and emotional problems as well as physical symptoms. Trying to improve my mind and body through healthier living. Any tips or advice welcome

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

Welcome!

Check this out... even though you are 7 weeks in, there is loads of useful advice there...

Tips would be... slow and steady, ( you will find that is what I am famed for.. the mantra of me)... especially as you head into the longer runs...made for relaxing into... and ..if you can find a park route or somewhere off road...the benefits... especially the mental ones will be apparent... getting out there and losing the stresses and strains as they float away behind you...

Treadmill is fine... if their is no other choice, ( that is my opinion though :)) but maybe getting out and relaxing into a longer gentle and varied run might be really useful

The benefits of the plan are great.. physical and mental and loads of us have found this out... my own Black Dig, keeps his distance, when faced with a long run across the fields

Keep posting too for lots of advice and tips and general entertainment

[GG63 Graduate]

Hi and thank you. I still find it hard to run but I never thought I’d be able to run for as long as I am even if it is only 25 mins. Tried and gave up so many times until I found the C5K app. Breathing meditation is helping me with anxiety along with some counselling which I sought around 2 months ago when I felt I could no longer think or function rationally 🤗

[Jay66UK Graduate in reply to GG63]

Running is hard. What changes is how much of it we can do and how hard it gets before we can’t.

I’ve also suffered a lot with anxiety, the one real hangover from a period of severe depression in the late 1990s. I’ve found the achievements from running, especially winning the mental battles, has boosted my confidence beyond recognition.

Remind yourself of what you are achieving each run and how you are slaying the gremlins telling you to stop when they think it’s getting too tough.

Running links really well with breathing meditation - which I’ve also done quite a lot of in the past - because it is essentially the same thing. Focus on “now”, being in a rhythm, noticing the distractions but continuing anyway.

Keep going. Your body is doing it’s best to mess you about at the moment, but that will pass. And you will have running for a long time after you’ve survived this horrible phase of biology.

It all went wrong when we started living beyond about 45!!

[Equi-geek Graduate]

Hiya GG63 - I use Headspace app which was recommended by my GP. CBT got me back into exercising (swimming at first) earlier this year after a bout of GAD and mild depression. I found the mindfulness in swimming - not going for number of laps or speed, just setting a time I would be in the pool and staying with the experience - all the time - the bubbles I see the water flowing over me, the sound of my breathing... it is gorgeous. So now I bring the same mindset to running. The C25k app tells me what to do when, so forget about time, and thinking about the past or the future - there is only now, this step, then another step.... and if you run at 80% effort you’ll really find a comfy rhythm that just lets you ‘be’. It’s lovely! Parks are brilliant places for that but if you’re on the treadmill try to keep in the present moment and accept and sit with the tiredness and breathing and know it’s ok to feel those feelings. It more than ok - it’s a real positive that your body is able to do this stuff and keep going anyway. Such a liberating thing. Hope you find that feeling, at the start it might be fleeting but more you run the longer you’ll feel it. It’s not physical for the likes of us, it’s about reconnecting our body with our mind without forcing it to happen. Good luck, I’m starting Week 7 next week

[amanda2463]

Lots of 🍷 and HRT has really helped me xxxx

[ccarter100]

I have been in your space for the last three years. Ugggg. It is the pits. Everyone’s advice here is right on. All I can add is that it will pass, and the steps you are taking now, quite literally!, will help.