Back with a vengeance!

[hannah141]

It's been a while... A long while!

I think the first run back is always the hardest. That doubt and fear of finding confirming your worst fears of starting again and feeling deflated and useless. But I bit the bullet. It was a miserable and very soggy day but I revolved my whole day around the fact that I had to go running. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Note to self: it never is. I don't learn!

I did 5k, with a couple of 30 second walks. And today I'm in complete agony! Hopefully, it'll wear off by Wednesday so I can go out again.

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Welcome back.

Do you vary your running up to keep it interesting? I’ve just graduated and am looking at all sorts of different runs after consolidation, short and quick, the long one (of course) intervals, fartleks etc.

If you only walked a couple of brief times you’ll soon be able to run 5k non stop again. A nice slow recovery run on Wednesday will help a lot too.

[hannah141 Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

That's a good idea. I look forward to when I can get back to a comfortable 5k with a bit of a quicker pace, so I'm where I was fitness wise where I left off. It's nice to have something to work towards. I'd like to enter a few races over the winter maybe. To be honest, it was time and inclination why I stopped - I'm lazy! Hopefully, I can find a few different safe places to run for a bit of variety for the moment. Now the nights are closing in I can't really go through my usual parks.

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to hannah141]

We were all lazy at some stage I think. Today I’ve done precisely nothing, and now that that’s unusual I’ve really enjoyed it!

Do you have a local running club? Ours are always out in groups at night.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome back Hannah.

When did you last run? Maybe you need to ease yourself back into it, rather than forcing yourself to run 5k, because that's what you used to do.

You might find the guide to the plan useful healthunlocked.com/couchto5... to remind you of the basics.

Then again, there is this guide to post C25K running, which may be more appropriate healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

Slow and steady wins the day.

[hannah141 Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thank you IannodaTruffe!

Anyone who knows me knows that if I have to force myself then it won't happen! Willpower and perseverance is my problem!

I started off really steady, then when it got to 20 mins which would have been w5r3, I was feeling absolutely fine. Then when I got to 3k I thought 'Oh I can definitely hang in there until 4' and then thought at 4k I might as well see if I can do 5. It was my legs (hip flexors) that stopped me as opposed to my breathing but I didn't find it as hard as I thought it would be. I think that's mainly because in my head I was super up for it and feeling good. I know that the second run back is always harder so I'll see how I go with a steady 3k or 20 minutes, anything over being a bonus. I'm very conscious of going too big too soon. I'll keep you posted!