No such thing as a bad run!

[Amerynthe]

I came back from my consolidation run last night telling myself it was a bad run, that I was a rubbish runner, and that it was no good blaming my neighbour's dogs for running with us and getting in my way - it was all down to me being rubbish. Who did I think I was fooling with all this C25K malarkey? I'll never really be a runner.

After a good night's sleep and a browse around this forum, I'm looking at the run from a different perspective. I am not a rubbish runner, but I am a very very new runner, and I still have a lot to learn. What I am rubbish at is HYDRATION! Yes, the key to those heavy legs that weighed me down last night could very well be due, at least in part, to having a mug of milky coffee for breakfast (not with breakfast, for breakfast), another one when I got to work and then ... um, half a glass of water with lunch. So, around half a litre. I have a lot of caffeine free diet drinks in the evening, post run, possibly a litre, but as a general rule my liquid intake is only about 1.5 litres a day. Tap water here is foul, so I went out at lunchtime and bought a massive bottle of sugar-free squash to sit on my desk at work and guilt-trip me into drinking more.

Another reason I'm feeling less down on myself after last night's run is that on checking Strava, although I found it impossible to run consistently for more than about 8 minutes at a stretch last night, and walked a few times for 2 or 3 minutes, my pace was almost exactly the same as normal. So, perhaps when I was running, I was going faster (too fast, too early?) or perhaps my walking pace has improved a lot. Either way, it leads me to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a bad run.

[ButtercupKid Graduate]

Always remember the First Rule of C25k: The only run you fail is the run you don’t go for ! Learning from the bad runs makes other runs go better. Have fun with the next one 😀

[Whatsapp Graduate]

You are right. This was a great run. You learned a lot of lessons about yourself from that run. Some runs will always feel like wading through treacle whilst others are blissful, often with no rhyme nor reason for either. Celebrate the easy runs and celebrate the tough ones more

[ItstheMarchHare Graduate]

Absolutely, I think the programme makes us focus so much on developing, we sometimes forget that we can just go out and do a random run, or go off plan, and still count it as going something good for ourselves.

[Nottooold Graduate]

I had a bad consolidation run too today: I started hoping to run for a little more than the usual 30 min, while I didn’t succeed at all! When I finished I was practically exhausted and above all I had not enjoyed a single minute of the entire run, but I know that probably next run will go better.

The think I am really looking forward in fact is to enjoy running; reading many posts it seems to me that many have achieved this goal. I unfortunately still not😢 and what makes me run nie is only my strong sense of duty

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Both my paces (walking and running) have risen during and after the plan, I really notice the walking one, running one I can only see in the stats 😂

Great attitude to the tough run... and good that you’re addressing the hydration, it will help a lot.

Happy running.

[Amerynthe Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Thanks!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

You have just illustrated exactly why I don't believe in "bad" runs.

There is something to be learned from every single run.