Week 9 - Run 3 - Graduate?

[Bobbypizza]

So there you go. Run 3 happened today and it was a back to back with run 2 yesterday. I chose to do a back to back for several reasons but mostly because I always committed the runs 1, 2 and 3 to be in the same weeks. I kinda wanted to do my usual trail, where I started however this loop is 7K+ which I would have to commit to (run + extra walk). As I done Run 2 yesterday I thought this would probably not the wisest idea. I therefore decided to finish off on the road, on that 6K loop I ran all week and end of week 8.

I ran slowly, ran fairly consistently and I am experiencing no pain. just the feeling of after big exercise! Fun fact after I got changed from running. It a fairly cold day today and could feel areas of my legs that were way warmer than others. Never thought this would be noticeable and painted an interesting picture of the muscles that do all the work when running.

I must say I am disappointed the app did not change the audio for the last run. I would have loved the mighty Michael to cheer me to the finish line!

So... after last night's BBQ (made awesome pork ribs btw) I treated myself with a plancha cheese toastie off the BBQ again as a celebratory treat!

So there you go. I finished the program. I think I "inspired" my wife to start it with friends of hers. I am somewhat slimmer, I breathe better (that is freaking weird btw), my body shape entirely changed and have registered to a 10K in June.

Next, setting my gizmos so that I run for 5K, then 6K etc to 10K... never know. I might even stretch to 20K this year!

[Buddy34 Graduate]

Congratulations on completing c25k you must be so pleased well done 😊😊👏👏👏

[Bobbypizza Graduate in reply to Buddy34]

Now is the hardest bit I think. I need to keep this up

[Buddy34 Graduate in reply to Bobbypizza]

Just pick 3 days a week if possible and stick to them that's what I've done 😊

[Bobbypizza Graduate in reply to Buddy34]

Yea my thinking as well. Will stick to 30 minutes for now and take it from there. Thinking of training for 10K so will look into planning longer outings

[ArthurJG Graduate]

Well done. Perhaps read up on the reasons for not running on consecutive days though. It’s actually important, for your first nine to twelve months of running, and there’s more to it than whether you feel OK.

[Bobbypizza Graduate in reply to ArthurJG]

That's just about the most details I've been provided about this from a graduate and it's on Week 9! Most just say something along the lines of "don't do it" with no guidance.

My back to back runs were always slow and relaxed on the second and never made an attempt to push on those two occasions. I can appreciate some would just go full speed increasing the "chance" of injuries on their second runs however. As much as my calves have been tender for about over two months I must say my knees have never been better.

[ArthurJG Graduate in reply to Bobbypizza]

Well the reason I put it like that is because I personally have posted in great detail about it many times and was too lazy to type it all again: and I only know about it myself because I read it on here from other graduates before, so I don’t think your criticism is fair. Perhaps when people said don’t do it you could have ASKED why not?

However since you haven’t seen the other posts, let me explain.

When you run, you drop your entire body weight on one foot over a hundred times per minute. This impact is transmitted up your legs and causes little micro tears in your leg muscles. The way the training works is that on your rest days (better called non running days as you can still do LOW IMPACT exercise like walking, swimming or even cycling on those days) those little tears repair and when they repair they get stronger than before. When you run on consecutive days you cause more of those little tears without allowing the previous days’ to heal and strengthen as they should. Common sense says that greatly increases the risk of injury regardless of whether you feel fit to run or not.

After a number of months your body will be sufficiently adapted for you to sometimes be able to run on consecutive days, though still not seven days a week: even top athletes don’t do that. How many months? At least six but that’s with qualified coaching and lots of well chosen cross training. For most of us nine to twelve months is nearer the mark.

None of us are making this stuff and remember the ‘graduates’ are just people who followed the same programme a little bit before you. We’r not paid staff or anything. You’ll have a graduate badge beside your own name soon and it will be interesting to see how you live up to the expectations you have of others. If you prefer to find fault with people for giving advice rather than ask them to explain that’s up to you. They’re your legs so take whatever risks you like with them. Don’t shoot the messenger.

[Bobbypizza Graduate in reply to ArthurJG]

I was probably misunderstood and certainly did not intend to be rude. Thank you for taking the time to explain. Appreciated. Allow me to ask - what injuries are we talking about? Aside from falls if legs give way I can't think of much else. Don't think I think falls are fine, this was one of the reasons I chose this run today.

I started to pay more attention to the feeling in my legs as the weeks went on and not just pushed for the sake of it. Let me remind the world that the consecutive runs were not a regular occurrence and I'm certainly not recommending it!

I think it would be beneficial to add a wee ID snippet next to profiles with age, weight, level of fitness and whatnot. I think this could be beneficial to understand personal circumstance.

I do intend to stick around and fear not, I will tick the safety boxes.

[ArthurJG Graduate in reply to Bobbypizza]

Thanks for that. I didn’t find your post rude, least of all to me, just a bit unfair on other forum members who had given you advice before and trying to be helpful. They’re just ordinary forum members like you and me.

As for the type of injury: I’m not a physio and I’ve basically told you all I know on the subject. I learned about it here - like 80 - 90 % of my knowledge of running, such as it is . I’ve been running less than a year and I’m still very much a rookie. But if I had to guess, I’d say that making the tears bigger before letting them heal seems like a risk of muscle injury to me so it might be that?

Common sense comes into it: if my bus comes early I’m not going to miss it just because I ran yesterday. But when everybody (including the voices on the app) is telling me that non-running days are important because missing them increases the risk of injury, then I’m going to listen and if that means I get a few days behind with my programme then so be it: an injury could set me back months.

I think the term rest days doesn’t help as it suggests it’s about tiredness when in fact it’s got very little to do with that. You’ll find on the Bridge to 10k forum a lot of people talk about non-running days instead because you can in fact exercise on those days (and many people think you should, at least on some of them) as long as you avoid high impact activities like running.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Many congratulations on your graduation fellow runner.

This guide to post C25K running may be helpful healthunlocked.com/couchto5... and includes a link to an article discussing running on consecutive days. Please read it and absorb it.

Take care and keep running, keep smiling.

[Bobbypizza Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

That was a very informative post! Thank you. I LL have a look at the Flex exercises amongst other things. Hopefully it s something I can do from home.