Week 7 run 2 ✅: Realised it takes me about 1... - Couch to 5K

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Week 7 run 2 ✅

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate
14 Replies

Realised it takes me about 10 mins to get comfortable and settled in pace. Up till then I feel like I’m fighting it. Any advice gratefully accepted. However, get me!!! Worried about getting into pace, what’s happening to me??? Love love love love running. Have a good day peeps and enjoy your runs🏃🏻‍♀️👍🏻🏃🏻‍♀️

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Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61
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14 Replies
Fatgirlslim19 profile image
Fatgirlslim19Graduate

No advice my lovely, I'm the same. First 2 minutes I'm wondering why the hell I'm doing this. 2-5 minutes I'm trying to get my legs into some kind of rhythm, 5-10 minutes my breathing and legs somehow work it out. 10 minutes onwards it all comes together and I begin to enjoy it! Toxic 10... It's real!

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate in reply to Fatgirlslim19

Ha! I’ll take that. It’s interesting that not long ago I was overwhelmed at running 8 minutes and now I’m looking at pace and rhythm 🙆🏼‍♀️

Fatgirlslim19 profile image
Fatgirlslim19Graduate in reply to Vintage61

Absolutely! The power of the programme 💪👍

backintime profile image
backintimeGraduate

Only advice I have is a longer warm up.

Your body was quite happily doing its thang and then you go and ask it to run. It needs to ramp up and it takes it about 10 minutes to get its arse into gear. A longer warm up may help. I'm on the 10k programme and before my longer runs I do a 10 minute warm up walk (and sometimes a dance or two ; ) )

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate in reply to backintime

That makes sense. Thank you, will try that on Monday. I run early so I probably need that. Thx 🙏

Oldfloss profile image
OldflossAdministratorGraduate

Toxic ten... widely researched, widely posted about... here goes...:)

This explanation :

Dr Mike Stroud (medic, polar explorer) - with Sir Ranulph Fiennes - in his book Survival of the Fittest - Understanding Health and Peak Physical Performance.

"When you start to run your muscles need extra oxygen but your body is not set up to increase the supply immediately.

For the first few minutes of a race [or any run] you develop oxygen debt as you use more energy than aerobic systems can supply.

It is only when oxygen in the blood has been depleted significantly and levels of carbon dioxide have risen that your brain senses these changes and sends instructions to set things straight.

At that point you will begin to breathe harder and your heart will pump more strongly. But by then , besides having to meet the demands of your continued movement, you also have to repay the oxygen debt and clear the lactic acid that has accumulated.

This takes time, and so the first couple of miles of any run can be rough."

It happens to many of us... sometimes ten minutes, sometimes longer and sometimes not at all :) Just warm up well, relax and go with it... :)

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate in reply to Oldfloss

Brilliant, thank you so much

Oldfloss profile image
OldflossAdministratorGraduate in reply to Vintage61

Welcome... I made the mistake of asking my husband abut this.. ( He was a mad science teacher..) , and he took over 40 minutes explaining it!!!

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate in reply to Oldfloss

Ouch. Well I’m very grateful to him 🙏

Oldfloss profile image
OldflossAdministratorGraduate in reply to Vintage61

Ha ha... I found the reference on here, years ago from a past post... it is MUCH easier to understand than his explanation :) x

philevans68 profile image
philevans68Graduate

Well done on R2! I find the first 5 minutes fly by but the second 5 are hard work. About the halfway mark on these 25 min runs I start to settle in and enjoy it. Can you really believe we can run for 25 minutes! Lol Its great isn't it? Good luck with R3!

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate in reply to philevans68

I know!!! It’s amazing. Im so enjoying it, running in rain and shine. I’m going to try run3 on Monday. Good luck to you too 👍🏻

DiscoRunner profile image
DiscoRunnerGraduate

You’ve discovered the toxic 10! That’s your body warming up (even after the walk) of getting all that blood (well oxygen) to your muscles. I run very slowly and that’s one way to handle this. I run using the Japanese slow jogging technique & run this way all the time, but you could use it as a warm up?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=9L2b2...

I can happily plod along at this pace for over an hour now!

Vintage61 profile image
Vintage61Graduate in reply to DiscoRunner

That’s my pace, maybe a bit faster now that I’m building up but not massively. Thank you 🙏

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