Not sure whether or not to drop back after a setback

[racheles78]

My C25k journey has been long and turbulent (and also enjoyable when it's been going well). I actually started in September 2018 and was doing well. I got to the end of week 6 and then had to stop for surgery for my endometriosis at the end of November. I was hoping to start again after a couple of weeks but that was over ambitious. I had a couple of false starts and setbacks over the next few months where I'd get to week 4 or 5 but then be hit with illness or pain (from the endo) or motivation issues but finally got started again properly in July this year. I always knew it would take longer than 9 weeks for me because I really struggle with fatigue and pain and was more than happy to repeat weeks and take the course at a pace I was comfortable with.

Since July I have consistently been running 3 times a week with the very odd exception where I might have skipped the odd run. And I got to the start of week 9 at the end of September! Then I went to a festival and came back with festival flu which totally knocked me off my feet. Did a couple of runs which weren't brilliant but my breathing was still iffy from the lurgy so I wasn't overly surprised. I then had an endometriosis flare up which scuppered me again. I went out on Monday to do my first run for 12 days and it was awful! I thought I'd try a week 9 run to gauge where I was at and I did the 30 minutes but had to take a walking break 3 times during the run for about a minute at a time.

I'm due to go out again today after work and I'm not sure whether to keep on with the week 9 runs until they become a bit easier or to drop back a few weeks to a week with walking intervals and build up again.

[LeeU Graduate]

Why not ease yourself back into it, try doing week 5 run 3, do the 20 minutes then, if you feel up to it, move to 25 minutes, then back to 30.

You don't have to do lots of repeats unless you think you need it, just try and see what you can manage.

I August I was on holiday and didn't run for 2.5 weeks, when I came back I did exactly what I put above, I did 20 minutes and then 25 and then straight back to 30 minutes.

[racheles78 in reply to LeeU]

On Monday I wouldn't even have managed the 20 minutes. I think I had my first walking break at about 12 minutes. Which is super disappointing considering that I was running for 30 minutes fairly easily a couple of weeks ago!

[LeeU Graduate in reply to racheles78]

I fully understand, I used the times as an example only, if you feel like you could only do 10 minutes then do 10 minutes, if you feel like you can do more then do that and just build the time back up over 4-5 weeks etc.

[racheles78 in reply to LeeU]

This is what I'm thinking. I think when I go out again later I'll set up a week 9 run and see how I get on. If I don't manage to do a continuous 30 minutes in the next 2-3 runs I'll think again about stepping back a couple of weeks and build up again.

[LeeU Graduate in reply to racheles78]

Don't put yourself under that much pressure, use week 5 run 3 and just try for the 20 minutes first and do what you can.

You will be back up to running 30 minutes + before long.

[racheles78 in reply to LeeU]

Last night's run was great! I decided to try to push myself to 20 mins and then felt like there was still juice in the tank so pushed it to 25 and then decided that I wasn't going to be defeated by 5 poxy minutes so made it to 30 mins through sheer pig headedness!!

[LeeU Graduate in reply to racheles78]

I'm so glad you did it, I got to 60 minutes due to being stubborn too, I've transitioned to running outside through that too, it does work.

[racheles78 in reply to LeeU]

It feels good. I was so upset that having done my first week 9 run it all started falling apart after that. I'm now feeling really motivated to do another 2 runs and finally, after all this time, do my graduation run!!

I've been running outside from the beginning. I have some balance issues which make running on a treadmill really challenging plus I live near a beautiful country park which is a great place to run. Getting a bit trickier now with darker mornings and evenings but I can be a little flexible with my working hours to continue accommodating daylight runs.

[Alast in reply to racheles78]

Well done for pushing on and achieving. I've never been a runner but have reached up to week 3 now. I'm due to have a holiday in a few weeks time and this will also be a rest from C25K, and if I carry on progressing as I have so far, this will be only after I've completed 2 of the week 5 runs (so will not have tried the 20 minute run. I was discussing this with a colleague at lunchtime who has been a runner for a long time and said that I'll probably drop back and try and complete week 4 again before starting week 5. Their advice was to just re-start week 5 (which I will have hopefully completed the first two runs before going away), and see how it goes. If it works, all well & good, if not I will drop back to week 4, but now from what you've said, I may not need to, just re-start week 5 again. (I am determined only to move on a week once I've completed the three weekly runs & rest days in sequence).