Need new goals

[Bladerunner2049]

So I graduated 2 weeks ago and was very pleased. Over the moon in fact. However, life then got in the way, travel, new puppy and new car and running (no pun intended) a major firework event. All excuses for not going back to running for 2 weeks.

I was worried that I’d set a goal of running 5k, had achieved it and had mentally switched off. This has happened to me before so it wasn’t a great surprise.

However the difference this time was that I’d started to go to the gym months before trying c25k and while a goal was to run 5k it wasn’t the main goal of going to the gym.

A bit of a long winded way to say that I went yesterday and rowed for 2000m and then ran for 30m on the thread mill.

What a relief, sometimes the biggest hurdles are ourselves. 😃

I may ache a bit today but I’m very happy.

[Corarun Graduate]

I have yet to graduate (just finished week 7 this morning!) but have been thinking ahead for next steps as I’m quite goal driven too to be able to focus. My thoughts so far are * work on pace (at my pace I won’t be able to run 5k in 30mins by the end of plan so aiming for that but you could choose differently) * run different terrains - my route is quite flat but some near me with hills and also will try different Park Runs near me and while away with aim to do 20 different ones by end of next year * work on distance towards running a 10k.

Don’t know which I’ll focus on but it gives me something to think about!

[LeeU Graduate]

It's really a personal choice, you need to decide where you want your running journey to take you, that could be going from 5k to 10k, going for a 30 minute 5k or just continuing to run for 30 minute 3 times per week, the choice is yours.

Perversely though, if you want to get faster, you need to run slower but for longer.

I'm pushing the distance having graduated in July, I've done the pushing the time out to an hour, transitioned from a treadmill to running outside and am now working my way to 10k, last run was 6k, this weekend should see me hitting 7k hopefully, I'm loosely following Ju Ju's magic plan.

[Bladerunner2049 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

You’re absolutely right. I did c25k 8 years ago and got a bit carried away with getting back to running, put to much pressure on myself and went to far to fast. Injuries was the obvious results.

This time I’m more interested in staying fit, however I would love to do a park run in 30mins sometime next year. Just need to get their without injury and staying fit using the rest of the gym equipment that lucky to have access too.

Thanks 😊

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Bladerunner2049]

Then, there is a mid term goal, do a ParkRun in 30 minutes within the next 12-13 months.

If you haven't done one yet it may be worth trying your local ParkRun to get an idea at what your time is now, that will then give you a realistic view on whether or not that is feasible or not.

Like you, I did C25K previously, I did my first one in 2017 so not as long ago as you, I then seemed to have one illness after another but that's another story.

This time around I have the goals I never had before, I got to the end of the program last time and just thought I'd be happy doing 30 minutes 3 times a week, this time though it's different somehow, I want the 10k, I also want to do a sub-40 minute 5k in the mid term, a 30 minute 5k is a long way off for me but that's a long term goal

This time the real difference is me, I'm enjoying each run more than I ever thought I would, much more than in 2017 and I loved it then.

I'm no longer running just on the treadmill, if you haven't tried running outside then I recommend you do, only running on a treadmill caused pacing issues for me when outside.

Overall, just try to enjoy the running for what it is, a great way of getting fit, both physically and mentally.

[Annieapple Administrator Graduate]

Excellent advice already given.

Well done on getting back out there yesterday! 🎈Enjoy your new goal plan. Let us know what you are going to do!