End of week 5 - feeling stronger!

[silverflowers]

I completed my week 5 run 3 run at the parkrun yesterday. It was very cold with a freezing wind and I was shivering at the start. I was very apprehensive about the 20 minute run, so decided to take it very slowly. Happily there were a couple of people running extremely slowly in front of me, so I decided to stick with them as it was a pace that seemed sustainable - and it was! I hoped that my heavy breathing wouldn't bother them. I was thrilled to make it to the 20 minute mark without having to stop. When I moved into my cooldown walk I overtook them and went on to achieve my second slowest parkrun time ever. As I've said before, my running is slower than my walking. It didn't matter - I still felt very pleased with myself.

I haven't lost any weight since I started the programme but I do feel stronger. I have muscles in my legs that didn't use to be there, and when my son jumps out of his bunk bed into my arms in the morning my legs no longer buckle under the weight. I feel that my bones must be getting stronger too. This feels great as I have always been a weak and feeble fainting sort of person. Onto week 6!

[Elfe5 Graduate]

Fantastic! Very well done! 😄

Speed doesn’t matter a jot - keep on reaping all those benefits! 😄

[silverflowers Graduate in reply to Elfe5]

Thank you!

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Congratulations on completing run 3 of week 5, that is a milestone run with C25K, nice that your legs don't buckle when your son jumps into your arms under his weight.

Onwards and upwards to week 6 run 1 but be careful about that run as it catches out some people with the interval walks and runs after the non stop 20 minutes of W5R3 which you have just ran 🏃🏾 😊

[silverflowers Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

I will make sure to take it gently again. Thanks for the encouragement

[Rigpig Graduate]

That's great, you should be very proud that you are sticking with it. I have lost a little weight so far and have stopped looking at the scales for now because like you I can feel the benefits in so many other ways. I'm doing W6R1 tomorrow and really looking forward to it!

[silverflowers Graduate in reply to Rigpig]

Well done! Good luck starting week 6 tomorrow

[RunningMigster Graduate]

Well done! Must be a really nice confidence booster to know you can do it!

I think you're right not to look at the scales. One thing I've learned about running (at our stage at least), is that you're going to lose little or no weight. What you will find though, is that you will lose inches! Plus, as you said, you're getting stronger and you're getting healthier.

Good luck with the rest of the program and keep posting!

Mig

[silverflowers Graduate in reply to RunningMigster]

Thank you Mig! I am definitely keen to keep going. I suspect it may be couch to 3K for me at the end though!

[Runningdumpling Graduate]

Well done, it is a milestone and you’ve done it, week 6 is a bit different with the timings, but it works

Speed doesn’t matter at our stage, the fact is you have kept moving without stopping for 20 min, something seemingly unachievable a few weeks ago.. keep going, you can do it!

[silverflowers Graduate in reply to Runningdumpling]

Thank you! You are right I keep having to tell myself that speed doesn't matter. I feel so worried that I won't be able to keep going that I go as slowly as humanly possible on these long runs, but often I can speed up a bit for the last minute so I probably could go a bit faster if I were braver. Hopefully I'll get more confidence in myself the more I do.

[Anniejam]

Just joined the group tonight, yours was the 1st post I read. Very inspirational. I’m looking forward to starting tomorrow.

[silverflowers Graduate in reply to Anniejam]

Good luck with the programme! You will get plenty of support and encouragement here. Let us know how you are getting on