While I've yes been feeling a bit smug and happy about getting to week 9, and keeping my fingers X'd that for just another few days nothing will put me on the injury couch, I've been reflecting on the journey that I've taken since mid-November when my step-daughter first brought up the subject of me running the C25K. I remember trying to protest at first, saying that I'd run back from the (very) local shop felt dreadful and couldn't stop coughing a good 'un for the next hour!
I went back through some of my old posts, my 'diary' posts going back to the end of Week 3 when I first found this forum of like minded and cheery souls. It was really good to share the ups and downs (not just the ups of that damn hill!), but a few things struck me while reading through them.
The first three weeks, they were probably the hardest for me. Needing grit and determination to keep going in the belief that 'it will get easier' - it does of course but with other challenges too! I had small hills that when I got to the top all I wanted to do was dissolve into a puddle in the pavement thinking 'Laura tell me to walk ... when is the walk I'm dying !!!'
In week 4 it did start to get easier as I gradually got fitter, my lungs got used to the extra demand for oxygen - which was a good job, in some of those earlier weeks I could have done with strategically placed oxygen tanks en-route! haha. And I also realised how important the walking sections were. Not just a chance for a rest and get your breath back, but an important part of the plan. You do need to walk briskly at a good pace. The brisk walk is helping you get set up for Wk5 Run3 and the future. Once I realised that, I decided to keep up that walking pace. One of the ways was a brief chant (can't sing out of puff) to get the rhythm going...... Nellie the elephant packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus... hahaha funny I know but it put me in a rhythm to keep going!
Mental attitude to the running started to change around about Week5 Run1, the running sections were starting to feel good and I started to realise that 'I can actually do this!'. I'd been looking ahead in the plan and had spotted that "Run3" and did have some trepidation creeping in. I was so pleased to see lots of other posts on this forum about the dread, the encouragement from the Admins and other Grads and then of course the WoopWoops of joy as each C25K participant knocked that run for six! My attitude changed and I wanted to beat the butt of that run too.
It was during Week 5 that I changed my route and I only went and put a big hill in it (known throughout my posts as that "damn hill") that was 0.75 km long. Obviously not content with the small hill that had previously been killing me! But I needed a longer route for these later weeks. It was during / after week 5 that I found my way to beating that hill and my method came down to cadence - strides per minute - how fast my feet were moving. I found that it was best not just to slow down (obviously) up the hill, but to keep my cadence the same as it was on the flat! (if possible). So take shorter strides but move my legs just as quick. A bit like changing down a gear or two on your bike, where your feet will still be going round and round just as fast but moving slower. It worked for me and now I'm almost a minute faster getting up the hill (and fitter for it too).
Then came Week 6 and all I wanted to do was to get that next accolade, the 'Your a Runner!' from the App, that really makes you feel good! Then I started getting a bit inwardly competitive wanting more pace, faster times and to keep beating that hill!
As I got into Week 8, I was lucky enough to get my 5K and punched the air at the end. Then something that Almorr said in an earlier week kept whispering back at me. I remember reading about pace/time etc being a 'rookie' mistake (easy to fall in to) and that maybe it would be a good idea to run naked (he means without watching the techie gadgets all the way round, heaven forbid, I'd freeze and be carted off to the loony bin). So at the end of Week 8 and now into Week 9 I start and stop my Garmin, but otherwise try to ignore it. Plenty of time to look at stats afterwards. It is so much nicer to run naked, take notice of the scenery, say 'hello' and wave to folk around and just enjoy the run, don't push too hard and don't create injuries.
Throughout it all, after every run, all I wanted to do was share my run and look through other posts and hopefully give some encouragement and cheer everyone else on as everyone has done for me.
Fingers X'd the next few days goes well and I can be a 30 minute runner and join the ever growing pool of Graduates!
Keep running everyone, it really really works!
Fish, chips and mushy peas!
Hello all - 71 years old and hoping to run!
