First 5k! W8R3

[SquintyBunny]

I did something today that I have never done before and had no intention of doing today.

Spoilers: I ran for 5km!

Now, let me put this into perspective. It was not within the timeframe of my intended run, it was a 10:27/km average pace, but it felt good so I carried on and somehow hit this milestone!

The previous 3 times I have tried to do this run, I had stopped at around 15 minutes in for one reason or another, eventhough I had managed W8R1 without any real issues. I was beginning to feel I had hit the wall and hard.

Fast forward to today, I gave myself a pep talk and out I went. 5 minutes pasted by pretty quick, my usual calf tighteness hadn't hit yet and I was feeling good. 10 minutes and still good.

4 minutes later, half way point and I felt that growing pain in my calves, heaviness in my legs and tightness in my stomach. Here we go again, I thought.

No, I told myself. It is all my head, and I have got this!

I lost myself in the zone, several times blinking back to reality wondering how it was I had run to this point already. Like when you drive and you don't have to think about changing gears anymore? Like that.

Laura told me 5 minutes to go and I felt good. I told myself I could make it to 30 minutes, just to prove to my demons I was stronger than they were. I joked to myself that I could do a 5k! Hahaha!

Laura told me I could slow down and walk now, but I kept moving. I could make it til she told me my warm down walk was over. How hard is 5 more minutes.

Hmm... 3.5km on my watch, if I get to the end of my loop I will have done 4km...

If I do one more loop, I'll have hit 5km!

So, Obviously, I did that last loop and I feel incredible! I am so so proud of myself, for believing in myself and coaching myself to this milestone! And my garmin very nicely gave me a little 5K Running Badge to mark the occassion! Absolutely chuffed and I just had to share this moment with you all.

Happy running guys!

--Squinty

[Dtay1978 Graduate]

Wow, well done you 😊

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Congratulations on completing week 8 and running your first 5K, however, it is not advisable to do what you have just ran, it risks injury, over enthusiastic runs risk you going onto the injury couch, you only have 3/30 minute runs to go until you graduate, I would advise you to keep to 30 minutes, good luck for your graduation run. 🏃🏾 👍

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Congratulations... however please be careful... the plan is carefully devised to step up safely week by week, and if I read that correctly the run was 28 minutes but you ran 53ish... that’ll put the risk of injury quite high.

[Hidden]

Brilliant! I bet you feel amazing 😀

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

That is an achievement...........

So you are someone who is struggling with the runs.........then you take it into your mind to ignore the guidance and advice of the plan and exceed the 10% rule used by most experienced runners to increase their weekly training load......not very wise at all.

We are all capable of doing way more than our bodies are conditioned to do, but not without increasing our injury risk. Sticking to gently progressive training plans is the safest way to push our limits, whilst gently increasing our resistance to injury.

Injury strikes out of the blue and can stop you in your tracks for days, weeks or even months........is it worth the risk?

[SquintyBunny Graduate]

Well gee, amazing how quickly you can go from feeling incredible and extremely proud to feeling completely deflated with such few words.

Thank you for your advice and support guys, I will truly take your advice on. I had no intention of doing that, just added a little at a time and ended up at 5k. But I am now just feeling regret and upset about that run.

[UnfitNoMore Graduate in reply to SquintyBunny]

It’s still a fantastic achievement... we just don’t want to see you not able to run for a while. Take it nice and easy on your next couple of runs and all should be well, maybe an extra rest day will help your legs too. It took me a few attempts to actually complete my reply to you, as I didn’t want you feeling like you are now. You’re a superstar, and nobody can fault your enthusiasm... control the urges to over run a plan and you’ll go far.

[Couchphoenix Graduate]

Well done SquintyBunny that’s a brilliant achievement 👍

[Schoolie]

Well done, that is a fantastic achievement! I can only dream of managing 5k. You should be really proud of yourself.

[liam-1 Graduate]

Please ignore negative people’s replies, the main thing is you feel happy and positive regarding your achievement and you should be !!!!

Well done keep up the positive mind set and like I say. 99% of people on here give positive uplifting advise and encouragement, ignore the minority.

You know how your body feels and what your limits are. You go girl 👍🏻👍🏻💪🏻👊🏻