Slow and steady wins the race - 13 weeks in an... - Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K

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Slow and steady wins the race - 13 weeks in and graduated

iic25kii profile image
iic25kiiGraduate
5 Replies

I started couch to 5k exactly 13 weeks ago. I hadn't run since cross country in school which made me want to hide in a bush. I turned 49 in January and considered going to a personal trainer to help me improve my fitness. I hadn't got around to organising anything when lockdown saw my activity levels drop to nothing. I knew I needed to do something and with a park run course on my door step I thought that this was an opportunity to try something I'd never considered before.

Week 1 was really hard and my legs seemed to be in agony on rest days

Week 2 saw me discover post run stretches and my legs started to feel better

Week 3 made me think "maybe I can do this"

Week 4 was when I discovered that to run for longer periods I needed to slow down

Week 5 was when the wheel fell off the wagon and my knees screamed at me to stop :(

In the past I might have stopped there and given up, but with plenty of time on my hands and plenty of support on here I tried knee exercises and walked for 30 minutes every day, slowly re-introducing runs (W5R1 and W5R2) until my knees felt strong enough to attempt 20 minutes. Altogether I think I spent 4 weeks on week 5

Week 6 and 7 went fairly smoothly but I gave myself 2 days recovery between each run to help my knees out

Week 8 saw me being impatient so I went back to 1 days rest between runs and my knees seemed to be okay with it

Week 9 has seen me running a bit too fast to start with which has made the last 5 minutes tough but I got through 3 30 minute runs (clocking up 4.6k this morning)

This forum has been great for advice and seeing everyone else's journeys. You have all been inspirations and I can't thank everyone enough

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iic25kii profile image
iic25kii
Graduate
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5 Replies
Blackberrypie profile image
BlackberrypieGraduate

Congratulations, particularly for your determination getting through week 5! Really inspiring to hear your journey.

Tinytears60 profile image
Tinytears60Graduate

Brilliant! 🏆

You must feel amazing!

🏃🏽‍♀️👏👏👏👏

Blossom- profile image
Blossom-Graduate

Yay, well done!🎉 isn't it amazing! Aren't we all amazing! 😀

Dtay1978 profile image
Dtay1978Graduate

Congrats 🥳

IannodaTruffe profile image
IannodaTruffeMentor

Many congratulations on your graduation, fellow runner.

This guide to post C25k running may be helpful healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

Keep running, keep smiling.

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