41 - 6ft 2" - 21st - W8 R1 - Self Inflicted Hardship

[Sedge]

Afternoon all,

I competed week 7 on saturday, and followed up the run with some vigorous gardening, and a hike up Tennyson down that afternoon. I was desperate to burn more calories, as we have planned an evening of drinks and indian takeaway in the garden with a couple of friends. I drank for the first time in 6 weeks, and I drank too much! Sunday was a day of licking wounds and feeling sorry for myself, my need for a roast dinner as comfort food was too much to resist, and therefore both Saturday and Sunday I went over my calorie allowance. I needed the extra day off on Monday, as I could still feel I was suffering a little. However, I did get back on the scales, and I'd remained at 21st exactly, so no damage done, however, I am anticipating a slower week of weight loss in any case.

So onto todays run - clearly I was still not on tip top form, and I did struggle, although my aerobic performance continues to improve, my legs felt heavy and my mind was playing tricks. My inner dialogue was telling me "Im never going to run for 20 minutes today, let alone 28".

But, I did, and at a similar pace to what I have been achieving over the past week. Could I have carried on for that extra two minutes to get to 30, probably, but I was really struggling towards the end, the last 5 minutes were particularly hard.

I am sure that once you get to the longer runs on this programme, it becomes more of a mental battle that it is physical! A days rest, and I'll head out on Thursday and Saturday mornings to finish this week off, before progressing to Week 9 and graduating!

See you at the finish line!

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

Good stuff Sedge, you're doing well and your enthusiasm and determination re: C25K and your weight loss is great.

Just bear in mind that you won't burning many calories at all while doing C25K.

1 mile of moderately paced running will only burn (very approximately) 100 calories.

So 5k (3.1 miles) burns only 300 cals. That's 1-a-third pints of beer or 3 glasses of wine or 1 cheeseburger. A roast dinner is typically 850 calories.

So a marathon is burning approx 2600 cals, 10k (6.2 m) 600 cals etc.

The good news #1 is that doing C25K can be a gatewway to healthier choices generally. You may start to think about how you can improve your running and you look at food and drink in a new way.

#2 is that if you continue running and really get into it, then increasing your weekly running frequency and distance will really start to pay dividends.

Anyway, for now... crack on!