Well another tick in my achievements box. Thanks to the ongoing support of this lovely community, I have - as of yesterday - finished with the NHS 12-week fitness plan and my consolidation phase! ( here my whole 12 week journey
healthunlocked.com/couchto5... )
(Apologies for multiple posting, I posted a shorter version of this on the Strength and Flex forum)
The NHS 12-week program is a plan ( nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/1... ) is in its truest form contains C25k, with learning to stretch and with strengths routines (Str&Flex) specifically geared for beginner runners, and in its final phase moves on to the C5k+ podcasts, working on increasing speed and stamina when running.
I really loved having the structure of this plan, specifically after graduating from C25k. So I did not do the C25k at the same time as the 12-week plan, but moved to the plan after graduating. But it did give me, as expected, a solid 12 weeks of consolidation runs, or in my case 35 consolidation runs!!!
What it also gave me was a good knowledge of all sorts of workouts, and it has been really fun moving from one workout to another every couple of days. As many of the NHS workouts have only a website with no podcasts (as the Str & Flex do) I put them all in my Tabata Timer interval training app, which now gives me instructions and plays my chosen music through Spotify.
Along the way my arms have firmed up, and my knees and backs are better than they have been for a long time. And as some of the workouts are repeated only every 4 or 5 weeks, one really experiences the progress achieved. Benchdips are now possible, squats don’t make my back click anymore, and specifically my knees feel so much stronger;- something I notice every time I go up or down any stairs.
Knowing the winter is coming, and with help of husband and son, we’ve been rearranging our living-room to accommodate a workout corner. Most of the workouts until now I did outside, and it was great having that routine of every other day taking a blanket, my resistance bands and my iPhone outside and getting close to trees, branches, sitting stones, lawns and garden paths. I rediscovered the beauty of watching clouds, the fascination for weaving arms of trees, and the feel of bark when doing standing pushups. My single white chicken joined me often in doing stretches and pull-ups.
My runs have - of course - also become more ‘solid’, I am still a super-slow runner (and proud of it), but during this plan I extended my runs and managed to hit my 60 min running target. 5k are still not quite a normal occurrence, but they could be if my beautiful route had that extra 400m to hit those 5k! It feels quite ‘doable’ as my weekly long run.
So I now consider myself solidly consolidated and will move to a next set of plans, my own curated series of running and workout plans. So follow me if you also are in search of interesting routines which will hopefully include a lot of variety. All my current workouts were beginner level, most of them 30 min or so. My next phase will include belly dancing workouts (40min😳), zombie runs 🧟♀️ and knee workouts 🦵 !
I will probably post a little less on this forum, as I have moved my interaction to both the Strength & Flexibility forum for workouts and the Bridge to 10k community for running.
But I do want to give a huge thanks to this C25k community. Thanks to this community I kept on running and kept on believing I could reach the next achievement.
And this journey hasn’t ended yet.
I also want to just mention that the Bridge to 10k community forum is the perfect place for graduates of the C25k program, even for those graduates that don’t plan to get to 10k. It deals with post-consolidation issues, from running races, park runs, virtual runs, injury rehab, running longer and faster, gear and stats, all the things relevant for runners who have been able to make running a regular thing in their lives.
I have, thanks in large part to this community, so big thanks and keep on keeping on. I wish everyone a brilliant run!
C25K Consolidation done! 🥳
MARCH 2021 CONSOLIDATION CLUB
It's your July consolidation club 🥳 come on in
