Week 6

[Teejay113]

I've stepped up my running today, I did all 3 runs in the morning. Every time I felt like giving up I would think my niece who has cancer, she's not giving up so why should I.

I'm going to have a few day's rest. Then I shall be doing wk 7,8and9 next wk wish me luck. Peace

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome to the forum and well done on your progress.

When you run, the impact creates microtears in your muscles, which repair and strengthen on your rest days, not while running. Without rest, repair and strengthening are compromised and injury risk increased.

If you want to be the best runner that you can be, then do non impact cross training on your rest days, which will be far more beneficial than running every day. It is not recommended for new runners to run on consecutive days until they have a minimum of six months regular running on their legs.

Rest days are part and parcel of the plan. For your sake, stick to the plan. If you are new to running, all your enthusiasm could lead to nought. 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 often strikes out of the blue and can stop you for days, weeks or even months.

This guide to the plan is essential reading healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

and includes advice on minimising impact, stretching after every run, hydration and strengthening exercises, all of which will help.

Enjoy your journey.

[Teejay113 Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks for your advice peace

[mancrunner1 Graduate]

I remember that feeling of excitement and hating my rest days as I was so keen to get through the programme but 9 runs in a week really isn’t a good idea, you’re much more likely to injure yourself and you’re not building stamina - do try to stick to the plan so you graduate as a strong runner. You’ve done so well so far, good luck with the rest!

[Teejay113 Graduate in reply to mancrunner1]

Thanks for the advice I will take it to heart. Peace

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Great job… I’m sorry that your inspiration comes from such a dark place there… but not giving up is the way to take on life’s challenges. Good luck to both you and your niece on your very different journeys.

[Teejay113 Graduate in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Thanks ♥️

[nowster Graduate]

You did three 25 minute runs in one morning? That's not in any way advised.

I wasn't up to running for that long in any one day until about six months after graduating C25K.

At this stage you need those rest days between the runs to avoid injury.

It's not necessarily the muscles that will give you problems. They develop fairly quickly. The problems you're likely to see are in tendons and ligaments which take a long time to strengthen (and heal) due to their greatly reduced blood flow.

[Teejay113 Graduate in reply to nowster]

Yes I know its probably not a good idea. But I really felt good but I hear you thanks. But running is so addictive. Peace

[nowster Graduate in reply to Teejay113]

I know it's addictive. I overdid it this time last year (on my graduation run) and spent a month on the Injury Couch nursing a doubly sprained ankle with shin splints. It took two physio visits to fix, and then another couple of months redoing C25K from scratch.

[Teejay113 Graduate]

Guys thanks for all your input, I'm just going to for a long walk today. And try and relax as much as I can. Peace

[SueAppleRun Graduate]

Take it steady, don’t push too hard, as others have said injury isn’t fun, running becomes addictive though and your long walk sounds like a good plan