8K! Getting fit for my black belt!: Hey everyone... - Couch to 5K

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8K! Getting fit for my black belt!

HexGirl profile image
HexGirlGraduate
5 Replies

Hey everyone! It’s been a while! So expect a long post as usual 😂 I’m writing today because I achieved a running first! 8K! But first a little background story as to why I decided to run beyond my usual 5K!

The other week I had my karate grading, I was going from brown (3rd kyu) to brown and white (2nd kyu). As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the fitness I’ve gained from running has made a huge difference to my karate! I’ve been able to do a lot of extra training and I can keep up in the most gruelling of classes. I really noticed the difference in my grading too! I was in control of my breathing and went in strong until the very end. It was still tough of course, but just like when I’m having a hard run, I pulled out everything I had in me and pushed through! Anyway, towards the end of my grading my Sensei gave me an extra, more advanced kata to perform in addition to the one I had to do. And when I got my results he said he was really impressed with all the extra training I’ve been doing and I smashed the extra kata so he DOUBLE GRADED ME! so now I’m a 1st kyu brown and black belt which means my next grading will be for my black belt! (I’ve attached a picture of me showing off my new belt cause I’m really chuffed 😂)

Which brings me to running beyond 5K! My shodan black belt grading is gonna be the most physically demanding thing I have ever done in my life and it’ll be hard no matter what! But the one thing I can do help myself in addition to training my socks off is to up my fitness even more. I’ve been in a pretty consistent place in terms of my fitness lately which is by no means a bad thing! But if I want to improve it I need to change things up a bit! Running has improved my fitness like nothing else so I thought about aiming to run faster, but I like to enjoy my runs and the best way for me to do that is to run at a comfortable pace which brought me to the decision to run further and for longer. So I thought why not build up to 10K from 5K?

My usual run route consists of 2 laps that make up 5K so I decided today that I would try and add a third lap taking me to 7.5K. It was a beautiful morning for a run! But at the start for the first time in a while I experienced a little bit of the toxic 10s which made me wonder if I could run beyond 5K. But I pushed past it and the crazy part is that once I had done 5K, I had a whole new lease of energy and my last lap was some of the fastest, strongest and most comfortable running I’d done of the whole run! So when I got to the end of my third lap (7.5K) I was feeling really good and figured I’d round it up to 8K! It took me just over 50 minutes to do and knowing I can run for that long is an awesome feeling. These last few months have really made me consider how amazing the human body is. I feel like a machine! 😂

So that’s the story of my 8K and my decision to try and get to 10K! After today I’m sure I can do it :) just building up to it! :) watch this space! Happy running! 😁

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HexGirl profile image
HexGirl
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5 Replies
CI578 profile image
CI578Graduate

Great to hear from you and you have achieved so much and I'm really happy for you. Keep going and all the best to you 👍💪🙂

HexGirl profile image
HexGirlGraduate in reply toCI578

Thank you so much! :) how are you getting on? 😊

CI578 profile image
CI578Graduate in reply toHexGirl

I was running regularly but past couple of months I haven't been well and I stopped. Now I'm getting back on my feet again I will hopefully get back out and start running 🏃‍♀️you take care and enjoy your running 👍

HexGirl profile image
HexGirlGraduate in reply toCI578

Sorry to hear you’ve not been well! Sometimes you’ve got to listen to your body and rest! I’m glad you’re getting back on your feet though :) good luck getting back out there! I’m sure it won’t take you long to get back into the swing of it :) thank you! You take care too! 😊🏃‍♀️👍

CI578 profile image
CI578Graduate in reply toHexGirl

Thank you 👍

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