The best laid plans…

[HeavyFoot]

Three years ago in December I completed the C25K program and was delighted. On commencement I thought I’d never do it.

Yesterday I came across the list for improvement I wrote out. It’s funny how plans turn out!

Distance: over 6 weeks I planned to increase from 30 to 60 minutes by 5 minutes increments. As it turned out, after 3 weeks I got fed up, kept to a slow cadence and plodded for 60 minutes.

Speed: I planned to redo the whole C25K program walking and sprinting (by my standards!). I did so up til W5R3 when I discovered no way could I keep up such a speed.

Gradient: I made a list of local steps I could practice on. For some reason I overlooked all the hills surrounding my house, possibly because I thought they’d be too hard. Anyway, the first lockdown in 2020 forced me to tackle them.

Extend step: I nearly ruptured myself trying this. In fact, over time, my average step length has increased from 78 to 84 cm by itself.

One thing I wish I had written down was: keep the ruddy weight off. I lost loads during the first six months but over these lockdowns I managed to put it all back on. And more. 😕

But most of all: just enjoy it and enjoy your limits. Maths tell me I won’t do 5km in 30 minutes. I’ll keep on finishing Parkrun towards the back. And I’m getting huge satisfaction conquering my pesky local hills in all weathers.

Let’s hear it for us runners!!!!

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Interesting post from you HeavyFoot, almost 3 years since you graduated, that day in December 2018 will stay in your memory for a very long time, there are many people on this forum who first started with C25K in 2018

Interesting stats regarding your average step length, you must have also ran a fair number of km/miles in those 3 years.

I only started knowing how many kilometers I have ran in those 3 years after about a year, including parkruns, (not ) parkruns, all the other 5K runs, several short 3K's mainly during cold winter weather, I have also ran 20/10Ks and 5/10 mile runs, not sure how all that adds up altogether on how many miles/kilometers I have run since April 18th 2018 when I ran run 1 of week 1.

[HeavyFoot Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

What a journey it’s been for so many of us!! You’ve been a great example, Al.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate in reply to HeavyFoot]

👍

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Indeed... the runners here are totally awesome!

[HeavyFoot Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

Even after the most disappointing of runs, we have to remember that millions of people didn’t do them at all!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Hills are your friends and will build stamina quicker than the flat.

Thank you for telling us about your experience redoing C25K walking and sprinting. Many say they are going to attempt this but we never hear the outcome. I always wondered what people were going to do when the reached continuous running.

I think fartlek is a better approach.

Increasing stride is something we always counsel against..........it just increases impact stresses.

Increasing cadence is much more effective.

Have you read this FAQ post about getting faster? healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

[HeavyFoot Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Your advice always welcome and inspiring IdT. Thank you.

[SueAppleRun Graduate]

It’s great looking back but even better looking forward and you are amazing so be proud

[HeavyFoot Graduate in reply to SueAppleRun]

Love reading your running exploits WaS 😊