New here!
I'd just like to share my experience on two important runs (for me at least).
Before going into W5R3, I guarantee you I thought I wasn't able to complete it. And It turned out true, the first time I attempted to run 20 minutes straight I stopped at the 12th minute. I gave myself the excuse that it was because I got a work message and had to rush to the computer to reply. So I left the treadmill, stopped for around 20 minutes and decided to come back and run the next 8 minutes straight as well as finish the walking section.
Over the weekend I decided to google a little bit about the program and maybe find something on reddit about the big jump. And that's when I bumped into this website/community. I learned it's ok not to run at a big speed and I could absolutely run at walking speed, as long as I was in fact running and not walking. I said to myself "Even if I come home late, on Sunday I'll be trying again". And I did. I was able to run at 8.2kph for exactly 15 minutes and then, instead of quitting, I just slowed down. I ran at 7kph and later, after mistakenly changing the incline to 10% and not realising it, slowed down to 5.9kph, hahaha.
After finishing such a big run I thought I could do anything. Of course, going through this phase of generalised lack of energy, it took me a week to run once again. W6R1, next Sunday. 0 motivation, feeling tired and groggy after an afternoon nap on the couch. But I had to, now that things were getting so interesting, I had to run. I ran the first 5 minutes and then the next 8 at a huge struggle. Well, I don't know if you guys have felt this, I read it's quite normal, I got loose bowel movements while finishing those 8 minutes and rushed to the bathroom with cramps. I wasn't going to force something that was clearly not gonna happen and most of all wouldn't be physically and mentally healthy. So I thought "Well, this isn't gonna happen, but I could still walk at a very slow pace, I feel like listening to music and just relax". Said and done, for 30 minutes I walked at 3/3.5kph, and it felt absolutely great, I was on a Drake-roll, listening to a 3h playlist of his songs. Feeling so well I said "It's not the same as completing W6R1 on the defined schedule, but I could go for the last 5 minutes run on a 4.5kph speed". I did it, at around minute 4 I felt a slightly tired, but thought "there's only one minute left, I can do it. In fact, let's up this to 7kph". Next thing I know I wasn't feeling tired at all "wait, I could definitely go for one more minute, I'm enjoying this so much...!" So I ran until minute 6. But then it happened again: somehow I wasn't tired, so I kept adding a new minute, and another one and then another one. Believe it or not I stopped at minute 27 and could definitely finish at 30 if I really wanted and made the effort to. I'm 24 years old and I've never, ever, run that long without stopping for a break.
All of this to say I 100% agree with what I've read here: running is more mental than physical. From the moment I removed any kind of pressure I had put on myself, I went from failing W6R1 to completing more than W6R3 by accident. The program does indeed prepare us for each run. We can do that and much more.
W5R3
W6R1 - champing at the bit!
W5r3!!!
W5R3
W5R3 🎉🎉🎉
