Hello running friends, here we are again, into the second week of October.
I am on running pause for a few days... double vaccination for Covid and Flu, on Saturday, means I am taking a bit of a rest while the vaccines do their thing! Apart from feeling a tad weary for 48 hours and a very pink itchy arm... I am feeling okay! The pink itchy arm is still here.. but I do have this with all of them! Like insect bites
Here we are, all with our own reasons for starting back on the running road. As in the Week One post, we do know what might have impacted/ stopped our running, but we all know, also that we want to pick up and carry on.
We've begun, we are on the way, we are all at different stages, but for some of us, having begun, we are already thinking, but how do I keep going? How do I keep that feeling of wanting to run again still strong, despite life and all it throws at us!
Well, firstly, if our running has been non-existent for more than a couple of weeks, ( try months or years ), we are going to need a careful comeback plan!
If we are going to comeback successfully and stick with it... we need a slow return and a slow build up...no worries about lost fitness or fast-ness!
It may feel really hard at first, like trying to start an old motor! But with patience, we will be running smoothly, ( pardon the pun), in no time
* Life goes on
Some of the things that stopped us running, may still be there... family, work, are a constant, and illness and injury can still happen...the trick is, how we handle them.
We need to try to build in strategies to cope with this... finding time for ourselves. Not just our runs, but for strength and stamina work, as well as relaxation time.
Sometimes, finding time just to rest, or to sleep.
* Keeping the motivation that made us begin this, still vibrant and strong.
Shake things up, choose some new routes, maybe a fun run... a race in the future...some challenges for yourself... a slightly faster run or a longer run, a charity run ?
Make some plans... what for? To treat yourself for markers reached...a new piece of running gear, a day doing something that you never do, a favourite meal out... or just a coffee with a friend.
* Gently does it.
The time we have been away does need to figure into our plans. What we try to do, relates to the staying power...our staying power. Coming back after injury or illness is the easy bit... we know what we need to do to stay safe... and how to take it gently, the need for caution... but after the other stuff?
We can look at facts and figures:
8-15 days: 75-90%
2-3 weeks: 60-75%
3 weeks-1 month: 50-60%
More than 1 month: 40-50%
...but for me, facts and figures aside, the way is within ourselves. Listen to your body, listen hard, listen not just for any warning messages but listen also, for the voice that says, “... yes, you are doing this, you are getting stronger, breathing easier, going further or faster. You are running again” .
Just hearing that voice.... that is our motivation... that is what will keep us here and keep us running.
Now, what I and everyone here want to know is, how are you making sure that you keep on track and keep running. Have you got secret strategies, for staying motivated?
For me... I think of how I have felt since I had a massive setback in 2020. compounded with a re setback in 2021...how strong I am, and how much I love my running and the way it impacts on my physical and mental health. I think how I came back from that. Then I look at my family, and how much I want to be around for them , for as long as I am able with the love and the joy and all that we are fortunate enough to share. This helps me keep running,
You turn now; slip off your running shoes, pull up a chair... and let us know how it is all going. I shall look forward to hearing from you.
Oldfloss x
PS
Photo is a back view of me at the start of a 10K Spitfire Run at RAF Cosford. I love starting behind everyone
UPDATE :
Please everyone, do read the reply from Annieapple . It says it all ! x
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So much to relate to in this post Oldfloss. …for me after 6 weeks of agonising pain the only way back was to begin again from scratch…even if I had to repeat Week 1 100 times I wanted to be back running…I am a slow runner so it’s not pace that motivates me..it’s the energy & vibrancy that running brings me.. I feel alive.. my senses are heightened & life feels extraordinarily wonderful.. being a latecomer to the running world, I have never exceeded 7ks … there’s a vague goal to reach 10 … I love running in new places..I love the discipline of falling out of bed into my running gear 3x week.. the space, the freedom…the surroundings.. the early morning skies & crisp air… falling rain… wind!! It’s never ever the same old thing…. Come back & join me while you can! You will only ever regret not getting those trainers back on your feet..
Lovely to see you here this morning. I just read your last post from Hawaii, your last run there... goodness, how little we may realise where this running takes us.
Your post is full of the emotions and sensations that so many of us will identify with... I am totally with you, on the freedom, the energy and the sheer power that Nature and the great outdoors instill in us. There will others too, coming back from illness or bowed down by the pressures that are impacting all of us currently.
I have tagged you in my post because I would love everyone on the forums to read this... it might just help, if they are, at whatever level, going through a struggle phase of their running.
Thank you so much for this, just reading it this morning has made my day.
Have a safe journey home, and we shall watch for your first home run!
So much to respond to here! I did c25k in 2019. Never been a runner and was astonished to find that I love it. I’m never going to go far or fast but I really don’t want to stop. Since I graduated I’ve moved house twice and every two or three months I get badly hit by diverticulitis which knocks me back for a few weeks. I’ve had covid and flu.
So far I’ve always got back up and got back to running for all the reasons annieapple explains so powerfully. Came back after covid. Keep getting knocked down and getting back up again. Over the last three years I must have had seven or eight comebacks!
This week I’m in bed with an awful cold and rasping cough. It might be because I’m feeling rough but I’m also really disheartened. I’m a cheerful, positive and persistent type but I’m just exhausted and dreading running being a struggle again. I feel as if every time I get happy and comfortable with 5k or more illness kicks my legs out from under me and I have to claw my way back up again.
Sorry for the moan! Any advice or encouragement very gratefully received. I don’t often post but I do read here a lot and think this is a truly great forum!
Moan away, shout, ( not with a cold), scream, stamp your feet. all with good cause and then... give yourself the biggest round of applause and listen to us cheering you!
What a time you have had and no wonder you feel like the road is clear... wham!!!
Yet.... you are still here.. still trying, still wanting to go again! Blimey! A lot of folk would have given up and taken up ... errr ...chess????
So... you have decided to head out again, and head out you will. Recover fully... really fully. Spend time reading posts, getting ideas, finding new ideas maybe.... choose something new, ( need not be expensive) that you will treat yourself to , after your first Comeback run.
We are here... we will support you. We all need to know that we are not on our own. When I began Couch again after ,my blip in 2020... It took me from December 17th to June in 2021 to get back to Re Graduation...I could not have done it without my best friend and supporter.. Mr OF and my family... at home and on here.
We may run on our own, but we never run alone.
You will be back here, you will run , we will run with you and I will be the one, whispering in your ear... you've guessed it... slow and steady! x
what a lovely reply. Thanks so much. You are totally right that the answer to not giving up is, surprise,surprise, not giving up! But it’s the taking it gently and looking for the pleasure in it that I need to remind myself about. When I get fed up I will come back and read this. 👍🙂
I have just reread your original post OF and it’s full of really great ideas. I am particularly struck by the idea of running for your family and for healthy and rewarding time with them. For the time being I’ll hold on to that as a reason to get out there again (not today though!)
Hello! So good to see you here with another reply!!
Yes, for many of us, the family, our family, whether near or far, are a great reason to get out there. Not forgetting ourselves as part of that family
Sometimes, I only have to image my small granddaughter to get over a stumbling block, or make that little bit more effort when going through tough times. We are blessed with a loving circle and unlike many, many folk, are able to support each other.
I think that holding hard to that is a very good reason for you to get out there again! I shall be watching for your post!
Here's Annya (yet again) popping her head over the parapet 👀👀👀
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have beenknocked back several times by repeated bouts of COVID (despite being fully vaccinated!) over the past 12 months, but I refuse to give up! I've been keeping very quiet up to now this time, as I have had to stop again so many times it's getting a tad embarrassing, but after spotting a post today from someone in a kind of similar position I have decided to "come out" and hope I don't have to scuttle back into the PVF corner again 🤞👍🤞
I'm now back in my running shoes and doing Week 4, Run 2 this evening after work. It's not easy, and I am still having to make myself do every single run, but I am doing them and am hoping that things will start to get better before I re-graduate or just run out of steam again.
Do not be embarrassed at all... many of us have been knocked back, many times, by illness or life issues... all manner of things. The main point here is, you came back!
I am in awe of all my friends here, who get out after a day of hard work , or even before a long day of work! That is a win before the run even begins!
Just take it slow and take it steady... it does pay off. Just keep posting or popping in here and we shall help you move on.
You have had a rough time and ll credit to you for keeping on standing up again and stepping out. Very, very well done ! x
I'm on third time lucky this week. I got all the way to one run away from graduation in the Spring and then life and Covid got in the way, also I am not too good at running in the heat so it all stopped. Autumn has rolled in and I've put back on my running shoes, so hopefully I'll work my way up to graduation this time. It was a satisfying feeling to be able to run for a long time without a worry - I'm aiming for that again 🙂
Third time lucky indeed... Just put all the horrid stuff that got in the way, out of your head. ( If you are able). Here you are and here we are.... together we will get up to that graduation podium.
To run, without a worry.... now there is a goal...hold it, see it and slow and steady.... you will get there x
your call to the trainers last week was the motivation I needed and as if I needed a wee nudge extra a friend from out of my area contacted me about doing a race local to me next June. That seemed just the longer term goal I needed to keep me going….quick calculation said doable but just! But scared as never done a race before but nothing ventured nothing gained. So here I am trainers off, pulling up a chair to say 4 runs completed of my c25k revisit and I feel great. Found that love of being out early again and I enjoyed my last run….I’m such a happier person with running in my life
This is great news...Just the fact that you say that you are ..." a happier person with running in my life".
That has to be one of the best sources of motivation... and, icing on the cake... an added little spur on, a goal to look forward to next year. Plenty of time to think about how to tackle it, enough time for any pauses in training not too impact too much, and the lovely time of the year too! Perfect!
Well done on those four runs...on you go, slow and steady and your chair is here for you as you move forward!
Hi OF - great post - lots to empathise with - definitely feel like an old motor. 😖 But finished W2R1 - thanks for the push, - I saw your post & thought “Gotta run before replying!”😂
What keeps me coming back? - Being fitter, a better quality of feeling alive, running alone through the fields with the sea in the distance and the wind/ birdsong( ok not right now but soon) in my ears, yes, being fit for loved ones… and then the transferable benefits- fit enough to climb hills & mountains, to cycle up a hill without using lowest gears, to walk for miles… 😄
I have decided on those reluctant days to dig out my old attitude of “don’t think, just go”!
Hello! Yes... a few old motors here at the moment... I am a bit slow to get started in a morning, certainly!
Wow... you have many reasons there for running. Those feelings are priceless, feeling that has to be felt personally, it is so hard to describe.
Thank you for this. That attitude will stick with me and I shall hold onto it, not just for my running! Overthinking has been my downfall a couple of years back and took me back to the start of C25K..
I may use that in a future post, if I have your permission, please?
Yes of course. 😄 It avoids all that potential stalling. When I was working full time, I added “out of the door in under 10 minutes” to it (I ran after work) otherwise I would have never got out at all!! 😂
After reaching 13k my wheels fell off big time. Looking back, life just got in the way. Made redundant, new job blah, blah, blah. I then fell into the "easy" option of getting up, driving all day and then flopping on the couch (usually with crisps and beer)
I watched from afar as my weight increased, my clothes no longer fitted and I really started to feel ashamed. Especially given how proud my children were of me having completed C25K after my heart attack.
I knew deep down I needed to reverse the trend so I re-started the program around Week 3 I think. It was the best thing I could have done. I no longer felt the pressure of pace and distance. I no longer felt the pressure of Garmin numbers. The only goal was to complete each run, irrespective of time. That felt great.
When I felt like I was having a wobble I would think about my VRBs. You guys. What would @WillowandSola say about this situation. What would Mr Truffe do. What would @Cmoi say about her Garmin data? 🤣🤣🤣.
Without knowing it, you all helped me get back on track. A huge thank you.
Now, I'm at that critical junction of consolidation again. My plan is to just run whatever I please. I'm not setting goals such as pace, distance, elevation etc. I'm just listening to my body and taking it steady.
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