Happy running. Yes, happy!

[NettieNoo]

I went for my 3rd run of the week yesterday ... as ever the worst part of it was the anticipation of doing it. Once I'm changed and ready to go out, it's fine, but I build it up in my head beforehand. Self sabotage. Daft.

Anyway, runs are getting much more enjoyable (daylight and dry weather help enormously!) and this one was just lovely. The birds were singing, the river was chuckling along in the valley, lambs were bleating and I tried to just take it all in, appreciate being outdoors and forget I was even running. I went slowly, as advised, and FINALLY got a proper feel for running at an easy conversational breathing pace. I could have talked to someone all the way! It would have been a very dull conversation (mostly "look, I can breathe and talk and run all at the same time!") but I could have done it.

So I ran, and ran and carried on running ... got to roughly where I expected to at 30 minutes and realised that not only was I LIKING it! but my breathing was still OK and it felt like I could carry on. So I did. I just kept going. I carried on to where this particular route runs out and turns into a) a short but unpleasantly steep slope and then b) a main road, had a quick peek at Strava and realised I'd run 4½k! No way I was stopping then, so I just kept going until I'd done 5k. This is the first 5k I've done in over 2 years and it felt GOOD! I'd be lying if I said my breathing didn't get a bit erratic in that last ½k, but that was mostly excitement and actually I think I could have carried on some more. I didn't, though - one thing at a time.

I felt like I'd gone incredibly slowly, but actually it was about the same as usual, it just felt much easier than it has done so far. I didn't do 5k in 30 minutes, but I did do it in 30 minutes and then some more minutes 🤣 I am SO happy with that.

I've learned, on this consolidation phase that some runs feel good, others feel tricky, but they're all valuable. I love the euphoria of the good runs, I need to work on not feeling gutted when I run for 10 minutes and feel dreadful and stop (I always panic and think , "Oh my god, I just can't do it any more"), but the more good ones I get the more I'm realising there is a slow progression, and that ALL the runs help towards that.

Feeling chuffed and relaxed and a teensy bit smug 😁😁

[Instructor57 Graduate]

Well done !Sounds to me like you've figured it out !

😁

[chrisl72 Graduate]

Fantastic! Well done!

[Petem56 Graduate]

It's great when something clicks mentally 😁

[NettieNoo Graduate in reply to Petem56]

Yes, doesn't it feel good?! 😁 I started running about 4 years ago and didn't keep going, sadly, but back then I knew that a 'good' run was more about my mental state than anything else.

[grumpyoldgirl Graduate]

I think you've cracked it, Nettie! I love that feeling when everything clicks. Then if you had a bad run, that's ok because you know you've got a good run just waiting.