hello, hello, hello….
Who’s still out there?
If you’re reading this post then you must be a new graduate??
if you joined the chat last week, how’s it going? Are you feeling good with your consolidation runs?
If you’re joining us all this week, welcome aboard!!! Tell us all about it!!
I’ve been looking forward to seeing some Christmassy pictures from some of your runs but nothing so far…I’m getting the festive feeling though…I’d still love to see some pics…and hear all about your running…
Christmassy picture challenge is still on so who’s going to be the first to share one?
Have a fab week everyone…I’m still plodding through the programme…
A bit about consolidation and running as a new Graduate…
You’ll almost certainly have heard people talking about taking some time to “consolidate” after graduation. This isn’t compulsory but it’s a really good idea. When you have increased your running distance or duration over a few weeks, it is good to pause and consolidate for a short period, bedding in all that effort and getting ready for whatever comes next. That just means not continuing to build the distance or setting out to get faster for a little while.
It’s a brilliant time to just enjoy your running. Without having to increase duration week on week, you can take the pressure off and have some fun! You can run somewhere beautiful and new. Forget about pace! Mix up your run times. Go up a hill! While you are consolidating you are also helping to establish the habit of running in your life. It is said to take twelve weeks of changed behaviour to create a new habit, so a three-week consolidation will get you there!
Running as a graduate will look different for everyone which is why we really hope people will share what they’ve been doing. We can pinch ideas and take inspiration from each other. The key thing is to keep it steady and remember you’ve got a whole lifetime of running ahead of you. Keeping to 30 minutes max as a rough rule of thumb is a generally good idea and we’d encourage you to be really sensible about running for longer. It’s widely recommended not to increase the length of any of your runs by more than 10% each week because of the risk of injury. Think about how Couch to 5k gradually builds up. The last thing anyone wants is to spend time on the injury couch just after finishing!
happy running x
2 weeks since I graduated
Consolidating - Week 13 of C25K - Run 2
Graduated on New Year's Day!
Week 9 Run 3 - Graduation! 🎉
Weekly chat April 2 - 8
