Week 5 Run 3

[LeeU]

The run everyone fears and, even though I've done the program numerous times, one that still fazes me.

Yes, I'd run for 21 minutes on Thursday but today was different for 2 reasons:

1. I HAD to run for 20 minutes

2. I fell asleep early and woke up, thinking it was morning and time to get up and 11:40 PM!

I struggled to get back to sleep, it was about 1-1:30 when I forced myself to lay down BUT, as usual, 5:30, I was back awake and ready to go.

I digress, back to the run.

I jumped on the treadmill, feeling tired and knew that this was going to be, potentially, my first practice run.

I set off after the 5 minute warm up walk and couldn't get into a rhythm, breathing all over the place, HR climbing faster than usual due to the breathing.

At this point I had 3 choices:

1. Continue until I could continue no more and log it as a practice run.

2. End the run and log it as a practice run OR

3. Give myself a very good verbal spanking and try to get my breathing under control.

I opted for option 3, getting my breathing under control would regulate my HR better and within a couple of minutes it'd dropped to around it's usual.

This then lead to me hitting my rhythm and at that point, Laura came on telling me I'd been running for 10 minutes.

The remaining 10 minutes flew by, I did contemplate adding an extra 5 minutes but, being honest with myself, I was already tired when I started, so I stuck to the plan.

Thankfully, I've finished work for the year, I have a PT assessment session on Tuesday and 5 private sessions booked in.

I'm going to dig my Parkrun wristband out, I may look to do the local one next weekend.

Happy running everyone.

[Annieapple Administrator Graduate]

🍏💥The master at slaying those pesky gremlins! Well done!

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

Well done Lee.

But not everyone 'fears' it Lee ... we should be careful not to build it up more than it already it is.

[LeeU Graduate in reply to John_W]

There I beg to differ, when people look at the program they see it 'jump' from 2x8 minute runs to a single block of 20 minutes and it makes people question if they can do it and many talk themselves into failing it.

Anyone who did the program for the first time and didn't fear this run either didn't look ahead or is a better runner than the majority of people who do the program the first time around.

It is purely a psychological challenge, after all, the only part of your body that knows what time actually is is your head, your legs, heart, etc, have no idea, they just try to do what you're asking of them.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate in reply to LeeU]

Congratulations Lee, most runners fear run 3 of week 5 but after they complete it for the first time they are very proud of themselves I remember the night before I ran it I only slept for 3 hours as I was very nervous, however, once I was running, especially after ten minutes I was very confident that not only would I complete run 3 of week 5 in 20 minutes which I did, but would complete the whole course of C25K in about 5 weeks time.

[LeeU Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks Al, I know the first time I looked at C25K, I was doing mainly HIIT sprints/walks on the treadmill, I looked at the progression and saw week 5 run 3 and I honestly thought that's not possible.

That would have been somewhere around 2014(-ish) I think, since then I've done the program 5-6 times so I know by the time you get to week 5 it's about 90% of the time a purely psychological barrier you hit, not a physical one.

[Beachcomber66 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

when I did that run I asked myself” what is the really the worst thing that can happen….could I spontaneously combust?” Answer ..probably not….so I just went into snail mode and did it. All in the mind a you say.