First time posting on here! I've found this forum so helpful for motivation and tips so I thought I'd do my first post.I've tried c25k a few years ago and lost motivation. Started again recently and found the motivation I've never had before. Really stuck at it.
I took a week off at the end of week 7 due to a bad cold and I've been struggling to get back into it ever since.
I haven't managed to get beyond 25mins without stopping. I can't see myself getting to week 8 or 9 and it's frustrating me. I don't want to lose motivation and stop again but I'm mentally struggling to carry on. I have ADHD and once the fun/success goes from an activity/hobby I very quickly get bored and quit.
Anyone else felt the same way?
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Lpoolsoutherner
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You've come to the right place, I think we've all felt stuck at times and found good advice about moving through to the next stage.I'm wondering why you stop? If it's tiredness or being puffed out then I'd suggest trying slowing right down at the beginning of the run.
Welcome...rest assured, many folk have felt and will feel as you do.
Motivation is a strange thing... only you can motivate yourself, but what we can all do here, is support you and encourage you, and give you the odd shove if necessary.'
Loads of posts for you to read, loads of tips and advice to help you keep going, especially when those runs feel like a struggle.
Did you give a read to the essential pinned post? It is worth having a good browse.
Your ADHD... well I can understand that, having over my years been privileged to teach young people with ADHD...(not an expert though
I remember reading an article on this a while back... just by chance on a site I use for exercises! I will put the link here, it may offer some ideas... some of which will be relevant and some not, because here, you are following a specific programme?
The good thing is that being on the C25K plan, the order of your goals is set out for you... what you have to try to o about doing is how to keep it going in an positive way.
Planning routes, different ones if you are able, different locations also.
Just reversing a route or changing your mind about the route when you are out there can be a real boost. I did that the other week and saw things I never knew were there.
Take in every sight or sound on your run... keep a running log or diary... I have my records from almost the first run I did when I began in 2015. Take photographs, on your warm up or cool down or ease back in the run for a moving photo shot.
The logs make great reading to check your progress.
Run with a friend or join a local group? Many have the provision for C25K-ers. I can really help. Many of us on here, run virtually with a friend on certain days ... is there someone here on Week 7, who could be a virtual buddy ?
Pop into Catch Up Corner and post a reply there all about your experiences... and as it happens this week's one is all about... HOW do I get out there?
Be kind to yourself, you have not GOT to do this... you WANT to... for all the right reasons..
Treats.. always great for getting things going... a small one or a big one... a nice meal, a guilty tasty treat , a new pair of running socks or a larger one ! If you are feeling flush!
Now, maybe head back a week or so. Week 7 has become a bit of a white elephant standing there, and blocking your way... try Week 5, or Week 6... relax and just let yourself enjoy them... you have done them before, you can do them again
Main thing, stay here, stay with us and keep posting.. you may feel as if you on your own, but here you will never run alone
Hope some of this might be helpful... looking forward to your reply and your next post!
I think from what our poster says ...it is a bit of both... a mental and a physical struggle,with the neurodivergent condition of ADHD being a tricky enough issue in its own right...
I very much sympathise with that feeling of not wanting to carry on. I've abandoned many a hobby because of it. Running, though, is something that doesn't affect me that way, although goodness knows I have had enough reason to give up! You say you want to continue, so:
How long ago did you have to abandon after week 7? The common idea seems to be that you can stop for 2 weeks with no loss of conditioning. But if you are recovering from illness that might not be true. And in the latter stages of c25k I think we need to be much more circumspect because each week we are pushing our bodies further than they are used to.
I just completed week 7 and came down with food poisoning which has stopped me for a week so far. I know that week 7 was, for me, a huge step up in effort and I needed every one of the four 25 minute runs (counting the last wk6 run) to feel I had mastered it. I know that even if I could run tomorrow (I can't) I couldn't carry on with a week 8 run, and would not attempt a wk7 run either. So I will drop back further and build up again.
Something like - a 15 minute run, followed by a repeat of wk 6, wk 7, then wk 8. Adding in a repeat of any run that felt a bit sticky.
I probably have ADHD myself (undiagnosed but fit all the criteria, and my family all agree!) and if I think I can't finish a task then I won't even start it. So I cut the task down into chunks and tackle it a chunk at a time. I feel that I'm fooling myself into successfully completing it.
If I'm worried about tackling a run I give myself permission to, say, run half the distance and see how I feel. If I'm feeling ok at that point, then I can carry on to the end.
So, don't look ahead at weeks 8 and 9 and panic that you CAN'T DO IT! Nobody is demanding that you do all of it all at once. Look at what you need to do to get started, and know you can do, and do that. (Like my 15 minute run maybe.) And carry on from there.
Once you have completed week 7 again, maybe do one more 25 minute run just for luck. Then you WILL be ready for week 8.
Phew, sorry I went off on one there, hope some of it is useful.
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