Feel like a fraud

[spicer166]

I have just come.back from week 6 run 1 and I just feel a bit deflated. I managed to complete it fine, I just feel like I am going so slow. This is one of the reasons I run in the evening in case someone overtakes me walking haha!!! Will I get any quicker over time. I feel like my breathing is fine but it is more my legs feel heavy. Probably also because I am a stone and a half overweight too.

[Yesletsgo Administrator]

Repeat this after me: 'When you do C25K there is no such thing as too slow.'

Going slow means going safely. You are far less likely to injure yourself if you aren't pushing yourself to the limit. The faster you go the more stress you put on your heart, joints, muscles etc and when you're in the process of completing C25K this really isn't what you need.

All you are learning to do right now is to run (as opposed to walking) for 30 minutes. Doesn't matter if, at the end of week 9, that 30 minutes has taken you 10 km or 1 km, as long as you've completed it in a running, rather than walking, gait it's equally impressive.

Once you've finished C25K and consolidated your success it can be fun to try running a bit faster but please, please don't let speed be your metric for success.

The speed we run is largely limited by a lot of factors, primarily age and sex. Then come things like general fitness level, weight, leg length, mood, the terrain where we run... I could go on and on.

For example, I'm a short, slightly overweight 66 year old woman who has only run for the last almost 4 years. When I run at a reasonable effort for 30 minutes there is a certain distance I will cover. If a six foot tall, 25 year old lad who runs for the local county runs for 30 minutes he will cover probably twice the distance. Does this make me a worse runner? I don't think so.

OK, so he's going to get acclaim and medals but I have the satisfaction of knowing I can run further than most women of my age, and further than a lot of younger women. I have huge pride in the fact my aging body has learned how to do this. It's wonderful to know that my bone density has measurably improved over the last 4 years to the extend that my osteoporosis has taken a step back.

Some days, especially when it's hot, I'll make a point of seeing how slowly I can run and how low I can keep my heart rate. It's a great achievement to manage it.

OK, sometimes I do run as fast as I can, but only because I feel like it. On a good day I can run at a pace that would have me doing 5k in 30 minutes. Trouble is I can only keep this pace up for 30 seconds until my heart feels like it's going to make its escape from my chest. Am I a fast runner? No, definitely not. Am I a happy runner? Absolutely.

There are many ways to measure your success as a runner, as in life. We are all different and what is easy for some is hard for others. Focus on what you achieve for yourself when you run and don't let some nasty inner voice take the joy from your achievements.

By the way, that feeling that 'someone' is judging your run will soon wear off as long as you don't feed it.

Good luck and let us know how you're getting on, the slower the better

[nowster Graduate]

If at some point in your stride both feet are off the ground, you're running. That's it. The speed doesn't matter.

[Cmoi Graduate]

Heavy legs might be an indication you're insufficiently hydrated - it would be in my case. I can also say from experience that carrying extra weight doesn't help, but losing weight doesn't automatically turn you into a fast runner.

Personally hammering along doesn't interest me much. I'm not good at running fast and rarely enjoy it, I'd much rather run further and/or on more interesting terrain. Or with my dog, come to that.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate in reply to Cmoi]

Just running , at any pace at all is good enough for me right now

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Some sound advice and personal experience given already... and SO much written in posts on the forum here, on this very subject.

Read this... this was one from a few months ago...

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

This one from two years ago and there are so, so many stretching right back to beyond!

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

YOUR RUN... YOUR PACE.

Real, ease back, and quite simply, just enjoy!

Snails ROCK!

[drl212 Graduate]

Don't stress about how fast you are going! When I started - running past offices in an industrial park - I thought the workers must be chuckling to see me pass.

But I turned that around thinking, I'm out here doing something and they weren't. So who's having the laugh.

Seriously, with persistence and consistency, your pace will pick up. And I think a lot of us actually go out with a slow run mentality - for safety reasons and just to mix things up.

Try some of the suggestions and see what works for you.

Do keep us posted...

[GoogleMe Graduate]

I reckon this run of yours may be a big success - it seems to be almost inevitable that at least one of the runs in the later weeks of C25K feels rubbish, unenjoyable, grunt work - even if it is completed successfully.

It is learning to accept they don't all feel brilliant that makes us runners, not our pace. You can weigh yourself down far more with useless negative self-talk than bodily overweight. There can be some value in reflecting on reasons you could tweak - such as Cmoi 's suggestion of being under hydrated, and I'd add that sometimes you can be too hot without realising you are too hot - but some runs just are bleurgh. Wear it with pride - we can all keep going when it is easy, not everyone keeps going (in the session, or getting out for the next session) when it isn't.

(I have run with my 70+ uncle walking alongside me, and I was not slowing down to match him... it was more that I couldn't walk as fast as him)