Christ, that was WORK! (W6 R2)

Oh wow, that felt like hard work! I knew this was going to be hard from the first minute. I pushed through the first 10 minutes and then for the life of me couldn't find my steps into the second 10. It took forever and I was honestly thinking about walking the rest back home.

But I didn't. Thank you, willpower! But this last 10 minutes surely felt like forever. No idea if I'm going to get through the 25 minutes in two days, but I'll give it a try.

For the first time since the very first run I felt like I really, really had to push myself to finish a run. So far it's been "easy" (in comparision to what I read on the forum), but now the real work seems to begin.

By now I learnt that it is about willpower for me and that, once I found the right rhythm, it is okay. Maybe I'll put on my own music for this one, as the repetetive podcast-music is not helping.

For today I'm glad that's over and done with, and am now off to work. At least I can say I already did some exercise today. Better than nothing

[DuncanS Graduate]

Same experience as me, I found the runs up to week six did leave me breathless but at least they weren't really challenging to finish. Then week six came and it was only gritting my teeth and being bloody-minded about it that got me through. However, run three was back to being an enjoyable experience. Week six is a temporary hiccup.

Duncan

[Hidden in reply to DuncanS]

I read that people found week 5 and 6 difficult; glad I'm not alone!

Stll, let's hope this really was a temporary hiccup and I'll be back to enjoying it tomorrow.

[Nickyrunning Graduate]

Hi there,

I think I'm at the same stage as you as I'm just about to do the first 25 non stop run this evening. My last run was 20 mins, 3 mins walk, then 5 mins, which is slightly different to the NHS podcase, as I'm doing Ease into 5K app instead, as much as I liked the encouragement from Laura (tried the podcast mid way through my training) I couldn't stand the awful music, so reverted back to the app instead. I really strugggled with the last run too and don't really know how I managed it tbh, but on reflection I had to keep telling myself my legs are working, my breathing is fine, I'm moving, what exactly is it you are finding so difficult? The answer was my head was continually telling me I can't do it! What I found really helped is doing some really really deep breathing, which seemed to restore some level of equlibrium and wait for the next song to start, somehow this seems to get me through. Like you though, I've found the journey O.K so far and haven't had to repeat a run or a week. In actual fact though, WE ARE doing well, it's just a dip in confidence levels and we need to maintain our belief in ourselves that we can do it and we can do it well. Good luck with the next run.

[Hidden in reply to Nickyrunning]

True. We did it and and there is nothing to think it wasn't a "good run". It could have been worse than us finishing the run!

I hope that it is getting better when I'm back on one longer run tomorrow with the 25 minutes. Let's tell our heads to stop sabotaging us, okay?

[TeamTia Graduate]

I am at the same point - did week 6 run 2 yesterday before work and it was just so hard - I think I just thought oh well i did the 20 minutes last week so this week will be easier but I have really really struggled - I also seem to be slowing down. The 20 minutes was so slow I could of broke into a faster walk but somehow I managed it - really not looking forward to attempting the 25 tomorrow and having just looked at the podcast list - its only long runs left now....arghhhh!

Saying that I have massively enjoyed the plan as the sense of achievement of managing to run is just immense - I have been running with my dog Tia so its been really nice for us to spend time together too and she helps motivate me to keep putting one leg in front of the other.

I also hate the music on the podcast - its just sooooo boring and too slow for me - so I think after tomorrow I will just find some way to time myself and listen to my own music as I don't think I can take 25, 28 or 30 minutes of pants music! Let us know how you get on with your w6r3 Good luck