Week 4... I'm sure it should have hurt more...

[Prince_of_Cats]

Today, I started week 4 and I dreaded it. I took one look at the huge jump in running time, the huge drop in recovery time, and wondered if I should run week 3 one more time just to make sure I was up for it.

And then I ran it. It was no walk in the park, but it was not the nightmare I was expecting. I even picked up the pace when she said I had one minute to go, just for the sheer joy of letting go after carefully pacing myself to that point.

The strangest part was entering the data into Runkeeper and being told that I'd run 2.81 miles. That's so close to the target 3 miles that I could barely believe it. Only, I kind of suspected as much; I had skipped the shortcuts from week 3 and still had to run an extra lap of the short road next to my house.

My wife's run came up at 1.9 miles, though I suspect she entered it wrong and it was actually a little longer, so maybe there is a use for a 36" inside leg to balance out the impossibility of finding jeans that fit...

[Soozz Graduate]

Well done! I struggled with week 4 so good to hear you kind of enjoyed it. It certainly feels an achievement. Run happy!

[Prince_of_Cats Graduate in reply to Soozz]

I think some part of my brain just switched off and listened to the music. As long as I kept running, my legs kept going. They felt heavy and I wasn't sure how I was doing it at times, but my legs kept going.

The only bit that got me was Laura's 'encouragement' half-way through each of the running stages. I was happy enough running, I was plodding onwards at a reasonable pace, but then she would pipe up with 'you are now half-way' and my motivation would drop because I had been convincing myself that I was almost at the end. I know she means well, but 'her well done on getting half-way' ended up more of a 'keep it up you slacker, you are only half-way through' to me.

Oh, as usual, the third run of this pod-cast was far enough off my natural running pace that I was struggling.

[DublinRunner]

Delighted to hear this; I'll be doing W4R1 tomorrow and am really dreading it; it seems like a huge jump and I'm still struggling a bit with W3, but I'll give it a bash and see how I go. Well done!

[Soozz Graduate in reply to DublinRunner]

I'm sure you'll be fine, DublinRunner. It kind of dawned on me about week3 that I was going to panic / have doubts about every run and I'm quite astonished to find myself at week 6 (still full of doubts though). Trust the programme, and the support on here - it will get you there. Good luck!

[DublinRunner]

Thanks Soozz - I'm going to keep going, of course, just feel it might take me a little longer! Great to hear that a lot of people are feeling the same about the jump in running times etc. It's frustrating to have to try so hard when some people seem to get out there and jog for 20 minutes without any build up at all!