Week 8, the end is in sight, and despite knee niggles I am beginning to believe...

[Chocotwit]

Well I managed 28 continuous minutes today for the first time in my entire life. That's 44 years of NOT running 28 continuous minutes! I'm beginning to believe I may be capable of running for 30 minutes (just as well as only 2 more runs til week 9).

Had a wobble around week 5 when I thought my knees were deteriorating and that I should stop. Well, at the moment I am glad that I picked it up again. This may change if I end up having surgery LOL!

Today the knees are feeling fine, and in fact they have felt if anything a little better over the last 3-4 weeks. Maybe strengthening my muscles is helping? Also the fact that I don't run v fast or on concrete.

[AnnaDJ Graduate]

Only 2 weeks to go. Wow go us! So close.

[Soozz Graduate]

That all sounds really good! Well done for sticking with the plan even with your niggly knees. You will be graduating in no time.

[arablue]

Sounds like you are doing really well! I recently said that running for 5 minutes continuously is more than I have done since I left school (a long time ago).

I have done wk4 r2 and my right knee is twingey, so your post gives me hope that I might get there yet. I don't want to miss a run tomorrow, but my knee was achy today with just a brisk walk. I want to run! Are there any stretches or something that helped you overcome this?

Thanks.

[Chocotwit Graduate in reply to arablue]

It's hard to know what to do. Are you wearing good shoes? Running off road? Does your knee feel better next day? I stopped for a week and actually went on a quite strenuous but low impact wAlking holiday (lots of heather and steep climbs, great for strengthening quads! ) and knees were better afterwards. But I think it's a bit of a guessing game with knees especially if like me you are a bit heAvy. I hope it works out for you and me both, my mum is deeply sceptical (2 artificial knees and limited mobility now -road runner in the 50s)

[arablue in reply to Chocotwit]

I do have good running shoes. I am running on the road, as I found that running on the playing field or verge was too uneven. Running on the road, with a quiet country route I found, is much better as it is even.

I did run yesterday in the end (wk4 day 3) I concentrated on a shorter stride, keeping my foot under my knee so there was less impact, which worked well with a faster pace and had no knee pain at all! I am delighted to have achieved the workout and that resting the knee does not seem necessary.

I think I may do one more day of week 4, to make sure I have the stride sorted before moving onto the longer runs.

Many thanks for your help.

[Chocotwit Graduate in reply to arablue]

Well done Arablue!

[Maggymay]

Well done! You're doing marvellous! Starting W3 next Monday...also got a sore right knee in the inner side Hope it goes away! So want to keep going

[RunnerBean Graduate]

Well done on on getting this far, I'm sure if you can do do 28 mins you'll have no problem with the week 9 runs. My wife graduated today and she had also not run this far before. You WILL do it!

[Chocotwit Graduate]

Thank you everyone for the encouraging words. Doing an orienteering run tomorrow, 5k with interruptions for getting lost, should be fun. Run well, keep safe