I'm still in shock - I've completed W6R3 - 25 mins non-stop :-)

[Clare7645]

I still can't quite believe that I've done it 25 minutes !!! I was very nervous about today as it was only Monday that failed W6R1 after starting up after injury.

I spent much of last night reading other people's blog from W6R3 whilst watching strictly on TV. I set my alarm for 7.30am and left home at about 8am. It was a beautiful morning with the sun coming up and the fog slowly lifting.

As soon as I set off I met my first gremlin who told me I couldn't to it. Then I remembered the following quote from the book 'run fat b!tch run' by Ruth Field

"The first 10 minutes or so of any run are hellish, every time"

And the gremlin soon went back under his rock

It was hard, no doubt about it and the last 5 minutes were the worst for me but..... I didn't give up and got through it

I downloaded the endomondo app to check on my pace etc and was really impressed with it.

My total distance (warm up and run, excluding cool down) - 3.17km (1.97 miles)

Average Speed - 15.13 min/mile

Max Speed - 12.23 min/mile

My total distance (including cool down) - 4.50 km (2.79 miles)

I'm not sure if that pace is too slow or if its ok but I'm just pleased that I've ran for 25 mins. To celebrate, I went to my local sports direct to buy more running tights

[londongirln19 Graduate]

Congratulations. It's great to know how to deal with the critical voice telling you you'll never do it - I'm sure for most of us that is a bigger challenge than the physical things. Keep on running.

[SBG356 Graduate]

That's brilliant Clare - it's a fantastic feeling isnt it?! Now you can really start believing that you can do this and graduate!

You got through the injury and the gremlins so well done and dont worry about speed; its not an issue at this point and can be worked on after graduating.

The first 10 mins and last 5 mins were hard for me too but its amazing what we can do isnt it when we push on through. Keep going, you are almost at the finish line!

[thinnerandfitter Graduate]

Hi Clare,

You're totally back on track now!

That's wonderful after that nasty piri thingy muscle.

I was interested to see your times in your blog. I also did 25 mins today (week7 run1) - almost all on pavement rather than wet grass (and mud) this time.

I'm wondering if your calculations are right - my total distance (5 mins walk - 25 mins run- 5 mins rather slow panting uphill walk) was 4.45km so very similar to you but my distance for 30 mins (5 mins walk+25 run) was just about 4 km. I'm sure I don't go faster than ANYONE (there was a lady doing intervals just ahead of me for some way - she was going away from me even though I was "running" (shuffling?) all the time, so maybe Endomondo is doing you out of a few hundred metres.

I didn't find week 7 music as bad as week 6 (no sign of the dreaded "it's easy now" song) but I also think I took less notice of it as I was doing a completely new route.

Back to the laundry now and looking forward to another run on Tuesday. Keep it up

[Fraz73 Graduate]

Well done Clare. It's a great feeling to get your first 25 done. Plenty of time to work on pace but this sets you up so well for week 7. Enjoy it

[parkbirdy Graduate]

That sounds impressively fast to me. But best of all is that quite - genius! Every time I find the beginning of a run such hard work - even though I'm elated at the end. It could just make the difference to getting through wk6

[Clare7645 Graduate]

Thanks everyone it really feels like I can graduate now. Only a few more runs to go

My next run will be Tuesday before work. It's been a real roller coster of a week that started off rubbish but ended on a high I'm just glad that I've overcome the injury and can keep going.

I've also only just realised that due to the set back on Monday, I've actually run 4 times this week rather that the usual 3

[Chewy]

Well done Clare it's a brilliant come back. Good luck with week 7.

[alliec Graduate]

well done claire i too did this rn this morning and felt ok but the last 5 mins were rally hard going and i was glad to finish. i've just been on map my run and apparently my route excluding the 10 mins warmup/cool down was 3.75K altough i have to admit i have no idea whether thats average or not?

[thinnerandfitter Graduate]

Hi Alliec -

Well done on completing week 6 as well! I think that "Glad to finish" is a familiar feeling to many of us

I just had another look at MapMyRun (I already quoted my stats for this morning above). If I take off the 5 minute warm up walk I lose a good 0.5km, so I'd be less than 3.5km for the 25 minutes run. That's depressing and now I'm thinking I have a VERY long way to go for 5k in 30! Sounds like I'm a bit slower than you, but not too far off.

I really think the surface and number of hills makes a big difference - today I was on a harder surface which I think was quicker and my warmup walk was uphill (as was my warm-down believe it or not), so in terms of running it was more down than up.

Hope that helps and good luck with your runs this week

[Spud Graduate]

Well done Clare - you're well back on track.

For what it is worth my total distance including warm up & cool down walks is about the same as you.

After 4 x attempts now of 25 minutes runs (with two successes & two minor fails) I think my next run will be to attempt Wk8's 28 minute run. My thoughts are that if I do fail, I'll probby still manage the 25 mins (which is my other option if I don't step up" & challenge myself)

Good luck with the rest of the week