Last night was my 1st run since graduating on Saturday due to us having visitors. I thought I'd do the stepping stone podcast as I've had problems downloading the other podcasts to my ipod. The pace for the warm up walk was a bit of an eye opener! We started running at 150bpm which to me sounded fast but when I got into it I realised it was about what I'd been doing previously. But then it stepped up to 155 then 160! I had to cross several roads and was waved over by motorists when they saw me running on the spot by the side of the road (I would've been more than happy to wait!!!), I felt I had to sprint across the road which ended up mucking up my timings and it all felt a bit muddled at times. An elderly lady smiled as we passed each other at one point and I think I managed to smile back rather than grimace which is my usual facial feature. Anyway I finished but was totally KNACKERED! When Laura told me to slow to a walk I had to stop for a couple of seconds and lean on a handy garden wall, the 1st time I've ever had to do that.
I downloaded from my garmin after I'd had my dinner and shower and found I'd covered LESS distance than I did when doing W9! Only 2.9k. Quite disappointing but think it must've been the smaller steps I had to take to keep up with the bpm.
I've been looking at the music I've got on my ipod and think most of it is too slow to run to so might have to do a bit of shopping around for faster stuff. Never thought I'd ever say that!
Next run will be on Saturday in daylight so I think I might try a different route and go for a slightly longer, maybe 35-40min run.
Good luck to everyone wherever they might be with their running.
And to all those just starting, stick with this programme because it CAN be done! I'm living, but sometimes knackered, proof of it
Don't worry Isabella, When I graduated last summer I discovered when I tried Stepping Stones that my typical bpm must have been around 145 - really low! So increasing up to 150-160 was quite a challenge and I too was unable to run as far when I did this.
However, if you persevere it does get easier, your legs addapt and you do get your distance back. Believe it or not you may eventually find that running at a higher bpm allows you to speed up with less effort?! I now run at about 165 for my slow runs and up to 175 if I'm trying to beat the clock and the wierdest thing is, it now feels really natural!
I think you just need to give your legs time to adjust to turning quicker. Of course, everyone is different (different hight, leg length, stride length) and so you just have to experiment and find the bpm that suites you. Personally I am short with little legs (lol) so I need to run to a higher bpm to go any speed at all! Good luck x.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I feel optimistic that I'll get to 5k at some point in the distant future
Well done Isabella! I've been running the 5k+ podcasts for a while now and they are good once you get used to the pace. Be warned though, Stepping Stones is the slowest! Speed is mercifully short and Stamina well - I've never quite got to the end of it yet but did get to 5k (just and in 34 minutes). My next target is actually to FINISH Stamina!
Have a nice weekend
Ann x
Well done for getting as far as you have Ann and thanks for the warning
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1st post grad run...tough one! 
Post Grad Runs - Laura or no Laura?
Post Grad run and reached 5K
Proper first post grad run
First post grad run disappointing.
