Am I ready for Week 3?

[Gaz78]

Just completed Week 2, Run3...I could barely finish each run but I am remaining positive, it does make me question am I ready to kick on.

Tell me it gets easier...

Here's to week 3.

[gdeann Graduate]

Very well done Gaza! You finished week 2!!! Each week is very challenging but is most doable! Believe in yourself and KNOW you can do this! It is perfectly okay to repeat runs or weeks. No race here, take all the time you need. From the first week, my husband and I agreed, no matter how we struggled through a run, as long as we finished, we would move on. That goal worked for us, but staying longer in a week is okay too. I went from not completing a few of my 1 minute sessions to now, 10K training and running a continuous hour. In my blogs, I asked when it would be fun...guess what? For me, its still not fun but nothing tops the sense of achievement I have. I never, ever dreamed I would be a runner, but here I am! Depending on fitness levels, some people breeze through the program. I was one who struggled every single run. It wasn't until this past month, I actually felt like I had "normal" runs without struggling so much. You did the hardest part of all by committing to the program. Gayle

[dottiemay Graduate]

'Barely finished' is still finished! Well done!

Have a go at week 3. If you find it too much, repeat week 2. It's good you're staying positive and, yes, it does get easier as you progress. Make sure you're not trying to go off too fast, a common mistake a lot of us make. Slow and steady is the key!

Good luck for Week 3! You can do it!

[greenlegs Graduate]

Well done - it *will* get better, and you'll be so glad you carried on.

If in doubt, go slower. Most beginner runners start off much faster than their bodies are ready for. Sometimes, barely above walking pace (or sometimes even less!) is good for starting off with, then, when joints and ligaments and heart and lungs have figured out what they're being hit with, then you can speed up. How long that takes varies enormously because we all start from such different places. But - it really does work!

[Fingalo Graduate]

The good news is you're out there and getting through the runs. I agree with much of what the others have said.

The bad news is (and this is where I disagree with the others) is that no, it doesn't get any easier. physically. At least not during the programme.

Like yourself, we've all looked for the comfort of the idea that as we go through the weeks we will improve fitness and it will be easier on us but think about it, every week the programme asks you to do more. This takes up the 'slack' of your improvement in fitness so while it's true that say at the end of week 4 you went back and did a week 3 run that you'd find that easier, logic will tell you (and experience me) that week 5 isn't going to be easier.

The important thing to remember is, the programme trains you to do what it asks and will ask you to do no more, therefore every time you start a new week, your body will be ready. The thousands of people who've gone before you are proof of that.

As I said, that's physically.

What you will find (and what is at least as important to this thing as the physically aspect) is that mentally things will change. You will learn just how much of it is in your head, this will make some runs better than others, you will also have some horrors, however as the maxim goes, there are no such things as bad runs. We learn from them all.

I hope this has been useful and that you enjoy the rest of the programme because, despite what I've said about it being tough, it's the very fact that it is tough which I have found such a challenge and therefore, such a reward.

Keep blogging and letting us know how you get on.

[Gaz78]

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys...

[caz1_ca Graduate]

Well done Gaz. I'm starting week4 on Monday and in the beginning I was begging Laura to say time to slow down, now 1 minute is a breeze, even 90 seconds is pretty good. Each week is a challenge but it is doable. Just go slow, the faster you go the quicker you become out of breath and yes sometimes it is hard to go slow but it has to be done. Good luck with your next run and keep blogging.