Oh dear! Week Nine Done - a great achievement, but tinged with sadness. Having had the excellent structure that is the c25k plan to guide me, things will never quite be the same again. I have so enjoyed running with Laura and her dodgy music. Some of it will even be missed. I have come to realise that, for me, the journey has been even more important than the destination. Graduating is an important point in my running journey - but it's simply the end of the beginning, 'cause there's a lot of runnin' to do.
Week Nine was the grown-up version of Week Eight. I ran at a similar pace to Weeks Eight and Seven. It's certainly not easy running for these sorts of time yet, but it feels as though I could keep going for longer if my life depended on it. So as a special treat on my graduation run, I ran for the full 5km and did it in 32min 7sec, which incidentally was exactly the same pace as 9.2, and quite similar to all the runs from 6.3 onwards - just a slight increase in pace discernable over time.
Although I've come to the end of c25k, things will be very similar for the immediate future. What I intend to do is act like a scoundrel and cast Laura and her podcasts aside and now place my affections on the c25k app, and continue repeating Week Nine with each of the app trainers in turn - a week with Jo, then one with Sanjeev, then Sarah and then Michael. And I'll repeat all of that, seven runs a fortnight, hopefully, until running for 30 minutes is less of a challenge than it is currently. Yes, I know how to have a good time. Perhaps I'll even manage 5k within 30 mins, along the way, but I'm not too worried about that. And I'll be compiling my own music playlists of course. Won't that be fun? I already have the first waiting. All songs play at around 90 or 180 beats/minute, so they will keep my feet moving to my preferred 180 steps/minute. This is all my way of still having some structure in which to run now that I'm finished with Laura but to still have a connection to the Plan. To that end, my first playlist includes five songs from the album that has the Julie song on it (proper title Chained Up Melody). The album is called Electric Indieland by Vasco, Maitreya Jani. There's an even "better" song than Chained Up Melody, IMO, on it. It's another song about a (young) man who's having love problems and is called Maybe Maybe. It includes the immortal line, "And how come you're always on the run, but you've got time to do your nails." Definitely a classic. Believe it or not, I got out of bed this morning with the song running through my head! Other songs on my first playlist include Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega; One of Us - Joan Osborne (short version without the strange intro); Even I - Vedera; Hurts Like Heaven - Coldplay. All runnable at around 180 steps/min. Next playlist will definitely include some Green Day, Eric Clapton and The Who.
I would like to thank all on this forum for the help and encouragement that they are, whether they realise it or not - chances are that includes YOU. Grateful thanks are due to HealthUnlocked and the admins that make this site the very special place that it is, and finally a particularly big, large, huge, immense thank you to Oldfloss and IannodaTruffe for their tireless help, humour, experience and wisdom freely shared.
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Big congratulations to you! This is the first time I've seen one of your posts but it's a great one. Even though I'm only halfway through this programme, I can understand why you're feeling a bit wistful about it ending. It comes to mean quite a lot very quickly, doesnt it? And this forum - and the people on it - makes it extra special and is a lovely thing to be part of. As far as i can see, many stay on the forum after graduation anyway to give and receive encouragement and top tips so you'll be in good company. Your plan for the next stage sounds great - I might nick that when it's my turn! Congrats again and happy running with your new coaches 😊
Thank you! You echo exactly how I feel. You say you're only halfway through, but you're not half anything - you're part of this fantastic journey. Enjoy it. Best wishes.
Love that lyric! You don’t have to say goodbye to Laura and dodgy tunes. She has a whole set of post Couch podcasts! Oh yesss! 😁. C25k+ podcasts aka Stepping Stones. Hours of fun with music by Audiofuel same as C25k
I run to a Greenday tune called Nice Guys Finish Last 😃👍. It’s brisk, shall we say. Clapton could be Crossroads or Layla. The Who JUST HAS TO BE Baba O’Riley!!!!! It is an absolute belter Another good un is One Republic Love Runs Out
Don’t get hung up one music with one speed. You want mixed tempo stuff to get your legs built, which is where the first Laura “Stepping Stones podcast comes in. It gets your legs guessing that one does
I'm afraid that I'm completely hung up on music with one speed. My technique to help stay injury free relies on me running at a rate of 180 steps/minute. So the problem for me with c25k+ is that it starts you off at 125 steps/min and works you up to 165 steps/min. But I already run at 180 steps/min. My technique doesn't rely on cadence for speed but on stride length. At the moment my stride length is short, so I go quite slowly. As I become stronger and more proficient, my stride length will increase, so I will go faster - at least that's the theory. It's just a different technique - one that I am happy with. But I'm certainly with you on your music choices! Best wishes.
You are so right about just being at the end of the beginning. Running will deliver wonderful life affirming experiences for years to come, especially if you run in different places.
As for the forum, no need to disappear. It is the wonderfully disparate nature of the contributors that makes this site a very special place, in my experience and we can go on supporting one another long beyond the structure of C25k. We may only have running in common, but the bond developed by discovering this open secret that changes lives, is heartwarming and inspirational.
As for music.......don't know about the bpm, but Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones is my favourite bit of running music, which amusingly was being played while I had my radiotherapy yesterday, making it quite difficult to keep still.
You're so right in all you say. I am so glad to have found this new challenge of running at this stage in my life, and to be able to share it here makes it all the sweeter. I'll not be disappearing.
Hello @IannodaTruffe. "This open secret that changes lives" - that's a great way to put it. And it explains the great smiles and waves i get from fellow runners (I seem to be getting more of them each time I go out at the moment).
Sorry that you're needing radiotherapy at the moment but I hope you're soon through it and back into your full stride again. The image of you trying not to run & dance during your treatment made me laugh. I'm sure the medics are already having enough trouble with you due to all the friends and well-wishers from this forum who are with you at every appointment - there must be quite a crowd to squeeze in! X
Without belittling it all, the treatment I have been receiving is a doddle.......it was Michael Jackson today, not quite in the same sphere as the Stones, from my perspective, but a great distraction from the clicks and whirrs of millions of pounds (that's a guess) of highly sophisticated medical equipment orbiting around me.
WELL DONE (great time for 5k as well)! And thanks a lot for providing the title of the album and name of the band responsible for the C25K anthem that Julie has become Wish you a lot more great running in music!
Congratulations and welcome to the graduate club. You ran 5k in a great time. Your post echoed how I felt about finishing the programme (I ran wkr3 exactly a week ago). I've since done two post-grad runs - the first was my local parkrun (completely different experience) and yesterday a 5k without any podcast, just my music. I enjoyed both much more than I'd anticipated; the 5k without the podcast was surprising liberating without JW's voice in my ear to tell me how long I still had left. I think you'll enjoy 'free' running too, especially with your playlist. Have fun and happy running
Thank you! It's good to join the graduate club. While I would still like someone chivvying me up for a while, I have wondered what it's like to do without that. I also think I'd like to try running without anything in my ears eventually. But I did like the serendipity of Skateway finishing off your graduation run. I used to be a big Dire Straits fan - still am I suppose. Happy running to you.
Thank you! I still find it quite remarkable that ordinary unathletic people of all ages, shapes and sizes can achieve what they do, thanks to c25k. Good running to you.
Yeahbut you're just starting Week Five right? You can't really get a good rhythm going 'til Week Six. Anyway, you'll be the right pace for you, whatever happens. Just get stuck in and you'll be fine when all hell breaks loose at the end of the week. Enjoy!
Congratulations! The start of your running journey indeed. I am doing some interval training with Laura and her dodgy music. I feel like I've come home So it could be au revoir rather than good bye. Enjoy your post 5K running
What a lovely post, thank you! It sounds like you gave some great plans for consolidation and I would even be so bold as to say I think you have been bitten by the bug...
I hought I would be lost after graduating but that hasn't been the case at all. There are also so many training plans depending on your taste and aims,and also it's nice to just go for a lollop around without overthinking it too,sometimes. I am vaguely trying to follow a plan but everything is at the mercy of my difficult schedule. I do what I can when I can, and it's great.
Enjoy compiling your playlists! The right music can make such a difference.
Thank you! I think I was bitten by the bug after just a week or so. I also realised quite early on that I could easily feel bereaved and bereft (to quote Dire Straits again) when getting to the end of c25k if I didn't make some plans. Running is now a part of my life, and I'm surprised how important a part it has become so quickly.
I admire your ability to lollop. I am aware that I can tend to overthink things, so I will have to give lolloping a try - soon.
Thank you! I think it'll take some time before I get much faster, though. But who cares? As long as we're out there enjoying the fresh air and happy to be alive, getting all the physical and mental benefits of running, just like you have said before. Best wishes.
I had my first graduation run this morning. I felt very unleashed (it was a pleasant yet uneasy experience, I imagine how feral animals feel when they are rehabilitated and given great comfort, before being released back out to the wild)
I don't think I'm ready to be unleashed yet, so I'm going over from Laura's podcasts to the other trainers on the app for a time. But I am looking forward to being set free to the wild soonish.
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Wish you a lot more great running in music!
So it could be au revoir rather than good bye. Enjoy your post 5K running 
Week Nine, Run Three
Week 9 Run 3 The end of the beginning!
With apologies to Simon & Garfunkel...!!The Nine Week Challenge!
The end of the beginning 
The End of the beginning...
