Just a quick post (hopefully, during lunch break), Sunday 24th was a year since I graduated from c25k. I couldn't really mark it as following a half marathon training plan that scheduled just a15 min recovery run and I want change because I had a 10k event yesterday. So, I marked that run as the anniversary run instead.
I also feel the 10k run marks far I have progressed in a year as a 10k run would be a favourite of mine. The only times I run a 5k now is on an easy run as part of a training plan or a parkrun. I must admit that I do not like park runs as I have tended to start way too fast and then walk / jog after about 2k. It’s something I will change whenever I do another one.
I now run in about 8 events so this year, consisting of a four 10ks, two 10 milers and 2 half marathons. Most of them have been great, I have just run them and took them relatively easy by heartrate and feel. But I did go all guns blazing on my 3rd 10k last month by starting at the front and getting carried away with all the front runners thinking it was ok until I glanced at my watch and saw the pace which was 4:15 at the 1k mark. Needles to say that I panicked a bit and knew that I couldn’t continue at this pace and ended up walking and jogging for ¾ of it.
I decided to evaluate my running after that and researched training plans and have since been following them. The first one consisted of hard running most of the time and I was exhausted after a week. The one I am following now consists of mainly 80% very easy runs with a sprint workout and a long run on a Sunday with two rest days. I am now an advocate for easy running, I would highly recommend it and there has been a good bit of research done on it now.
Since I started the plan, I have run in a 10-mile race 2nd July and achieved a 1:19 pb for 15k and 1:25 for the 10-mile race itself. I did try to go for the 10k but left it a bit too late and forgot the time anyway. I ran yesterday’s race with the aim of finishing it in under 50 minutes. I thought that I had a good chance because of the training and tried to keep to 5 min/km, most of which I could do including some of the hills. I finished with a new pb of 48:54 with the official time being 49:03, I am very happy with that indeed.
I originally started c25k after loosing 5 and a half stone in 6 months and started to investigate doing something else other than going back to the gym, as I didn’t want to bulk up again. I started to run for a bit during my walks and told my wife, who told me that I was doing something called couch to 5k. I look it up on the net and found this forum and have never looked back. It is full of wonderful people only too willing to help and provide encouragement.
Thank you all.
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