Wk 8 Run 1

[Jambo78]

Abt to do Wk 8 Run 1. Bit nervous abt that extra 3 mins. Any hints or tips?

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

You don't need to be nervous about run 1 of week 8 which is 28 minutes, you have already ran the 20 minutes of W5R3, no less than 4/25 minute runs, take the 3/28 minute runs of week 8 slowly as you have taken all those longer runs, you have only 6 more runs until you graduate, good luck.

[Jambo78 in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks. I'll let you know how I get on.

[Jambo78 in reply to Jambo78]

You were right. It went fine. Not easy by any means but still within my lung/legs ability.

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

You're on the home stretch. Remember what you've signed up for ... 3x 30 mins in Week 9.

You have a LOT of running in your legs now . You ran 3x 25 mins just last week. You've got more fitness than you realise. Your fitness builds and accumulates with every run you complete - you are much much fitter than you were in Week 1. Go at a sensible pace and the extra 3 mins will seem insignificant.

Remember the nerves from W5R3? And then you did W6R3 - the 25 min one - 5 whole minutes extra! How did that go ? You then did that 3 more times ...

Note my 2 mantras:

- every run prepares you for the next one (i.e. you're physically ready)

- your body is ready but not necessarily your mind (i.e. the challenge is mostly a mental one because the program is designed to have your body always ready for the next run).

You'll be fine. Crack on.

John

[Jambo78 in reply to John_W]

Thanks John. I'll let you know how I get on

[Jambo78 in reply to John_W]

Hi John. You were right it went fine. Out of breath at the end but not too much, and my legs held up well. Thanks again for the pep talk/msg. It all helps. Onwards and upwards!

[Cmoi Graduate]

Hi Jambo78 , my preferred approach is not to think of it as extra. Instead, for any run that seems a bit challenging, I prefer to break the total down mentally into do-able, ideally ever-decreasing chunks. So for 28 minutes you could try 15 + 8 + 4 + 1. The numbers aren't important as long as the chunks add up and get shorter, or at least no longer, as you go on.

You're physically prepared for the run, so believe in yourself, and you'll be fine!

[Jambo78]

Sound advice. For 25 mins I was doing something similar. 12.5, 7.5, 5. I'll try again but I like my first chunk to be half (so the rest is all 'on the way home' so 14, 8, 4, 2 maybe.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Simply relax, let the legs do what they are learning to do so well, trust the programme and believe in yourself... Simple eh? x

[Jambo78 in reply to Oldfloss]

My legs seem to be able to handle it a little better than my lungs but it still went ok. Onwards and upwards!

[MrBassmanjazz Graduate]

I think you need to be thinking "It's JUST an extra 3 mins".

After W5 R3 I realised that it's al, mostly, in your head. My attitude was, "It's JUST an extra X min", and then it didn't cause me any worry.

You got this. Trust the program. You've come this far. You're nearly there.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate]

Totally agree with MrBassmanjazz . One of my most successful tactics for getting through runs I’m not sure I’ll finish is to break it down so I can tell myself “its just three minutes to go, you’ve done that before and you know you can do it”.

On my last long run, it was a full on gremlin attack for most of it. The first half I was telling myself ‘just run for x minutes and if you need to you can stop”…and I didn’t need to. Then it’s was on to the “it’s only x minutes to go-you’ve done that before and you know you can do it”. The best thing now is getting to half an hour to go and thinking “that’s just a c25k run-I’ve done those so know I can make it”!. One day you’ll catch yourself thinking similar thoughts! It’s amazing how that changes over time. Think back to when running for a minute at a time felt like ages. Now you’re doing 25 without stopping. Running is such a mental game and having strategies to cheer yourself along and deal with the doubts is really important.

Good luck! 🏃‍♀️💪🏃‍♀️