Crossing the bridge from 5 to 10K

Got them!

I think this is the most excited I've ever been about a pair of shoes. Can't wait to get home and try them on.

Oh exciting, enjoy your new trainers! I noticed a huge difference when I bought a wrong pair, my knees were wrecked by them too. I really like them though (a cool purple colour) so I held on to them for everyday wear and even at that I can feel a pull in my knee by the end of the day.

Zef I'm trying to work in some other training too. I used to do a cross training Bootcamp with a lot of weights which brilliant but the guy shut up shop and I can't find a replacement class I like. It's so hard to motivate myself to do it at home...

My trainers are ready to pick up so I can wear them to the gym Thursday & Friday & hopefully go running in Richmond Park Saturday.

Zef, I'm at the end of Week 11 - sort of - and the jumps do feel a lot smaller than in the 5K, don't they? Going from 3 to 5 felt much tougher than going from 15 to 17!

Kanye that's amazing well done!!
Empress the workout sounds good, handy to have some professional advice. Might do a leg workout on my davina dvds a couple of times a week. I usually avoid them because they're hard work

I'm not running as often as I'd like to but plodding on. Think I've finished week 10 now, 3 runs of 15 minutes so might attempt week 11 on Friday unless I feel super motivated tomorrow morning

Wherever it's come from, you're doing brilliantly!

My knee starts bugging me after about 15 mins at the moment and several people have told me it's probably down to my shoes. So I got my gait analysed at the weekend (branch of www.runnersneed.com, they were great) and until my new trainers arrive I'm working out at the gym every morning.

I'm so frustrated. OK the race isn't til May but I really want to hit 10K by Christmas.

There's still time though.

Thanks, Empress. I was somewhat euphoric when I posted in Sunday night

Didn't have time for a full session tonight but I did 2x18mins plus a bit and did a total of 6.5km in 44 mins which was about the same pace as my last run. Tbh, I'm stunned that I did two runs in a row at speed, I don't know where it has come from!

Kanye WOW! That's amazing!

Why, I'm not sure of the exact technical bits but apparently the swinging helps limber up cold muscles.

I didn't really run last week but now I'm getting into routine of gym-run-gym & I'll see how that goes.

I almost always stretch before & after. I usually feel very stiff if I don't stretch first. Then I physically cannot stretch out to full stride or feel safe to put a lot of effort in. Usually I find some bit that feels tight & if I don't stretch enough, it feels like it's tightening up even worse as I run.

If you don't need to, fine.

I've had all sorts of tendonitis and I think stretching cuts that risk of recurrence. If I don't stretch afterwards, I also am more likely to feel stiff & seized up (I often run midday at work, but have sedentary desk job).

Oh why I never stretch before or after . The trainee I used to go to made me use a roller (electrical piping, apparently foam was for wimps ) but I only ever used it when weight training at the gym.

Woo fucking hoo!! I just did 9km! In under 61 mins! I don't think I've ever run that fast (I was under 7min per km which is my version of Usain Bolt). I did 22/18/21 (I think, I lost track of the last one to get to 9km) with 1 min between them. I was officially doing week 12, run 1. Off to a hot shower now.

I never stretch before a run are you supposed to? I always thought that you shouldn't stretch cold muscles. What does everyone else do?

I thought I'd better get my induction in before the New Year Resolution crowd joined .

The other helpful thing was that I showed him the stretches I normally do before & after running (bending my knee up behind me & holding onto my foot, and bringing one knee up in front of me & holding it, each for for 30 seconds at a time).

He said that while those were good for after the run, before the run I needed to loosen my muscles more so should be doing both stretches together - bending my knee up in front and swinging it back into the other stretch, then straight back again. Not sure if I've described that clearly.

Ideally I want to be doing this two mornings a week before work but I've got no idea how long the full routine will take, so I think I'm going to go try it out on Sunday.

kanye I'm honestly not normally speedy! Very much a plodder so I was surprised with the timings today! Fresh legs and well rested must've played a big part, I'm not looking forward to repeating it on Saturday. 😀

I did week 11 day 3 tonight (3x17). I ran some of the warm up too, so I think I did 58mins in the end. I did 7.25km, which I thought was OK until I read about Chester's speediness . Even in my jealousy , I will welcome you graciously

That workout sounds good, Empress. I need to do some core work, I've been neglecting it recently and my hip is not happy about it.

Come on in, Chester!

Can I join please?

I finished c25k in the summer and until 3weeks ago was doing 5k 3x/week.
I downloaded bridge to 10K a couple of weeks ago (but kept putting starting it off) I completed week1 Day1 this morning 😀
I actually enjoyed it, 40mins of running with 3 one minute walking sections and I managed to cover 7.8k.

Hurrah Zef!

Gym instructor was great. I explained what I wanted and came out with a workout plan. He recommended using weights for several bits of it & there's also a machine for doing back stretches which made me feel like a vampire bat.

The non-gym-specific bits are:

20 lunges on each leg

15 step-ups on each leg

12 squats

Planks with diagonal leg stretches (15 for each leg)

And use stairs as often as possible!

So I'm going to give it a go tomorrow, then run again on Sunday.

That's a good idea but it would really annoy everyone else, I have to set it for stupid o'clock to get out before boyfriend goes to work.
But I managed it this morning! Hurrah! I was worried about the frost but got through it without any injuries.
I started running in January of this year but can't remember having ever run in frosty or icy conditions before which is weird cos surely it must have been icy at some point. Anyhoo,I'll celebrate with a coffee

Thanks Zef, I'll report back!

Glad your cold's better & good luck for tomorrow. Maybe put the alarm on the other side of your room so you have to get up to switch it off?

Gym sounds good empress , hopefully the instructor can give you some good tips (and you can share them here )

Congratulations to you both on the 8k!!

I have beaten this cold into submission I think so planning to run tomorrow morning. Gonna need some serious willpower to get out bed but I'm sure I'll do it. Haven't run since Thursday!

Glad to hear it too, though wobbly ankles sound annoying!

So COLD.

Glad to hear it. Calves are OK, they were back to normal by lunchtime. My ankles are a bit wobbly though, which is annoying. I can never tell if it's hormonal or shoe related

Thanks Kanye. They've recovered a lot faster than they did last week! I like the sound of active rest days. How are your calves?

Oh no, hope your knees are recovering. Do you have any massage balls? I have one to dig into the bottom of my inner aducter (?? inside my knee, just above my kneecap, if that makes sense) and it can really help.

Decided to have an "active rest" day and did 3x10 mins runs with 1 min walk between them. I did uphill on the way out, so it was a rather enjoyable cold crisp run on the way back

My knees are severely pissed off! I'm going for an induction at the gym opposite my work on Wednesday morning, hoping I can get an exercise routine to help.