Couch to 5km newbies

It's worth trying to get in with an osteopath or physio if you can as they'll look at the whole chain of bio mechanics going on.

@BogRollBOGOF i really hope it calms quickly!

@AnnieSnap I’m a lecturer, so I will have some remote teaching from home but sitting doesn’t really work on campus. Hopefully it is a mild case and will settle soon, or I will just have to put up with it.

It really is a no. I hear you about your need to walk, but it won’t heal if you keep walking that much. It’s bad enough that you have to be on your feet all day. I’m guessing you’re a Teacher. Could you get a chair and sit for most of the time in lessons? As for the walking, could you cycle or get a bus?

It does depend on how it feels.

Being a sporty child, I haven't attempted to keep DS off his feet, it's not worth the misery!
He has intermittently used crutches when it's been really sore. We walk the school run and reducing the weight has made it more managable.
I've used walking poles a lot to ease load on my achilles in the early months of this year which helped reduce the toll of time on feet.

If it's only just flaring up, it might be calmed quite quickly.

Following the 28 min run going well last week and an easy week (only really been swimming ) I decided to err on the side of impatience and do the week 9 run of 30 minutes 😁😁😁

Inc warm up/ cool down, 40 mins on feet and 5.5km 😎 I reached 5k at the end of the run as the walk began.

I'm feeling good and being the holidays have less daily load on my feet. I'm also well rested between runs as it's harder to get out. This is where it feels different having kept base fitness despite reduced running compared to my first time around.

I found exercises online so have done those tonight. I was hoping to be back out on Monday, I take it that’s a no?

I don’t drive and walk absolutely everywhere so this is a disaster. I’m back to work in a couple of weeks and pretty much on my feet all day when I am teaching, plus a 30 minute walk each way to get there.

On the plus side I don’t ever wear heels!

Rest is crucial, also massage it by using a roller or a bottle filled with water (cold will help) under the painful area. Be careful to wear flattish, cushioned footwear (Fitflops shoes and flipflops worked for me). Trainers and running shoes are often too soft under the foot to support the plantar whilst it heals. Try to keep off it, don’t walk unless you have to until it’s healed and never walk barefoot, as hard surfaces will really aggravate it. If it’s not too established and it settles in a few weeks, after leaving it another couple to be sure, you might be able to pick-up your running again. It would probably be best to return using a treadmill, rather than a pavement though. It’s much kinder on the feet. Fingers crossed for you.

DS (collector of random ailments that he is) has been struggling with PF since the autumn.
He's now seeing an osteopath for it.
Rolling with a tennis/ massage ball or iced bottle of water is good for reducing tension and inflamation.
Stretch, not just foot exercises, but the whole chain of muscles down the back of the leg.
Wear supportive, secure shoes. How hard/ soft will vary.

It's a nasty one and rather stubborn.

Oh no, really @AnnieSnap ? I had no idea what it was, but have been conscious of my foot hurting in the flat “heel” part for a while when I was running. I thought I just had a weird gait. I had quite a long walk home from an appointment yesterday and it was excruciating by the end.

i feel so annoyed and disappointed in myself. I know people expected me to quit C25K (I am not a sporty person) and was so delighted to finish it and be able to see myself running regularly.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses PF is a bitch and can be a nightmare to settle. I struggled with it for a couple of years (prior to running). It’s common in waiters and other who are on their feet a lot. Be really careful running on it. If it becomes established, even walking will become tough.

@Midnightstar76 well done for getting back on it!

@BogRollBOGOF I’m in Scotland where we tend not to get humid weather. This year we have for some reason and it is rotten. I hope your wee boy is okay.

I’m having the rest of the week off. I have been having pain in my right foot on and off, and when I described it to DP he said “policeman’s heel”. Wtf? Anyway I googled that and it is plantar fasciitis. I’m hoping to go in gently on Monday after a rest.

To my shame I dropped off this thread and quit at week 2. Have grabbed my trainers and 9 year old DD and got out and completed week 1 run 1 this morning feel so much better for it.

Yay!!! I find heat and humidity sap my energy too. Hope ds is on the mend.

Whoop! 🏆

I'm having a lacklustre week. Partly the humidity, but also DS is having a rough time with his asthma so I'm not keen to leave him. We had an all nighter at A&E at the weekend so I've been catching up on sleep and not inclined to have early starts.

I DID IT!

That's fantastic! Only one more run to go! I think sometimes we forget how far we have come!

I did the second run of week nine today. My pace was much slower (9 mins per KM) but I think that was because I kept having to slow down and blow my nose - bloody hayfever! All being well I will do the final run on Wednesday.

I’ve been looking at the programme and I think I might go back to week five with the five/eight minute runs to try and build my speed a bit. I actually surprised myself by sprinting on my way home (I’d stopped the apps by then) so I know I can do it.

Coming up to 4 months since I started c to 5 k so still early days! I haven't extended my running much... I do 50 mins for an easy long run once a week but the rest are 30 mins or less. Not sure my pace has increased much yet! I still like going slow 😂

Hope you are all well. I'm still running 4 times a week using garmin coac so a mixture of different types of runs bit mainly easy runs. Achilles still feels good. I've also started exploring different routes including some more uphill stuff and some trail type paths. Still enjoying it!

7 min/kms is a good steady pace and it's a zone I'm happy with when on form depending on what type of run I'm doing.

When I trail run, pace goes out of the window because of gates, hills, dodging cows or nettles. Roads can knock pace down for crossings. It's pretty awkward selecting routes for a steady, run all pace (I have to strategically drive down to the river to achieve that, or do parkrun)

I can get into a "race pace" of 5+ min/kms and short bursts even faster, but my achilles tendon will testify that pushing pace too hard too often is not always wise especially banging out a 10mi race, HM pb and 5k pb within 3 weeks

Long term, a mix of staple (relatively) slower runs and some runs featuring strategically faster paces is a healthy way to build pace up and find what pace suits you, and race plans for whatever distance tend to use this kind of mix.

@Haggisfish3 👩🏾‍🦯🏃‍♀️

Well done both! 7km a min isn’t slow. And well done taking it back up again i your sixties. I hope to be running in my seventies!

You’re all so inspiring 🙂 Today I completed week one. I’m really chuffed. I ran a little bit (never more than 20 minutes) in my early 30s, but I didn’t think I could return to it in my 60s. It seems I can 🙂

I repeated a few along the way so this wasn’t really run 25, but week nine, run one DONE.

My pace was seven minutes per KM according to Runkeeper so still slow but better. It’s really humid today so I think my next one will be Tuesday when it’s forecast to be low teens here.

Or option C, compromise on an easier run? 😂
It depends on how fresh you feel.

I've finally cracked 28 minutes 😎
I felt good earlier in the week so thought I'd just get on with it. I'm fit enough from 1hr classes and swimming.

A slight twinge in my ankle in "a I know it's there kind of way" not actual pain, and I've not felt it the rest of the day.

It was 5.57km too including the warm up and cool down walks. I had quite a decent pace throughout; km2 was 6:15min/km close to 10 min/miles. Not the easiest route either. I opted for uphill in the first half, a long downhill, but whatever I do, I always have an uphill in the last 10 minutes from home (unless I slogged most of the run uphill to get the last leg going slightly down which is rarely worth it!)

I'm feeling better for it. The groundhog day progress was getting annoying!