C25k get your encouragement here.

[StripyHorse]

As the last thread has been going so well, with graduates aplenty, here's a new thread for encouragement. Everyone is welcome!

Thank you for the words of wisdom on the later weeks. Makes perfect sense. I suffer from depression in the springtime. And I’m also thinking about lockdown- proofing my life. What can I do and keep safe (we’ve both had it but aware there may be reinfections now and need to keep dp out of hospital as he really hated going back in with Covid). So getting out in all weathers is going to be key.

Dp rang the garage today and booked the car in. He knows them but he managed it. It was brilliant and made me feel less alone.

Completed c25k this morning, feel amazing, I can't believe how far I've come, I'm not particularly fast but I'm steady and I'm quite proud of myself!
Going to keep running for 30 mins every other day and try to get faster.
Keep going everyone!

I’ve just done W5R1. It was a decent run and I’ve pleased with my pace but still scared about W5R3!

Well done@EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide. I hope to get there one day!

You sound more upbeat @StillDumDeDumming, keep on going is a good motto for life and for running I think?

Well done @EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide

I have gone back a week as I found w7r1 too difficult. I was feeling a bit disheartened by it. I did w6r1 again and it was just what I needed. I changed my playlist to try and slow me down and did the same route I did for w6r1 the first time. Despite trying to be slower I ran faster than first time round, so ran further but actually didn't feel like I worked as hard. I feel a bit more confident about going back to the 25 min run.

W2 R2 done today. I'm using a random pdf I found online and it's run 2 walk 1 x8 so including warm up (5 minutes) and cool down (3 minutes) is about 32 minutes.

Been running 4 years with a gap for baby 2, and my first attempt at C25K which I'm doing to reduce the boredom of a comeback from an appendix removal...

I'm gently jogging most of the recovery periods and trying for target 5k pace in the run intervals - in an aim to get to my long term target of a 30 minute 5k, which I was only managing when half marathon fit before baby 2.

30 minute 5k for an average height female is good, would usually be halfway up the field for a normal parkrun in decent weather! Taller people definitely get faster easier over decent distances!

I definitely do better with a structure (and a target). Really feeling the lack of races/ parkrun to motivate me at the moment - although I do have a "prize" of a new posh set of running tights set as my reward for a sub 30 5k!

Next run my 'final' run although I'm gonna keep going until I hit 5k, closer to 4.2k in 30 mins at the mo. Shame parkruns aren't running at the mo.

Woke up yesterday to the period from hell, so chickened out of doing W6R3 . Couldn't face it today either, so I just went out with an audiobook (not the C25K podcast) and did what I could. I did a 12 minute run, then a few minutes of walking, then tried to do the same 12 minute run back but had to keep stopping as everything just felt so leaden. Looking at my stats afterwards, I'm not surprised - I somehow managed to shave one and a half minutes off my 1K pace! No idea how that happened, except that maybe listening to an audiobook (instead of Laura telling me to pace myself) made me run faster? Anyway, I was both demoralised and pleased at the same time, if that makes sense.

Do any of you find it more difficult to run in the early days of your period? I've noticed a pattern here, but I'm not sure if it's a real thing, or just psychological, or maybe a side effect of feeling generally off-colour (I tend to get bad cramps, upset stomach, headaches, etc). I was on the mini pill (which completely stopped my periods) but ran out during lockdown and wasn't able to get a new prescription. Since then I've had really heavy periods every 3 weeks (which is partly why I was in the pill in the first place - not least because I was constantly mildly anaemic!). So maybe I just need to go back to the GP and get more pills! But I'd be interested to hear if any of you find that your cycle has an effect on your energy/speed?

@Mackerella I run my combined pill packs together so only have a period once or twice/year. Periods are no fun. Give your GP a call.

I started!
W1R1 with Run Club on Tuesday and was horrified at how breathless I was during the 60 sec runs. I've been dreading R2 today, have read about slowing down but wasn't sure I could go any slower!
Seems I could and did and found it so much easier this evening although embarrassingly my Fitbit only recognised it as a walk! Might need to step up the pace slightly for R3 at weekend but glad it feels manageable again.
Very inspiring to read this thread.

Well done, @LakeFlyPie! You taken the hardest step(s) .

I will go back to the GP, Ikea, especially as they actually seem to be seeing people now. Maybe I'll combine it with a run as my normal route takes me nearly to their door .

Congratulations@EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide!

Mackarella I didn't run a few days ago because I had a bad back...but I realise now it was period pains. I'm hoping today was the worst day so I can run tomorrow.

Not been organised enough to run on weekdays as I'm really not an evening excersisor so planning on running before breakfast tomorrow. I would like to run 3 times a week though so I could a)run really early as in 5am would work with my routine. b) run at about 5pm before dinner c) 8pm, 2 hours after eating. I've failed at a so I'll try c next week.

@mackerella that's an interesting theory and might explain my terrible run on Tuesday (ended up walking most of the last 10 mins of 25 min run) I thought it was pacing but it could have been period related 🤔.

I ran W5R3 this morning- 20minutes non-stop running
I still can't quite believe it five hours later
It was very cold! I wore a beanie hat, which I took off for the last five minutes or so, so I'm thinking that I will have to get some sort of rainproof/warm jacket for winter.

Most people who've been running for a long time find their period gets lighter and easier to manage - perhaps that's related to losing weight though, too.

But even top female athletes find their period affects their performance. Eilish McColgan posted on Facebook about it just yesterday. Still, it doesnt have a huge impact, at least not by ordinary mortals' standards- she only ran 7 seconds slower than usual over 1500m.

We've discussed a few times on here that running doesn't seem to automatically mean weight loss, but that it does mean you body changes shape.

So, in three months of running regularly (from 0 exercise of any kind), I've only lost 1 kg However, DH has been saying that my body shape is changing and toning, but I could really see it. Yesterday my jeans felt a little baggy (I went up to size 12 about a year ago), so this morning I dug out my size 10 jeans, and they fit! Slightly too snug to be flattering, but it means that something is working, even if I'm not losing weight!

Human bodies are very strange things...

Never realised there was a new thread! Thanks!

I did W5R2 today. It wasn’t great! Really windy which I hate, just felt hassled all the way. Also I was on the first 8min run and kept thinking “when is she going to say I’m half way, this is awful if I’m still not halfway etc” then the commentary for Map My Run came on and started saying “13minutes and ...” as I start that when I start the warm up it meant that I’d actually ran for 8min and had somehow managed to pause the C25K app. It got me a bit stressed for the rest of it in case it happened again.

Anyway, at least I did it! Going for a long and hilly walk tomorrow so will give myself a day off on Mon. W5R3 planned for Tues. I’m going to give it a go but I don’t think it will be pretty!

@fellrunner85

Most people who've been running for a long time find their period gets lighter and easier to manage - perhaps that's related to losing weight though, too.

But even top female athletes find their period affects their performance. Eilish McColgan posted on Facebook about it just yesterday. Still, it doesnt have a huge impact, at least not by ordinary mortals' standards- she only ran 7 seconds slower than usual over 1500m.

Thanks, that's interesting. Obviously, I'm not claiming that it has a huge impact (although it might be more huge for me - an ordinary mortal - than for a pro athlete who has the training and technique to overcome discomfort and pain!). But I also suspect that my periods are much heavier and more painful than a pro athlete's, so more bothersome to me (and more icky to run with, if that isn't TMI). As I said, the only time in my adult life that I haven't struggled with anaemia is when my periods have been suppressed completely. I've had to have iron treatment for it when the resulting breathlessness and fatigue became too much, so it definitely has a physical impact on me. (I know that's not the same as saying that performance is affected by where you are in your cycle.)

Actually, that does all read a bit as if I'm making excuses for myself . I'll just have to get out there again this weekend and see how I do!

Well done, Ikea, especially with the unplanned extra 5 minutes!

Mackerella it wasn’t extra time as I start it at the start of the warm up walk, so it was actually luckily just the right time, it’s just that Sarah Millican didn’t tell me.

I would hate to run on a heavy period so I don’t think you are making excuses.

W7 R2. First time running with a podcast and I found it harder to be sure about my pacing, but my end time was similar to the previous run so I must now have a natural pace that I gravitate towards.

I ran up about 60 steps on a whim to turn my run into a circular route (rewarded by a gradual downhill all the way home). Couldn't have done that 7 weeks ago!

I did wk9 run 1 today, my first 30min run. The front of my thighs and my right hand side groin muscle hurt!

@mackerella It doesn't sound like you are making excuses. I had a failed attempt at a run on Monday because I thought my pad had slipped so I turned round just after the warm up and came home.

@Ikeameatballs my app stopped today too! DH phoned me and I hadn't realised it had stopped the app - it was only when I thought I had been walking a bit too long in the middle that I thought to check it.

DH seems to be quite amused by the fact I am running; as he pointed out this morning "I am trying to work out if I have time for a run before we go out," is a sentence he never though I would say!

W6R3 done yesterday morning! I really can't believe I managed 25 minutes. If you saw me IRL you wouldn't believe it either. My BMI is stubbornly staying at 41 so you can imagine just how much extra weight I'm hauling around with me. I'm also the worlds worst dressed attempting to be runner 😂

I was grinning like a fool for my cool down walk.

Not remotely looking forward to starting week 7 on Monday, but I do enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I'm done...and knowing that I'm genuinely doing something positive about my fitness and hopefully my health.

@mackerella don't lose heart, if your periods are horrendous it's like having a mini vampire sucking the life out of you. Best thing I ever did was switch to mini pill. No more periods, I feel like I have my life back. Even if you're slightly off tangent from C25K you're still moving with purpose which can only help in the long term.

@EdwardCullensBiteOnTheSide well done! Let us know how you get on with post C25K structure.

@Ikeameatballs go for it! W5R3 looks so daunting, but if you can keep your pace steady I'm sure you can do it.

On the lighter side of things, I laughed out loud when Laura said I could be called a runner after finishing week 6...making a dog bark and a woman tut loudly at me. Being tutted at before 7am is oddly mirth making