C25K encouragement continued

[Jibberoo]

Hi everyone

I've started this thread as I couldn't add any more posts to the other one. Hopefully you all find this thread!!

Hope everyone had enjoyed their day - so bored at home right now I'm glad I have the run to look forward to. Waited till it got dark and I headed out with my new running buddy - my 11yo ds. Yes he ran ahead of me and stopped a few times so I could catch up, but we ran 4.46km in 33mins and I'm so proud of both of us! (And little dog of course who's my faithful running buddy). It was a bit drizzly tonight which was actually quite nice as it wasn't that cold so the rain cooled me off a bit.

I've been thinking of how I can improve my stride length and I wonder if I can use my rest days to do W1r1 and try to do it with much longer strides? Seeing my son running I realise how inefficient my stride is. If I can only learn to open my stride I could run much further in the same time. If I can walk tomorrow I might try that to see if I can.

Hope everyone is enjoying their runs today!

@wizzler

Can I ask for some advice about inclines? I ve just done w3r1 and I'm doing ok until I come to the slightest uphill slope. It completely floors me. I'm planning my route so that I am always running on either a flat or a downhill pavement. Should I be making myself run uphill? Or is this something that will just happen naturally as I get more used to running?

I try to include a few short hills on each run. I think the key thing is to run up them slowly. The first few times I whreezed like someone smoking 100 fags a day! But my breathing is gradually getting better. I think it's good to tackle a few hills and get out of breath because I think it's hopefully it's hopefully making my lungs (and legs) stronger. Just make sure they're short hills - the ones that connect two parallel roads are good.

@DobbyTheHouseElk

As someone who started out doing C25k overweight and so unfit that I was unable to get through even week 1 without throwing up, trust me, I know how it feels. I came on this thread to try and add advice from someone who's been there.
No idea what a "bouncy neon runner" is, or what I've said to offend, but I'm more than happy to bow out.

Thank you for the warm welcome and well done do all of you pushing on when you really don’t want to!
All week I’ve been telling myself I’ll go today so I could catch up after the snow and complete Week 4 within the week, ready to start Week 5 in a new week (albeit on Tuesday). I have to be honest I didn’t quite believe it but I DID IT!! Up and out to run at 9am on a Sunday, I couldn’t quite believe it! Feeling so so proud of myself now 🙌🏻

minipie sorry to hear about your knee. Rest up and take it easy. I’m sure that with a few days rest you’ll be back on track again.
I’ve started w8. Yikes. It’s come round fast.

@fellrunner85 it’s inspiring to know you started out at c25k like the rest of us are and to see how you’re doing now

I’d love to do fell running but i don’t live near any fells and it looks bloody hard 😂

How long did it take for you to go from overweight newbie to a slimmer fitter person comfortable running 5or 10k?

@GileadWivesAreFashionIcons that’s brilliant
I’m finding the times I just go when I feel like putting it off I feel amazingly accomplished once I’m home

I think it's great to get insight from a 'proper' runner fellrunner

Thanks so much @redcandlelight and @onedropbeat.

In answer to your question - I started c25k one January when I was the biggest I'd ever been, and frighteningly unfit. I was sick after the first run, and barely struggled through the first week. I remember being completely floored the first time I had to run 5 minutes in one go

Anyway, I completed the course, with a lot of moaning and whinging along the way. But it felt good, and I carried on running. That May I did my first 10k and it wasn't pretty (I walked some sections and could barely move for days afterwards) but I got round in 65 mins.

It was around then that I caught the running bug and it became part of my life. I'd run 3x a week whatever the weather - and then 4x a week or even 5x if I had time. I upped the distances and the speed just sort of came with that. I then did my first half and first full marathon - again, not fast, but I got round.

After my first full marathon I joined a running club and that's when the effort started really paying off. Running with other people made it easier to push myself and gave me a lot more structure to my training (I'd never done hill sessions or speed sessions before, for example). I also got hooked on Parkrun and gradually went from being one of the slowest to one of the fastest there.

Since starting c25k I've gone from a size 12-14 to an 8-10. I don't drink any more, I eat better, and my mental health is much better - I used to really struggle with anxiety and depression, but running helps me get some space.
In terms of times, since finishing the course my 5k time has come down from 32 mins to 20 mins. I've run several marathons now, lots of halves, and have occasionally been first lady in local races - something I thought was completely impossible, when I was there lying on my garden path, heaving into the grass, after week 1 run 1 of c25k!! I never thought I'd consider 5k a "short" run and certainly never thought I'd comfortably run a half marathon before brekkie on an average Sunday. If I can do it, as a once-overweight asthmatic mum of two, honestly, anyone can. And remember, most women who are "winning" Parkrun in 20-odd minutes were once struggling to shuffle around the first week of c25k

*@fellrunner85
Do you mind if I ask how old you are ?
Only because I'm stuck at around 33.5 minutes for a 5 K and wonder if it's my age

No probs - I'm 36.

@fellrunner85

No probs - I'm 36.

Still a spring chicken! By the way I also dont mind getting tips from someone who's a bit more experienced

This gives me hope.
I’m a 35 year old mum of 2, size 12/14 and ideally want to be a 10/12.

I’ve got about a stone to lose.

I’m still breastfeeding so haven’t managed to lose the last bit yet, not too sure if body is holding onto it somehow

@fellrunner85 how long did it take you to see a difference physically?

I’ve only been running just over a week and although I can definitely see improvements in my mental health and general energy levels, I’d hoped I’d be super slim by now 😂

*@fellrunner85 thanks definitely my age then (and inexperience too I expect)

I'm mid 40s
will be happy with a 10k run under an hour I think.
to enter a half marathon I would need to lose a bet...

I did w5 r1 this morning. I've been trying to leave longer between runs (2 or 3 days) and doing a few knee and ankle stretching exercises in between. The knee pain is definitely better than it was. I'm also trying to focus on landing on my mid foot, not my heel. I see other runners sprinting past effortlessly, landing on the front part of the foot but I just can't do that.

Does anyone else feel like other runners look like they're moving really effortlessly? I feel like I'm heaving my body along

Hello all and welcome newbies. I did not enjoy this morning’s run - bitterly cold headwind, mud and huge puddles, too many people and I found it really tough going. In the end I did 5km but had to walk a few times and was irritated with myself. Sorry for the rant!

DH (long time runner) passed me at one point and I asked him afterwards how my running style looks to “proper” runners. He said I “look like a new runner” because my stride lengths are short. I think he has a point as I’m not very fast and think this is because of my stride length. Question - how do I go about increasing my stride length?

@Onedropbeat Sounds a bit silly, but I can't quite remember exactly how long it took to lose all the weight. It was gradual but therefore also sustainable, and I've kept it off for years now.

IIRC, I dropped from a 12/14 to a 10/12 pretty quickly - probably by the end of c25k. Just adding in the running to my previously v unhealthy lifestyle, and eating better, made a huge difference. In terms of weight, for me that meant losing about a stone. I stayed that size for my first few half marathons and my first full marathon - fluctuating between 10st and 10st 7ish.

It was after I started taking my training more seriously, did some focused training and did more cross training as well, that I dropped another stone and a half ish, and went down to an 8 (occasionally a 10 in less forgiving shops!) I've also found that being lighter has really helped with my running form, as I'm less clompy, and has helped run faster too.

WhereAreWeNow well done for getting out there today today. It’s so cold.

I used to feel like I was dragging my body along, but it does feel more natural now. I think your feet are meant to be landing in line with your hip.

I’m sure you look great.

@talksunderwater - you can't increase your stride length without running faster, really.

Running slowly and trying to increase your stride length will just make you overstride, making you more likely to heel-strike and also more prone to knee problems.

At this early stage your best bet is to run in a way that feels natural, rather than consciously trying to change your gait in a way that can set you up for injuries down the line. Keep your head high, your shoulders back, and think about your feet landing under your body rather than out in front of you. As you speed up, in time, your gait will become more flowing and your strides will be longer, rather than close together and shuffle-like (I don't mean that offensively; it's just how you'll naturally land if you're going close to a fast walk pace rather than closer to a sprint).

When I talk about running form with newbies at my running club, I always point to photos of Eilish McColgan as a perfect example of good form. But she's running at faster than 5-min-mile pace in race photos - you can bet if she was doing 12-min miles her form wouldn't be so good!

(Eilish also has the bonus of very good running genes and very long legs, which make that fabled "triple extension" much easier to achieve!)

A friend does park run but she’s super fit and been running years

When would someone suggest is the right time to be able to join in something like that?

I used to do parkrun semi-regularly with DP a few years back. I was absolutely shit and miserable dragging myself round (I mainly did it to justify a massive breakfast with DP after!) but despite very much being not a runner and being incredibly slow I was amazed to not be at the back - some people really do just walk round the whole way. Without being too outing my local park run is pretty massive so I'm not sure if they all have such a variety of people - but the times would range from 15 mins or so (I mean 😱) to 45 mins some weeks.
I am hoping to go back when they eventually restart and feel not quite as shit having done C25k!
But anyway onedrop you could probably go now (if they were on!) and be in the mix. They tend to publish times online so have a Google and see what they are like at your nearest run, I bet you'll be surprised.

@Cavagirl thanks for the intel. I totally forgot they wouldn’t be on in lockdown

When they start up again I will investigate further

Not sure if this is the place to ask. I'm a reluctant runner, only running because I can't swim. I can run 5km, but not particularly fast (about 34 mins) - are there programs that continue on from couch to 5k. I don't really want to increase distance but just run faster

tix
intervalls, hills make you faster.
if my teens don't want a full 5k (usually because they want to meet up with friends gaming...) we do a 3k intervall run, 1k warm up jog - stretches - and then 100m run 100m jog for 1k followed by another 1k jog
I heard of someone doing c25k again but with a slow jog in the walking intervalls instead of walking.

my time is slowly improving but I wouldn't call myself fast (yet).