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!

I did w5r3 yesterday.
I was shocked that I completed it and wasn't too tired either.
I'm going to repeat w5r3 tomorrow (owing to missing a week last week) and will start w6r1 on Monday!

[quote Inastatus]@redcandlelight - the snowball fight and gluhwein sounds amazing. I’m very jealous as we’ve only had the odd flake here 🙁

I’m just popping in to say sadly that I’m bowing out of C25k before I barely got off the blocks. According to the chiropractor I’ve damaged my sacroiliac joint and he has strongly advised me not to continue running. He is going to devise a more appropriate exercise plan for me probably involving interval walking. He said, in the gentlest way possible, that some people are just not suited to running. I knew that deep down but thought I’d give it another try however, having been in quite a lot of pain for the last week or so, I don’t want to push it any more so I guess it’s back to yoga/Pilates/walking for me.

Good luck @WellJuhnelle and everyone else.[/quote]
Sorry to see you go.

*@likeamillpond * Congratulations!!! I'm really hoping that I will be saying that too on Friday! I track my route on Strava and find that I'm now slower than I was on week 3 - I suspect that I run more slowly if its a longer run and push myself if I know its only 90 seconds of running . Hopefully when the snow clears I will be able to run without worrying about slipping and therefore get a bit faster too!

W2R2 done - better late than never! I was sloooooow today. I took my toddler to the park yesterday and she wanted to go up a big climbing frame over and over! There was one bit she couldn’t get over so I had to go up with her and it has hurt my knees somehow.

On the plus side I can definitely already see a difference in my cardio fitness - the difference compared to my first run is amazing.

Good luck everybody running today - it was lovely here, clear and crisp!

[quote Blobby10]**@likeamillpond Congratulations!!! I'm really hoping that I will be saying that too on Friday! I track my route on Strava and find that I'm now slower than I was on week 3 - I suspect that I run more slowly if its a longer run and push myself if I know its only 90 seconds of running . Hopefully when the snow clears I will be able to run without worrying about slipping and therefore get a bit faster too![/quote]
I has to go slow as well.
I'll be glad when there's no more ice.

W9R1 done! Tried a new route this time which was a bit slippy with mud but kept me busy trying not to slide over!
Think I did just over 4.5km in the 30 mins.

Well done WellJuhnelle and likeamillpond !

I did w6 r2 this morning. I found the final 5 mins tough but apart from that it felt great. I do think that trying to strengthen my ankles and knees has really helped. I'm still very slow and I suspect my "form" is terrible but I feel like it's getting a bit easier. It helped that the sun was coming up and the field I was running round was crunchy with snow and ice. It just felt like a really invigorating way to start the day.

Well done @WhereAreWeNow! Totally agree on the invigorating comment. I went out earlier and it felt fantastic to crunch through the ice, with crisp blue skies overhead.

As for your thinking I'm still very slow and I suspect my "form" is terrible - chances are you're right, but that's totally fine
It is very, very, difficult to run with good form when you're running slowly. I've seen many a running coach unable to do it. And this is one of the main reasons why so many new runners get incorrectly fitted with stability shoes, which then make the issue even worse.

There are things you can do to improve your form - mainly pulling up straight, not slouching forward, and thinking about landing on your midfoot rather than your heel - but a lot of this comes naturally anyway as you get faster, stronger, and more experienced in your running.

My form used to be awful when I was slower and now I'm quicker it's still not great, but it's a million times better than it was!

That's so interesting @fellrunner85 . I've been trying to think about my posture and landing midfoot (I was definitely landing on my heel in week one which led to knee problems).

I've got stability shoes and I've been wondering whether that's right for me or not. I was fitted in a running shop ages ago. But I've been looking into pronation etc and I have very high arches - everything I read says high arches should be in neutral shoes whereas flat feet need stability shoes. It's got me thinking I'm in the wrong shoes and that might be making things worse. I've actually ordered a more neutral pair of shoes online but they're taking ages to turn up.

So do you think improved form just comes with time/practice or do you think there are specific things you can do to improve your form along the way?

Today's run was ok once I forced myself out, there were some really nice sections where I was crunching through snow but some horrible slippy bits too. I wish it would either snow properly or disappear completely. On the plus side I came home with dry feet for the first time in a while!

We have proper snow. It's ok to run on but I can't run anywhere near flat out and it's more tiring. It's very different to mud as it's harder underfoot and much more lumpy/variable.

My Garmin plan wanted me to do goal pace repeats and strides. I decided that this was unrealistic and decided hill repeats would be the way forward. 3 "laps" of an old spoil heap (approx 30s run, 30s walk for a total of 3 minutes per lap) was plenty, and I practiced running down hill too, beaten by my mountain goat 5 year old who was waiting for me all the way down, in walking boots while I was in my new trail shoes. Only consolation was that I'm still quicker up hill!

Views were nice too...

This is the canal tow path yesterday afternoon...

As with most things, @wherearewenow, it's a bit of both. I would say, though, that around 80% of good form just comes with time, speed, and experience. Approx 10% comes from strength exercises, particularly strengthening your glutes (there's loads of exercises you can google, but weak glutes lead to loads of problems in knees and ITB). And then I'd say 5% each for consciously thinking about your form, and the shoes you choose.

There's some good tips in this Runners World piece here, which will hopefully make a difference for now: www.runnersworld.com/beginner/a20811257/proper-running-form-0/

Most importantly though, when you start out, you just need to be comfortable. You need neutral, cushioned, shoes - particularly if you have high arches. Those stability shoes will be working against you. And you need to think about running lightly and running tall, rather than stomping and slouching, if at all possible.

I don't know if this helps at all, but my form was awful at first, and still pretty poor even up to when I did my first 10k, mainly because it is impossible to get "perfect" form when you're running slowly. But as you get faster your form automatically improves, because it has to! As one running coach once said to me, the best running form you will ever see is in a parent sprinting to save their child from danger.

Thank you @fellrunner85. That's all such good advice. I thought my problem was weak ankle muscles but I've realised it's also about the muscles above my knees and, as you say, my glutes. That's so interesting that you say the glutes have an impact on the knees.
I feel like I'm making a bit of progress with muscle strength and it's making running feel a bit easier and like I have more control.

I hope my new running shoes turn up soon and that they fit. I'm curious now to see if running feels different in a neutral shoe.

Thank you fellrunner85 and WhereAreWeNow, this is information I needed! I've got high arches too and I've ordered neutral cushioned shoes so fingers crossed they arrive soon.

May I join you all? I'm just starting out on W1 and I'm going to do my 2nd run this afternoon. I've got my gym gear on already so no backing out. Kind of dreading it because I now know what I'm getting myself in for after my first run the other day and my legs still feel a little achy but I've had a rest day so its just a mind over matter thing.

wish me luck.

I did it! Not as bad as I was expecting but I wouldn't say I actually enjoyed it. But I do feel better now I've done it.

Well done @LegendDairy getting started and into the habit is definitely the toughest bit.

I've only managed to get some consistency since Christmas with a combination of a new toy (Garmin watch), boxes to tick (Garmin Coach) and DH being very much onside and nagging me to get out and run when I'm prevaricating... Definitely hardest bit is getting out of the door!

LegendDairy congratulations on run 2! Won't be long before you're as addicted as the rest of us and getting all frustrated because you can't go out

Well done LegendDairy!!

Evening ladies, I've not been on much this week so just catching up on all the posts.
Welcome @LegendDairy and well done on getting out there! Still so cold isn't it. My weather app says its going to warm up after the weekend so hope that's right, had enough of snow and ice now.
I've not ran since Tuesday but planning to go tomorrow, hopefully early before work but depends how icy it is.

I got a £50 pound apology voucher from Amazon and was going to treat myself to some new headphones. I've just spent 15 minutes looking and given up as too many choices, and can barely tell what the differences are between them.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I was looking at some Anker ones as someone elsewhere recommended but even with restricting to one brand there seems to be a multitude of different versions

what kind of headphones are you looking for?
I'm using my phone's for now and they are ok but the ear piece has sharp edges and they fall out of one ear when wet. I don't really want to try many as you can't return them once you have used them.
I see some runners here with big dre kind of headphones. I can imagine in some parts of uk you would need to be a very fast runner not to be mugged for them.

Some sort of in ear ones. I'm currently using ones that came with a phone (prob at least 3 phones ago now, when they still came with earphones!)

I've got JBL Reflect Flow after doing a lot of research, they're great. Bit more than £50 but if you're not fussy about the colour you'll get them at v close to £50 (think mine were £56)

I got the Anker Soundbuds flow in December and I really like them. They stay put and have a connecting cable so I don't have to worry about one falling out and getting lost. They were pretty cheap too, about £25 I think.

Hi LegendDairy nice to see another beginner around

I did week 2 run 1 tonight but when Jo said I should try to land on my heels at the start I think I started overthinking and trying to force my feet to land differently and my ankles hurt now. I might give it a rest for a few days. It's frustrating, I could run further without being out of breath, but it's just my ankles giving me trouble.