Don’t let me back out. Nervous.

[RunnerBeanWalkerBean]

I’m going to a running session at the local track tonight. It’s my first time and I’m bricking it.

I’ve had a couple of emails with the club and they seem really nice and have assured me that the fact that I’m a bit old, a bit chubby and very unfit won’t stop me from being able to take part. I’m still terrified.

It’s in an hour and I’m frozen to the sofa and haven’t even gotten changed.

Tell me that I’ll be home again in a couple of hours and will be glad I went. I don’t want to back out but I can feel my resolve fading with each tik tok of the clock!

Well done on getting yourself organised. You might love it but if you don’t it’s two hours and feeling good about trying something new.

The hardest part will be putting on your shoes and going there. Think how good you will feel if you go.
Everyone there will have been in the same position when they began.
Good luck

The hardest part is walking up and saying hi for the first time. You really will enjoy it, get those trainers on.

Oh god I always used to brick it before track, no idea why, it was always fine.
Just lie fervently to yourself: "I'm just going to discuss warmup and stretching with the coach! Not going to do the actual session, noooooo no no no, perish the thought!"

It's just one of those nerves-run-wild issues, very common!

Pity I can't do it any more, got old and a bit short on cartilage:/

Ok. I’m changed and ready. Gulp.

You can do it! I started running in my 50s when I was three stone overweight and very sedentary. In my 70s now, and can only manage long brisk walks but I've kept the weight off and still really enjoy the exercise.

Go for it !
Let us know how it was.

Have fun! And if the running club has the initials MR I know you will have an awesome lovely supported evening. 😊

The hardest part is walking up and saying hi for the first time. You really will enjoy it, get those trainers on

This

I went. It was tough. I sweated a lot.

I feel so glad I went though! Thanks for the encouragement. I’ve never run so much before and am so proud of myself. They were really supportive and no one was judgey about my wobbly legs in leggings or my super slow pace.

Give us some more details. What was the session?

It was an endurance session so did 800m twice with a minutes break then 700m twice with a minutes break in between etc down to 400m some were doing sprints and jobs but I just plodded.

it was really tough but everyone was so supportive and I’m still on an endorphin buzz.

Well done

🌟

Good on you for getting out there. Next time will be easier already because you won't be stressing about the 'first time'. Just take it at your own pace, you will soon see improvements. Enjoy!

That sounds like a good session. I bet you are keen to go back for the next one. Assuming the soreness if not too bad.

Thanks all. Next session is tomorrow and I’m feeling quite achy but also looking forward to it a little bit.

I’ve told myself that when I’ve been going a month, I’m going to buy myself one of the club t-shirts.

Well I think I made a bit of a fool of myself last night. I couldn’t finish the laps, was slower than everyone (even young children).

I’ll go again on Tuesday but don’t have the buzz I had after Tuesday. They were all really nice but I felt like a right plonker.

But you went. And you were faster than all the people still on the sofa. Keep at it!

Don’t give up OP. My husband runs half marathons (a full one in London tomorrow!). He has off days and moans for days about his timings, pace, ….. 🙄You are doing much better than me as I don’t run . Good luck

Keep going. I started a C25k type thing last November and still struggle some days. Not every run feels great, some are really tough and I've given up and walked a couple. But I've still done them.

Give it a month or two OP, everyone has bad days and it takes a while for the benefits of training to show up.

Training breaks down the body and it's when the body rebuilds itself that we get faster and stronger.
For different people there are different timescales for recovery and seeing the benefit from a session - some can train hard every week or every other day, other people do better having a tough session (and 'tough' is relative!) no more than once a fortnight. With the latter, if they try doing a second hard session a week after the first, they're still recovering from the week before and it doesn't go well.

Consistency is the bedrock of training so even crap, incomplete sessions have an effect.

There can be reasons for people not doing well in a session - iron levels (doing a speed session shortly after giving blood is remarkably awful!), lack of sleep, stress, illness. If you're fairly new to exercise you may not be used to even considering these sorts of things.

I had COVID (not badly! A few days in bed, that was all) last year ... and my fitness, and ability to recover after any exercise, were both badly hit and still slowly returning now.
Another friend changed her diet a bit and ended up with anaemia.

Or you might just be going off a bit too hard.

Anyway - I'd say keep coming, get advice from the coach (shorter or fewer reps if you're feeling tired maybe) and re-evaluate at the end of June.

As the saying goes.

You are going faster than the people sitting on the sofa.

It takes time to build up cadio fitness. Please keep at it

Thanks. I’m going again tonight. Already feeling nervous!