5k - forty minutes! Weep!

[TakeTheDog]

I've been a runner/jogger for around 15 years, never been fast, I'm not a natural (my best 5k time is 28 mins, almost vomited) but always tried my best.

I had a hysterectomy in April and although I've been back weight training, hiking and Zwifting I hadn't yet tried jogging, for genuine fear of organs falling out.

But today was the day! I was delighted to manage 5k and felt I was going a very decent pace but it took forever - just over forty minutes, yikes.

Getting back to fitness after surgery is no easy feat - any success stories/inspiration?!

That’s an amazing accomplishment, you should be proud! Don’t worry about the time, each time you’ll do it you’ll shave a few seconds off. Keep going! 🏃‍♀️

Don’t be so bloody hard on yourself! You’re doing fab and putting me to shame. Im
Struggling to just achieve my 10k steps in a day… walking!

Thank you so much - I'll try again next week and see how I go. It's such a mental battle too!

Getting 10k steps in every day is tough especially when busy - the only person I know who finds it very easy is my friend who is a dog walker 😂

Well done
Forget about the time. The health benefits - both physical and mental far outweigh this number.
I am a very slow runner. This is a similar pace to me and I haven't had a huge operation

First off, just getting back out there is a huge achievement- getting the trainers on is the hardest part of any run!

And do not worry about pace AT ALL!! When coming back from any kind of injury, the most important thing is to build up your consistency. Everything else will follow.

In terms of stories … I love running, although I’ve never been speedy, and built up to a couple of marathons in my mid 50s. I had a recurrence of vulval cancer last summer, which involved major surgery and skin flap reconstruction- so I have pretty impressive scarring in my groin now. Once my surgeons were happy with my healing I started back with some short runs - a couple of miles, a walk / run- before I tried my first 5k. I’ve just checked and it took me 40 minutes too!

I’ve always been about volume rather than speed, so my “success” is that I built up to a half marathon by March this year.

I’ve been through a rough patch with cancer treatment recently so I’m back building again - and again, focusing on volume/ time on my feet. I’ve built back up to 3 runs a week and am gradually increasing the distance- it’s frustrating slow progress but better that than picking up a running injury!!

Keep going - forward is a pace

Its fine given the circs and you can speed up again.

It is disheartening with any exercise when you’ve had to take a break and your performance takes a huge dip.

You have to remember you’ve done it before so you know you can do it again, plus you have a base of fitness and muscle memory so it will come back sooner than the first time.

Slightly off topic, but I listened to the What’s Up Doc podcast about walking and they re-debunked the myth about doing 10,000 steps per day, which I knew about; apparently you only need about 4,000 to get the cardiac benefit, which I didn’t know.

I'm another one saying: Fantastic! Wow! After waiting a sensible five months from a MAJOR OPERATION you are back running again with a baseline 40 min performance to play with.

Having a starting point of 40 mins gives you all the future fun and satisfaction of getting to 39, 38 ... 30, etc. When you were at 28 mins you probably had nowhere to go, except backwards or actually vomiting. That's a much more dreary position to be in.

It's not about what time you finally get to, it is the project of small regular challenges that bring incremental improvements. That's where the value lies -- just as in yoga when they say that it isn't about achieving a target posture, but about perceiving and enhancing what your body does when it uses those postures as a template.

When I used to run several times a week and was much younger, 40 mins was my peak 5k. I was always a tortoise runner but always enjoyed it. I miss it terribly now & live in hope I’ll be able to try gain in future. My physio disagrees😏. The fact you’re back running in any capacity after major surgery is a huge achievement which should be celebrated,let alone managing a decent enough time. Appreciate where you are now and don’t rush to ‘improve’ too soon,it will come. Consider when you were immediately post surgery and how far you’ve come 💐

Thank you so much for the kind words of support and encouragement.

I will continue to go steady, and remind myself progress is progress!

That's brilliant OP 😁

I'm a terrible runner/jogger - one of those people you see at the side of the road plodding along like a lumbering bear 😂

I started my 'running journey' three years ago, a week later I found a lump in my boob so that kind of halted the journey. While I was having scans and biopsies, my appendix ruptured (unrelated) and I spent a week in hospital recovering. Two years of surgery, chemo, radio and a failed reconstruction followed, it was a rough period! Plus hormone 'therapy' which left me with joint pain.

But I'm back running now, still plodding along and wincing with every step but every step is a victory ✌️ I don't care what I look like or bother about my times too much, I'm just grateful I can get out of bed in the morning and do my 6k 😜

I think if you took a random group of average people off the street it’s unlikely many of them could run 5km non-stop, let alone in under 40 minutes. You’re doing brilliantly!

Well done. 5km is 5km no matter the time.

My first 5km run, without stops, was 47 minutes. I'm now down to 31 minutes. I still spend the first 2km arguing with myself and wondering why I'm running!
I actually find 10km better as I know I'm in for the longer haul, less internal arguments.

Also, until I started actively looking at my steps I didn't realise how tine consuming 10k steps can be! I have a fairly sedentary job so trying to get the last 6, sometimes 7k steps in is impossible!!!

Well done on running 5k - the time is irrelevant!

you exercised for 40 minutes! that's more than many people will do.

bloody well done

if you want to improve the time look up training plans. if you 'just' want to exercise - enjoy it and stop thinking about times.

@TakeTheDog
Also remember that progress isn't linear.....and that's ok

I have just jogged a very slow 5 miles. It was hard. I walked a bit of it which I am annoyed by but at least I did it

No surgery here, but I am a very slow runner these days, at nearly 60 (actually do 5 min, run 1 min walk). I'm slower than you (used to be faster) but I love my running and it keeps me fit, happy, and maintaining my weight. I look at it that I am on my feet for longer than a faster runner😀.. I do pretty serious strength training and need recovery, so running has to take second place.

So I am sure you and pp are right that you will get faster again but if for some reason you don't, or decide that's not your focus, then maybe that could be OK too.....you've done amazingly!!