liv: oil painting of seated nude with her back to the viewer (body)
[personal profile] liv
So I did C25K back in autumn 2012 (when I started the community with [personal profile] rmc28). And I managed to keep up regular running until I moved house in spring 2014. I was running a bit for 2 years after that, but never really got back to it being an established habit, and I kind of stopped by summer 2016. It was never a deliberate decision, I just... didn't get round to it, and than it had been months and then a year and I never had the motivation to start again.

This spring my partners' 9yo wanted to participate in a virtual Harry Potter race, and that was my motivation to restart training. I trained for a month and then did a Parkrun, and it turned out that a month was not enough training; Parkrun was a disaster. The least I can say for myself is that I got back in the saddle: I've continued running 3X a week since the Parkrun. But I'm flailing about and not making any progress and it's a bit miserable. So, partly inspired by [personal profile] angrboda I have decided to restart the C25K programme properly.

Today was week 1, run 1. I did the whole thing at 8'/km, which is about as fast as I ever run, even though I was spending more time walking than running. I found a pace that I can sustain for 8 lots of one minute, so that was really pleasing. I have been running along the guided busway which is straight and flat with few distractions like having to cross roads. Also there's a convenient 2.5 km section between Histon and Milton Road, so running along that and back is a nice 5K track.

Tech: I used Intervaly for the timing, which just beeps at you at intervals you pre-set. And Runkeeper for the distance measurement. I didn't listen to music or an audio book because with short intervals I can't really focus. I might go back to having something to keep my brain occupied as a I get further through the programme, though.
rmc28: Rachel in hockey gear on the frozen fen at Upware, near Cambridge (Default)
[personal profile] rmc28
I didn't run on Friday while away from home, mostly because it was raining really hard and that combined with being somewhere unfamiliar was enough to put me off.

So I ran late last night instead.  I feel a bit self-conscious running late at night past people's homes when it's generally very quiet, so on the residential street where I live I ran in the road the other side of the parked cars, and then up the main road until I was halfway and then turned around.

This was 12 minutes, alternating minutes of running and walking, and I completed it fine.  I turned around at 6 minutes and was convinced I was going to overshoot home right up until I finished the last minute of running, so I guess my estimation of distances is a bit off at the moment.  I was actually slower than the previous session, but am trying very hard not to care too much about time/pace at the moment, just completing the sessions.

To try to get back on track to 3 times a week, I'm aiming to do Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun this coming week, either early morning if I wake up early enough (and toddler continues current pattern of sleeping in), or evening.  
rmc28: Photo of me shortly before starting my first half-marathon (half-marathon)
[personal profile] rmc28
Yes, this is me restarting the training programme entirely!

I was really quite ill in June with a nasty throat infection, and have taken a while to get over that, and then had an unexpected spate of migraines.  So it's been over a month since I ran at all, and I am feeling much less fit and a bit scared to "overdo" exercise (it can be a migraine trigger for me). 

The thing about this training programme is that I know I can do the early stages very easily, so I don't worry about overdoing things, and it builds up time and distance sensibly.

This session was a short and sweet confidence boost: 10 minutes total, with only 4 of them actually running.  I managed all four running intervals without feeling worse than a bit out of breath, and I even managed to work up a sweat in the cool of 10pm.  Overall pace 8:26 which is better than I had expected.

I hope to run again on Friday and Sunday this week.


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