C25K Question

Hi ???? I would try day 3 again on your next run and see how you feel. If you are able to run the 20 then I would go to week 6. If not, then I would continue week 5 for a few more days. I did each week a few days longer and progressed from there. I am less concerned with following the plan to a T and more concerned with my overall fitness and pushing myself to go farther. Hope that helps!! ????????????

Just re-do your day 3. If it makes you feel any better that was the one run that I "failed" at during my program. It was extremely hot and humid although I went at 8am. My podcast failed because the batteries to my MP3 player died and without the podcast I just couldn't get through it. I did make it on my next attempt when it was a cooler day. The heat really gets the best of me.

Don't get discouraged! I did C25K three years ago and had bad days too. I used to just start the week over until I felt I had really conquered that time. You didn't fail. There are a zillion reasons why one day the run is easy and the next time you go out it may suck. I had a week like that last week, in fact. One day I could have gone on forever and ran about 4 miles. The next time I went out I stopped after a mile and a half. I just had nothing in the tank. And I simply cannot run in heat with Sun beating on me. And the humidity kills me too. I go at 5:30 a.m. in the summer just to avoid it. Even SEASONSED runners who have been doing it their entire adult lives have bad days. And, as we say in yoga, listen to your body - it's the best teacher.

Like in a lot of other sports, some days you can only take what the conditions give you. The humidity makes the run tougher. It's harder to breathe and your body is always going to be more comfortable in a cooler, drier condition. Don't consider it a failure.

To make a rough analogy from another sport, I've bowled off and on for more than 30 years and reached the level to where I could play on the professional tour. I wanted every game to be great, but the reality was that it wasn't going to happen. Some days were great, while others were lousy. At the end of each game, the same thing happened regardless of the score; you wipe out the score sheet and start again.

Wil,

You're very welcome. Keep working hard and keep us posted on how it's going. You're doing fine. DO NOT WORRY about what will happen. We're all at different levels and sometimes it's not helpful to focus too much on a "textbook" way to train.

My wife is a fairly serious runner. She has trained hard over the last 2 1/2 years and done three half marathons and two 20K races. She can run a half in less than two hours without stopping. I'm a pretty good all-around athlete. I like biking, swimming, running and playing other sports. I don't really hone in on one thing.

I entered my first half marathon last Thursday night. If I tried to do what she does, I would have been setting myself up for a very bad outcome. I was more than fine with the idea of taking my walking intervals when I needed to. As we passed the halfway point, my running intervals got shorter and shorter while my walking intervals got longer and longer. At around mile 9, I felt a twinge in my right calf and decided not to push the envelope any further. I speed walked the rest of the way and made it to the finish in 2:38:45.

Was it a failure that I couldn't run the whole thing? Hardly. As I type this, it has been 72 hours since I crossed the finish line and I'm still so happy about the whole experience.

If you're experiencing difficulty, that's okay. This is difficult, but worth the while.

Woohoo... After three more attempts I was able to run the entire 20 minutes on the third try. The first try was sort of a disaster. It was reallllly muggy out and I only made it able 5 minutes before I had to slow down to walk. The second try was much better, it was still kind of muggy, but I was able to go 10 minutes before walking. Today, the third attempt, was very cool, and I was able to crush the 20 minute run and I still had gas in the tank.

So on to week 6, thanks again for the words of encouragement.

-wil

High five - awesome!