That's it, I've finished. Week 9 went smoothly enough, for some reason I decided to do day one on Sunday after a late night cinema outing and popcorn binge and it was excrutiatingly hard, I had to take three 1 minute breaks but did manage to run the 30 minutes altogether. Then Tuesday and today I did the half hour without stopping, I found the first 15 are the hardest and my brain is constantly calculating and the voice in my head needs to shut up. Today's run went something like this:
"3 minutes, that's 1 tenth done.....5 minutes, ok only have to do that 5 more times and I'll be done.... 8 minutes, well I guess if I'm really struggling I could break it into 3 ten minute runs with a minute walk in between..... 10 minutes, no come on you can do this, at least get to half way through then walk for a minute if you really need to...... 13 minutes, wow I'm almost half way there, I'm a runner! (even if I'm sweating so much it looks like someone chucked a bucket of water over my head)...... 15 minutes, you could take a quick break now, no hang on I've already managed half without stopping, nothing hurts or anything I can keep going..... 20 minutes, too late to stop now, it would make for uneven lengthed intervals and that wouldn't do, you'll just have to keep going..... 25 minutes, wow this half hour is lasting forever, come on almost done...... 27 minutes, God how long can 5 minutes take to pass???? One more song..... 28 minutes, you've been running for this long, surely 120 measly seconds isn't going to kill you.... 30 minutes OMG I really am a runner!"

Although I may change I have pretty much decided for now to try and run for 30 minutes every other day for a couple of weeks and then go on to the 10k programme. One thing I would like to work on, and I believe the best way to do it is by increasing distance, is my time.... I may be a runner but I'm a bloody slow one thanks to my very short legs, to actually run 5k would take me 50 minutes at the moment. If not, well heck I'm still doing something on a regular basis I would never have believed I was capable of doing.

I completed w6d3! I ran without stopping at 4.2 miles per hour. 4.5 is much too fast for me right now. There was a guy two treadmills over that was running at 8.4. I have to say, good for him. That's not a goal of mine. I'm super satisfied with myself and my run tonight.

I completed c25k a few weeks ago, but given that I run 15 minute miles, I wasn't close to a 5k. I started the bridge to 10K and then I majorly derailed. Life. Sigh. But I had a goal for myself of running a 5k in October and even though I didn't do an official race, I ran one on the treadmill yesterday. My sister ran virtually with me (she gave me a one mile head start and still finished before me) and kept up the encouraging text messages while I ran. I did it!

I actually ran without stopping for 3.1 miles. It took me 46:26, but I did it! And now I find myself signed up for a turkey trot with my husband and some of his family on thanksgiving day!

chickennugger13 wrote: »

Feeling pretty terrible. I just attempted day one of week four. I couldn't do it. I felt so bad quiting out earlier. It's the middle of a Saturday and I just ending up walking home.

Don't feel bad, just remember even if you didn't finish you still did more than the ones that never got off their azzes! We all have bad runs sometimes, just tell yourself tomorrow will be better and let it go. There's nothing wrong with repeating days or weeks in the programme if and when you need to, I repeated at least three weeks and still finished it successfully eventually, just took me a little longer than some :-D

chickennugger13 wrote: »

I went back to week 3 to try that run this morning as week 4 seems to need a bit more fitness. I don't understand what is wrong with me. I couldn't catch my breath after each run. It feels like it's getting harder

Well,

Lets look at it this week to week


Week 1 has you running 8 minutes per session
2... 10 MPS
3... 9 MPS
4... 16 MPS
5... 15/16/20
6.... 18/20/25


So you're essentially doubling your run volume from week 3-4. Which is a huge jump.... unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of workaround.

You could try a 3.5 week with 12 MPS

3m/90s X 4 rounds, but then you'd have to self time. instead of using the app.

Since I last posted I haven't run at all. I seem to have lost the will

chickennugger13 wrote: »

Since I last posted I haven't run at all. I seem to have lost the will

I vote you don't put too much pressure on yourself and just go out for fun. Maybe go for a walk but wear your running stuff just in case you fancy a little jog while you're there.

About a month ago I ran 10 miles without too many problems (I walked for bits but not that much). Today however, I could barely cover 1 mile before stopping to walk. It's annoying, and I know it's all in my mind, but actually I don't really care - I was out enjoying the fresh air and I was doing what I could to get fitter. As long as I don't stop going out it'll eventually pay off.