Well, what can I say…. I’m pretty rubbish at this running thing. I’m doing it, but almost everyone else I see, seems to have got it licked, whereas I just plod along, step after step until I’ve had it.
The treadmill, I can do, but I’m struggling getting above 5 + k outside. I get to around the 5k mark and I seem to have this mental block for actually continuing to run terribly much further without stopping for a good walking break.
I went out with a friend this week, for her first day of couch to 5k. I really actually enjoyed redoing the walk 2.5 minutes and run for 1 minutes spells. She struggled, as I did when I started, and I found it quite strange to not even get the slightest bit of change to my breathing while she struggled… BUT, I was there a few short months ago…..
I’d love to be able to run the whole 10k, I really would, but with only 4 weeks to go, I’m nowhere near ready to manage that distance. I’m not young, and I’m about a stone away from where I’d like to be. I tell myself that running will be a whole lot easier when I’m carrying around that 14lb less, but I know that’s only fooling my brain while I’m reaching the end of a run… 🙂
I’m still self conscious outside. Actually, I find it excruciatingly embarrassing to plod along, as people tend to look up. I know they don’t give a fig, but hey, we’re only human, and it’s tough to ignore people looking when you’re very self conscious. I’m ignoring it as much as I can, and persuading myself not to care, although I’m still only very rarely running in our village.
It goes a little like this:
See a car coming towards me, lift my head, speed up a bit till it’s passed, then slow down a bit to get breathing under control. See someone walking towards me, close my mouth and breathe through my nose till they go out of sight…….
But, it’s for a good cause, right? Without the race for life, I wouldn’t be outside at all really. I’d still be plodding on my treadmill, sweating buckets and thinking I was slower than a sleeping tortoise. At least I know my timings are faster outside now, even if I’ll still struggle to finish the 10k in the alloted time. I’m practicing speedwalking too, in the attempt to finish my 10k in the hour and a half, even if I have to walk half of it. I’ll be alone, so I hope to have a bit of a crowd somewhere I can get lost in. It’s a daunting first public distance outing. I’m half wishing I’d opted for the 5k. At least I know I could finish that, but then I wouldn’t be pushing myself, would I?
Perhaps doubting yourself is common for a new runner who found it tough to get this far. I love running, I really do, but seem to be taking much longer than other people to build up distance.
There’s no shame in walking though, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed there will be other walkers on the 10k, and they’re not all the local super speedies I see out and about 🙂 I know lots of people walk the 5k, and I wouldn’t mind having walkers on the 10K, but with only 456 people signed up to my local 10k so far this year, I’m starting to worry…..
In the meantime, I’m off out for another run, and intend to walk a 3k afterwards to build the distance to run and walk outside. Oh, and if anyone has any tips for how to stop myself going scarlet in the face while I’m out running, I’m all ears…….
Sign up for a race for life place yourself at Race for Life – Cancer Research UK
Eat Like You Love Yourself says
May 21, 2016 at 7:59 amI was up to 11 miles about a year ago but I got injured and it knocked my fitness and my confidence. I read a fantastic bit of advice though on the “This Girl Can Run” facebook page. When you’re running, make sure you look up, relax your shoulders and arms and don’t clench your fists.
I followed this advice and took 1 min 38 off my parkrun time!
In all seriousness, have you tried a parkrun? It took me years to give my local one a go and I’m kicking myself now because they are blooming fantastic. You get all kinds of people going and although I didn’t trouble the top half of the table, there were people who finished 10 mins after me so I was by no means last and some people walked part of the way.
Good luck in the race for life. 10K is probably going to be too much to run by then but not impossible. How I got up to 10K plus last time was by extending my runs gradually but I still did 1-2 short runs a week, 1 medium and 1 long then I did other exercise (Fitnessblender on Youtube mainly) on the other days to take it up to 5-6 days exercising a week. I did that and then did a race for life muddy. I ran the whole way, leaping over obstacles and honestly I could have done the whole thing again.
Honestly don’t worry what you look like. Nowadays when I’m out running I probably see 10% of people who would go in the “semi professional, serious runner” category and 90% are mostly slightly overweight women. I have only once in 3 years have had anyone saying anything negative to me and I sent them off with a flea in their ear (a load of kids… I told them that when they were nearly 40, they should come and see if they can run as fast as I can,)
This time of year is fantastic for running outside. Get out there! It is so much better than a treadmill. Ooh and another idea I’ve done recently is do hill sprints as a training session. Massively improves fitness. I have a very short (approx 150m) hill which I sprint up as fast as I can (so mostly a jog) then walk back down, catch my breath and repeat. My best so far is 5 times but I’m going to try and build that up.
Scottish Mum says
June 6, 2016 at 5:48 pmI haven’t tried a Parkrun yet. I’m trying to get up to a decent distance so I can cover most of the 10k race for life, which is a lot for me to do in the short time I’ve been running. I think I might manage about 8k or so, as it’s all on the flat, but it’ll take me an hour or so to do it. As long as I finish before the race ends, I’ll be happy.
I got up the nerve to wear running leggings for the first time last week, but not in my local area. I still run there with bootcuts….as hot as they make me. One day!!
I tried the relaxing shoulders and arms on Fri and managed 8k then, although I walked a minute in between, but I was seriously chuffed with myself. It helped that my sil came too, as she’s about the same level of runner as me, and we only started running once a week together. I think running with someone else spurred me on for that last bit over my usual 5k distances.
Hill sprints makes me wince yet…. One day, hopefully 🙂