I Run
Five weeks ago I wrote about my first couple of weeks of doing the NHS Couch to 5K running plan. When I published the post I had just completed running blocks of 90 seconds and was looking forward to starting week three and three minute runs. At the back of my mind I was nervous about how the durations were going to ramp up over the coming weeks with five minute runs in week four and, at the end of week five, a 20 minute run!
The next few weeks saw me continue to do laps of the recreation field in the village. And, like my first few runs, sometimes I was completely alone, sometimes there were were dog walkers or kids playing, and the football club continued to train each week too. The regularity of the runs meant that I was convinced that I was leaving a faint trail around the perimeter of the field. I also worked out that a three minute run was pretty much a complete lap and a five minute run was almost two laps. The longer intervals weren’t too bad since I could base my pace on my breathing and knowing how far I needed to go in terms of laps was a big mental help too.
It was during these early weeks that I also started listening to music whilst I was doing the sessions rather than just listening to the odd instruction or motivational message. More on this later.
Week four was my first experience of running in the rain. About half way through the first run of the week the rain started… with a vengeance. Within a couple of minutes I was soaking and briefly wondered if I should pack it in and re-do day one when it was dry. But I was half way and had just done my first ever five minute segment so I decided to just carry on. And then I just wanted to run and not do the walking intervals because that was when I was getting cold. And in the end it was fun and I was no longer a fair-weather runner.
Week five meant eight minute intervals which felt like another big increase but I realised that eight minutes just added one more lap of the field to the two needed for a five minute run and I was back to measuring and breaking it all down into smaller, manageable mental chunks. And this also meant that the 20 minute run was around eight laps and I counted them off and the run was done. And with it a big mental barrier was lifted. Not only could I do it but it hadn’t felt too bad. I hadn’t yet had a stitch, my feet and, more importantly, knees were doing fine and I was enjoying it all.
Week six saw the biggest shake-up to my Couch to 5K journey so far. On the second run of the week I abandoned the recreation field and ran on the roads. The tarmac definitely felt harder than running on grass but it was also a smoother surface and the route became more interesting too. The trade-off was that I lost the ability to gauge how many laps I needed to do for the running intervals but I felt that I needed that particular crutch less anyway. And at the end of the run I was on a back road behind my village so the cool-down walk was on footpaths across fields which planted another seed in my mind.
We have a lot of footpaths around the village but they are not beautiful, smooth, tarmac paths, they are well-worn trails across fields, around quarries, and through woodland. I didn’t want to wreck my running shoes on them and I also knew that the padding in them could make running on uneven surfaces harder rather than easier. I needed some trail running shoes. So, having previously had a great experience at Runners Need (see an earlier blog post for details) I went back and bought essentially the trail running equivalent of my running shoes, some Asics GEL-Trabuco 13 in Nova Orange.
And so we reach this week, week seven, which saw me take to a trail which does a loop around the rim of a local quarry. The path undulates so I also experienced some proper gradient changes for the first time and there were kissing gates and steps up a steep incline to tackle as well as overgrown sections with stinging nettles and brambles. It was a lot of fun and I’m now keen to explore lots of other routes in the area which will give me plenty of variety, physically and mentally.
This evening, to wrap the week up, I took on a hilly road route which was also the first time I’ve really seen other runner out and about. And it was a great range of people from someone like me who was happily plodding along to some much fitter people who sped off into the distance. But everyone managed to at least gasp a hello or wave to each other and I felt like a small part of the running world.
And yes, I do now feel like a runner and the Couch to 5K plan has been excellent so far. With only two weeks to go I know that I’ll finish it but I wanted to write this post as a bit of an update and I also wanted to comment on the audio aspect of the Couch to 5K app because today might be the last time I listen to it.
In my first post about the Couch to 5K plan I said that, “… the Couch to 5K app is great for encouragement and talking you through the sessions but I can see myself needing that less and less.” Whilst I still listen to Jo Whiley talking me through the sessions, now that I’m just doing warm up and cool down walks and a single, solid block of running between them it’s become less useful. My Garmin watch tells me when to start and stop running and so I don’t really need the prompts from the app. And worse is that I’ve started to find the encouraging messages which play during the running blocks oddly demotivating. They are designed to cover a range of experiences from people who are enjoying it all and doing well to those who might be struggling more and need motivating and encouraging. Because of this, if you are enjoying it and feel that you are doing well, messages saying that it might have all been really tough just feel weird. There is no easy way around this without making the app overly-complex but I think it might be time to retire Jo and just enjoy my runs.
But this is a really minor complaint and the app and experience really have been great and the fact that after seven weeks I’ve gone from 60 second running intervals to 25 minute ones is incredible. I’m certain I’ll be completing the plan and then fulfilling my dream of running 5K at a Parkrun and I’m now also certain it won’t be a one-off. And today I finished my 25 minute run at a pace below seven minutes per kilometer for the first time which gives me hope of maybe achieving a sub-35 minute 5K.
On that positive note I’ll wrap this up and follow-up in two or three weeks when the first one is in the bag.