The 'I just ran 5km, is anything (eek!) possible now?' log

mel.b

This morning I ran, jogged, plodded - (that's probably the best description) 5km.

As background, 10-11yrs ago I started jogging and worked through the C25K to being able to do 10km. And while I loved the running, everything else about it was hell. Shin splints, knee pain, injured my back, icing my legs after every run, hot baths with salts (actually that's probably the only good thing!) and the dreaded runners trots. After two embarrasing incidents I gave it up. Through running I managed to drop my weight from 110kg to 90kg but they say you can't outrun a bad diet and that's true, I put it all back on again. I have no doubt that my weight was the biggest contributing factor to all the difficulties I had.

Fastforward to 2011 - 2012 and I got a bike through the bike to work scheme. I started cycling and had a log over on the cycling forum (part of the reason I decided to start one here is that I got a lot support & encourgement from those guys). Through cycling I lost 10kg but a broken elbow and then a bad flare up with my back (thanks to that initial running injury) and then the addition of a puppy to the house meant I stopped cycling. And you guessed it, the weight went right back on.

2014 and I decide to sort the weight once and for all. However as everyone knows that's much easier said than done. And in my case, even more so, as I have what is known as Selective Eating Disorder (SED) or Avoidant, Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. This meant I was living on essentially bread, cereal, cheese pizza with the cheese pulled off, crackers, crisps, chocolate, nuts & soft drink. This started when I was 2yrs old - people say that my parents weren't strict enough or 'in my house you wouldn't get away with it' 'if you are hungry enough you'll eat it' but that's not the case. SED is essentially a phobia of food and/or trying new foods. You could promise me an all expenses paid holiday to New York and I still wouldn't have been able to put that carrot in my mouth. That's the difference. As a child a 'fussy eater' can be coaxed / bribed to try foods and they won't stave themselves. A child with SED will stave themselve.

Fortunately there is a fantastic Psychologist in London who works with people with SED and I went and saw him in September last yr and while my eating isn't perfect now, I have done a real 180. This combined with the walking that I was already doing (up to 40km a week with the dog) means that I since Sept I have lost 26kg (just over 4stone) and am halfway to my goal weight. The difference is that I have the eating sorted now and I am learning to eat normally - I'm eating healthy, normal foods and I'm making the right choices about the path I want to be on that I will never go back to how I was.

Feb of this year I posted this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=94156235 in the running forum and got great support so I started the C25K again. However I only did weeks 1 & 2. The weather was crap and I was still needing to walk the dog so trying to find the comprimise between clothes suitable for running in and clothes for walking the dog was difficult at that time of the year. Yep, excuses basically. 5 weeks ago then I started Gaelic4mothers&others which is basically an intro to gaelic footy for those who have never played. At the first session i realised I needed to do something about the fitness levels so decided to re-start the C25K. I started on Week 3 and am now on Week 8, day 1 and just got through my first 5k this morning

I realise you're not meant to do the 5k until the end, but since the end of week 6 I'd been doing it for the distance, regardless of the time it took me and I thought I'd be able for the 5k today (4.5k is what the programme says) so I tried and I did. It took me 40min and 47sec (see, plodded my way round!) but I know that my time will drop as the fitness and weight improves. What's even better to report is that compared to the first time I started running, this has been a breeze (she says, touching wood!). No shin splints, no knee pain and no runners trots (touching lots more wood here:pac:)!! I also have a great running companion who also completed his first 5k today. Here he is...


My first goal is to get that 5km under 40min which I think is acheivable in the near short term (especially if Cooper doesn't stop to try & water so many trees!). I'd like to do a park run maybe the weekend after next. There is a 10k in Galway in October that I'm wondering about. Would that be possible? Or should I keep it shorter for the time being?

Anyway, sorry for this being so long! I wanted to have it all out there, where I have come from and the changes I have made. It's such a nice feeling to know that I have acheived this and I want to keep it going - who knows what is possible now

aquinn

Fair play to you. Super, honest post. I wish you all the very best. All injury woes could be an easy fix of maybe runners or running too fast or the excess weight. Others would be more knowledge. If you steadily build up you'll do the 10km. Do you have a training plan?

Massive dog. He'll provide strength and resistance anyway. Jesus I wouldn't run with a dog.

Ososlo

Great stuff and good to see you back! Delighted you stuck with it this time. This is just the beginning for you! And yes anything is possible now!

I think a 10k in October sounds perfect. Here's a plan if you don't have one already. Even if you want to stick to running 5ks, it's a good idea to progress the time/distance on your feet as you develop as a runner. Great idea to do the Parkrun in a few weeks. 40 mins is actually not bad at all for a first 5k training run. I wouldn't be surprised if you'll knock a good few mins off that in a race/Parkrun.

FABulous dog!
Best of luck with it. Keep logging the training and keep enjoying the running!

mel.b

aquinn wrote: »

Fair play to you. Super, honest post. I wish you all the very best. All injury woes could be an easy fix of maybe runners or running too fast or the excess weight. Others would be more knowledge. If you steadily build up you'll do the 10km. Do you have a training plan?

Massive dog. He'll provide strength and resistance anyway. Jesus I wouldn't run with a dog.

LOL, strength training when I'm trying to pull him away from something he wants to sniff and sprint training when he decides to go after a cat. However he pays me back by pulling me up the hills

Ososlo wrote: »

Great stuff and good to see you back! Delighted you stuck with it this time. This is just the beginning for you! And yes anything is possible now!

I think a 10k in October sounds perfect. Here's a plan if you don't have one already. Even if you want to stick to running 5ks, it's a good idea to progress the time/distance on your feet as you develop as a runner. Great idea to do the Parkrun in a few weeks. 40 mins is actually not bad at all for a first 5k training run. I wouldn't be surprised if you'll knock a good few mins off that in a race/Parkrun.

FABulous dog!
Best of luck with it. Keep logging the training and keep enjoying the running!

Thanks so much and for the link to the plan. I had had a look at the Zen lab 10k app that follows on from the C25K but I like the look of this one better and it has the strength days built in which hopefully will see me do them as core work is something I really need to do for my back. Thanks for being kind about my first 5k time too!

Ososlo

mel.b wrote: »

Thanks so much and for the link to the plan. I had had a look at the Zen lab 10k app that follows on from the C25K but I like the look of this one better and it has the strength days built in which hopefully will see me do them as core work is something I really need to do for my back. Thanks for being kind about my first 5k time too!

It's faster than I was running 5k by the end of C25k! My first race was about 39 mins but got it under 30 within about 3 months so if you just stick with the training rigidly (not if injured or sick of course) you'll see big improvements pretty quickly.
Looking forward to following your progress!

Hannibal Smith

Love it!!! I dont have any advice...just cheering!!! Very best of luck. Do you have any park runs around you? Maybe with a bit of competition around you, you might be surprised about how well you might do?? Also, theyre great for chatting to runners and picking their brains!!

mel.b

Thanks Hannibal - I'll take all the cheering i can get Ennis would be my local parkrun and planning on giving that a go the weekend after this one. My next door neighbour does it most weekends so that will be good.

No run today as I did the one yesterday but was out at 6am doing an 8km walk with the dog. It's so nice being out at that hour! Will try a core workout later this evening from a book i got in one of the bookclubs.

mel.b

Well Tuesday wasn't a fluke, I've done another 2 5kms since

Wed & Thurs were early morning 8km walks with Cooper. While here in the west we didn't get the same heat as everyone else, being out at that hour meant I got the best of the day and actually saw some sunshine.

Fri morning up early again, this time for a run. My route today included a big hill and this is the second time I have shuffled up it. I don't know if i did it any faster than the first time I did it, but I know I am getting fitter as the first time, once I got to the top, there was no way I could go on, whereas I did this time and was able to do another almost 3km. Total distance 5.54km, 45m 36s... I managed a bit more than 5km as the last part was all downhill and I told myself that I was going to keep going until it was flat again. Total of 8km done (5.5 running, 2.5km walk home afterwards)

Sat morning - 10km walk with Cooper.

Sun morning - headed out to a nearby nature reserve today to have a go at running on the trails through there. I often take Cooper for a walk here. It was lovely and something different - I'll have to make sure we do it on a regular basis. The last km was slow in particular, the track was getting narrow and more roots and rocks to be aware of and Cooper was acting the maggot for the last 500m as we went past his favourite swimming spot and he wanted a swim :rolleyes: I wasn't stopping though:P So we kept going and he got his swim further up the trail once I'd my 5km done. 5.01km in 41m 56s + 4km walk back to the car.

Here he is after his swim...


I've also registered for parkrun and spoken to my neighbour so that's all set for Saturday I'm going to start on the Hal Higdon novice 10K programme and aim for the Galway Bay run on the 3rd Oct. Am I still ok to do the Parkruns on a Saturday? The plan has Saturdays as a cross training day. I'd still have to be out walking Cooper anyway, but was thinking i can do the parkrun in the morning and then give him a 6km ish walk in the afternoon?

Total for the week 15.58km (running) avg pace 8:14km + 39.5km walking

mel.b

Well, complete failure this morning but two important lessons learnt.

1. I was completely deluded above thinking I would be able to run Sat & Sun back to back. I ran on Sunday & did 5km (+4km walking afterwards) and waited until today to do another. The legs were still feeling heavy, no surprise since last week was the first week I had done 15km, however I wanted to do today so I could do Thurs and then the Sat parkrun. However it wasn't enough of a break and the legs could only do a mile (had planned for 2 which is week 1 of the HH novice 10km). So I'm going to change around the days of the HH 10K and make what is their Tues my Saturday so the 3mile run will be the Parkruns on a Saturday. Just wondering though they only have the 1 day recovery after the longest run..would I be better moving it forward a day to give two days or will the legs get used to it. That brings me to my second lesson...

2. I need to stretch. So far I haven't done any stretching either before or after and I'm pretty certain if I had been then the legs would have been feeling a whole lot better this morning.

So while it was a waste in terms of a run, I still learnt things and we still did a 7km walk mostly in the pouring rain ( no thanks to the met eireann radar website which showed no rain around at the time :mad:)

Ososlo

mel.b wrote: »

Well Tuesday wasn't a fluke, I've done another 2 5kms since

I've also registered for parkrun and spoken to my neighbour so that's all set for Saturday I'm going to start on the Hal Higdon novice 10K programme and aim for the Galway Bay run on the 3rd Oct. Am I still ok to do the Parkruns on a Saturday? The plan has Saturdays as a cross training day. I'd still have to be out walking Cooper anyway, but was thinking i can do the parkrun in the morning and then give him a 6km ish walk in the afternoon?

Total for the week 15.58km (running) avg pace 8:14km + 39.5km walking

Well done on the 2 5ks! Great going!

If you're doing the Parkrun on a Saturday, I'd drop the Sunday run. It's just too much to do both runs one day after the next and at this stage in your training could be recipe for injury. Tread carefully!!!! You could add a little warm up onto the Parkrun to extend the distance a little if you want so that you're running for the same amount of time as you're supposed to run on the Sunday (as per the plan). Maybe 5 mins very very slow jog to warm up the legs and the same to cool down after the race.
Best of luck!
ps: the walk that evening you mentioned with the dog will be great for helping your legs recover from the Parkrun!

Ososlo

mel.b wrote: »

So I'm going to change around the days of the HH 10K and make what is their Tues my Saturday so the 3mile run will be the Parkruns on a Saturday. Just wondering though they only have the 1 day recovery after the longest run..would I be better moving it forward a day to give two days or will the legs get used to it. That brings me to my second lesson...

2. I need to stretch. So far I haven't done any stretching either before or after and I'm pretty certain if I had been then the legs would have been feeling a whole lot better this morning.

Yes change around the days to suit your own personal circumstances. Nothing is written in stone. Great idea actually to have 2 rest days before longer run or Parkrun.
Have you a foam roller? If not it might be worthwhile investing in one.

Firedance

Well done on the 5ks Mel b! Cooper is stunning best of luck with the 10k plan and yes you can certainly switch the days around to suit you, the main thing is to keep training consistently & dont be put off by the odd tough run here & there.

mel.b

First Parkrun done and we think it was under 40min I couldn't get my run keeper started in time so I need to wait for the offical time to come through...

Ososlo

mel.b wrote: »

First Parkrun done and we think it was under 40min I couldn't get my run keeper started in time so I need to wait for the offical time to come through...

Great stuff mel.b!! Did you enjoy it? More details please!!!

mel.b

LOL, Sorry Ososlo. Yeah, it was fun. Ennis is my local parkrun and there was a small enough turnout this morning - maybe 25 or so people. I had my phone strapped to my arm but forgot to get it ready and the start sort of took me by surprise so I wasn't able to get it started. It was disconcerting running without the audio cues for distance especially as I had no idea how far I had gone or what pace I was going at, and not knowing the track I had no idea how much further I had to go. I found it to be an undulating course with little ups and downs...I'm sure others would call it flat but it was a good surface to run on and it's nice running through the trees. There were two girls in front of me who were walking / running and it was somewhat frustrating that I wasn't able to catch them. I got lapped by about 4 of the fastest guys but there were encouraging as they passed me and the marshall out on the course also gave me a nice encouraging clap as I went past him for the last time. I've never done a route before where you are running the same laps (Ennis is one smaller lap and two bigger laps) but it was comforting for the last lap in that I knew what it was like, that I had just done it and could do it again, rather than not knowing what is coming! I managed to put on a little bit speed for the finish and I'm hoping my time is in the 38 - 39min range. Do they take it from the stopwatch or when the tag is scanned? It took ages for my little tag to scan.

So overall, I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to next weeks

aquinn

Good for you and your first parkrun. They are fantastic events and as you noted everyone friendly and encouraging. They have a timer so doesn't matter how long you queued for scan it won't change from receiving tag. You can pass out or lie down and time won't change. Well done.

Firedance

congrats on your first parkrun melB! the first of many I've no doubt, it will be great to be able to see your progress in the same race on a regular basis. Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

mel.b

Argghhh, I'm listed as 'unknown runner' on the parkrun results. I've emailed them so hopefully it will be corrected during the week.

So after Tuesday's miserable effort I was completely bone lazy tapered ...isn't that what you professionals call it :P and didn't do any running until Sat morning for the Parkrun.

However i did get my walks in everyday and I've started to make a conscious effort to walk faster (I tend to dawdle and let Cooper sniff every tree and try to catch every mouse). I know that this will help with the fitness and increasing my pace when running.

Weekly total Running: 6.6km Walking: 43km approx

Plan for the coming week Mon: 3.5km, Thurs: 3.5km Sat: 5km Parkrun

annapr

Well done Mel B on your first parkrun... they are addictive and as you found out welcoming to everyone. Fair play to you on the weight loss too and on getting this far, you're being very sensible in your build up, the Hal Higdon novice plans are very good.

Best of luck with it!

mel.b

Finally got my Parkrun time...38min 41 sec, so i've now got an offical time to beat. And for the first and i'm sure the last time i was first in my age group*















* no one needs to know i was the ONLY runner in my age group!!

laura_ac3

Well done melb. Great to set that benchmark now and you'll start seeing chunks coming off it as you progress.

Don't try race your training runs, keep easy days easy and hard days hard and keep it consistent. Best of luck.

mel.b

Unofficial Parkrun PB this morning of 37:40 Mapmyrun was way out with the km's due to the tree coverage so it was giving me paces of 6:15 per km and similiar. I knew it was wrong but certainly gave me motivation to keep moving. I even passed someone today at around the 3.5km mark and managed to stay in front of them for the rest of the run

Edited: Official time in - 37:45

Ososlo

mel.b wrote: »

Unofficial Parkrun PB this morning of 37:40 Mapmyrun was way out with the km's due to the tree coverage so it was giving me paces of 6:15 per km and similiar. I knew it was wrong but certainly gave me motivation to keep moving. I even passed someone today at around the 3.5km mark and managed to stay in front of them for the rest of the run

Great stuff!!!! Lovely to see a big improvement in a week and great to pass someone like that!
Well done:)

Firedance

congrats! a minute off in one week that's great melb passing people is a huge confidence boost, you'll want to do that every week now

mel.b

Thanks, delighted with the Parkrun yesterday. Not sure if I'll be able to repeat the effort next weekend as I'm going to Ed Sheeran on Fri night and won't be home until about 3.30am. In fact, if I make it to the Parkrun that will be an acheivement in itself!.

Mon 13th July
3.5km run 30:08, avg pace 8:32 min/km + 4km walk. The legs weren't feeling it, but I kept going remember what Firedance said above about not being put off by a tough run. This particular route includes a long steep hill. As i was going up, I passed a lady who was walking in the other direction and after I finished the 3.5km (by which time the legs actually felt good) and was walking back down I passed the same lady and she said to me 'I don't know how you are running up this hill' - I replied with the only thing I could say...slowly! Finished with a 4km walk back home.

Tues 14th
Nothing tonight due to having to work late.

Wed 15th
3.52km 28:35, 8:08 min/km + 4.5km walk With the unexpectedly good weather I decided to do my run tonight instead of tomorrow which was forecast bad with a lot of rain. Because it was so warm I decided to head to the nearby nature reserve which meant i could run in the shade of the trees and Cooper could have his swim to cool down afterwards. Finished off with an approx 4.5km walk back to the car (not 100% sure as phone battery died ) For an evening with such good weather I surprisingly only saw two other people out...I guess everyone else went to Lahinch

Thurs 16th
7.5km walk

Fri 17th
6km walk

Sat 18th
5km Parkrun 37:45, 7:35 min/km + 8km walk As above delighted with this. Mentally found the first km a bit tough and told myself to just think it was 3.5km that I was doing, that I'd done this a couple of times already during the week and that it was such a nice, short distance. That seemed to do the trick and I forgot all about it after that. As mentioned I passed another runner and managed to stay ahead of her so I was really happy about that. There was a boy about 10 in front of me who was walking / running his way around. I caught him a few times and kept encouraging him to keep going. His dad and sister were waiting for him with about 300m to go and they gave him a big cheer, took a couple of photos and then he took off with them to finish ahead of me. Later went for an 8km walk with Cooper

Sun 19th
10km walk

Totals for the week: Run:12km, Walk: 39km

Plan for next week
Same as this week 2 x 3.5km runs + 1 5km run.

Loving this log mel.b...I'm only starting out, but will be following your posts as I'm hoping to get to the 5k mark soon. Also love Cooper; huskies have immense energy and it's great that you exercise him so regularly

Best of luck with your goals!

mel.b

Laura ac3 said above 'keep the easy days easy'. I nearly took that a little bit too literally and nearly didn't do anything tonight. Got home and the weather had just turned filthy plus the plumber was waiting for me, so I put off the run. Then fed Cooper but wasn't motivated for anything myself - didn't feel like cooking, didn't feel like eating...except chocolate finger biscuits:eek: One for me, one for Cooper, two for me, three for me, four...:eek::eek:

Then decided I wouldn't go and I think Cooper even gave up because he stopped getting up on the couch and into my face and went and sat outside. Finally 8pm rolled around and I told myself to HTFU and get out there...need to make up for at least some of the chocolate finger biscuits.

So off we start with me moving at nothing more than a shuffle. Decide that instead of doing the 3.5km run that involves a big hill and then a 4km walk home that I'd just go to the bridge and back which would be 3.5km run, 1km walk. Then after the first km or so (still not moving any faster than a shuffle), I decide that I will do the longer route and up that hill we will go. And the hill today was the easiest it has been...all explained when I compare my split from last week and see it was 1:30 slower...and I thought last week was slow!

We finally make it back home and I've got the 7.5km in the bag. I'm sure I didn't raise a sweat and I'm pretty sure I didn't raise a heartbeat but isn't that what 'taking the easy days easy' is all about :P

Then I get home and see this Grey's Anatomy quote on my facebook page...
'Even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying' and I think that pretty much sums up tonight.

PS - smallteapot, Cooper wants to tell you that he's a Malamute, not a husky but he's got just as much energy! Good luck with your running, you'll be at 5km before you know it

mel.b

Well as predicted i didn't make it into the Parkrun this weekend due to the Ed Sheeran concert on Fri night. It was 3.30am before i was home...no way was i going to be up & ready for a run at 9.30!

Mon 20th detailed above

Tues 21st: 8.5km walk

Wed 22nd : 3.5km run planned, ended up doing 4km because it was raining and i said that i'd keep going until it stopped raining. 4.1km in 34:17, avg pace 8:13 min/km. then a 4.5 km walk the rest of the way home

Thurs 23rd: 7km walk

Fri 24th: nothing unless you count the km's walking to & from the bus for Ed!

Sat 25th: while i didn't make it out of bed early enough for the Parkrun, i did get out for a run later that afternoon. Decided to head up to the nature reserve to run through the woods, it's such a nice change of scenery and easy on the legs. 5km, 42:44, avg pace 8:22min/km. finished with a 3.5km walk back to the car

Sun 26th: 8.5km walk

Totals for the week: run: 12.5km, walk: 36.5km

Plan for next week: 3.5, 4 & 5km run

mel.b

A hat- trick? Trifecta? Triple? Treble? Whatever three in a row is called in running, i just got confirmation of my 3rd in a row PB for the parkrun...36:22...delighted! Will post more later when i not on the phone.

mel.b

So last night i had a dream my feet got stuck in concrete...thankfully that wasn't an omen for todays run! I was really hoping i could do another PB today, but didn't see how it was possible, and i was strangely nervous leaving home this morning. There was a small group of about 30 at the Park run in Ennis and we soon set off. I passed one girl quite soon and somwhow managed to resist the temptation for the rest of the run to look over my shoulder to see if i could see her. There was another lady in front if me who was running/walking. In the initial part i managed to pass her, but when she started running she was quick and soon passed me and then manged to stay ahead of me and finished about 25sec ahead. She then told me i was pushing her along so that was nice but it would be so good to actually one day be able to stay in front of the people who are doing a mixture of walking & running! As per usual i got passed by a couple of the fast guys and i'm going to make that another goal - not to get lapped by them! One day... At my last park run my phone tracker was out quite a bit so i wasn't sure how much to trust it today. I'm getting to know the route better though and had an inkling that i was in for a chance for a PB on the last lap. The legs felt ok, but the breathing is terrible - so noisy...i hope that as i get fitter that will improve.

Crossed the line at 5.03km in 36:23 according to my phone and the got the offical result of 36:22 a couple of hours later So the phone was pretty accurate today and has my splits as:
6:56
7:13
7:27
7:22
7:13
(6:03) for 5 to 5.03km

Delighted and now the challenge is to try go better again next week

Firedance

Well done!