Started 8 wk beginner's schedule today

Evening everyone - I just did my proper run (2 x 15mins), I didn't WANT to do it and I didn't enjoy it at all - but I did it anyway and now I'm glad I did! (My own silly fault for going on an extra "emergency run" yesterday and wearing myself out I think!) I stopped briefly in the middle of my first 15 minutes to stroke a kitten but I added "kitten stroking time" on at the end to make up for it (a bit like injury time in football! )

I wasn't sure if I'd have to change my route or not as when I get home from work the police had cordoned off half the road - I have no idea what was going on but it had cleared by the time I set off, just one policeman removing tape from a lamp post. I always miss the excitement!

I am doing absolutely NO EXERCISE AT ALL tomorrow, drinking a few beers tonight to reward myself for running when I didn't want to and to relax my poor achy muscles... then hopefully I'll have a good run on Sunday! (I tend to find a good one follows a bad one!)

Hi Iain, welcome to the thread! Thanks for the advice, I need to plan some more routes, but it's tricky as I want as few hills as possible and I'm surrounded by the blimmin things! How long have you been training for?

Well done on your run Tommy! I went VERY slow tonight, even for ME - but I didn't seem to cover much less distance! 

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the thread Iain - its great to read your tips on keeping motivated, and i really must try and plan a few more routes. Are you following another programme now? Good luck with the Parkrun tomorrow.

Minty - hope you have a lovely weekend away and that the weather stays nice for you all. Surprisingly i managed to stay away from all sports related shops - though not sure how long that will last.

Tommy - thats brilliant you felt so good after your run, and you deserve an extra pat on the back for going out at 0530 (ie.the middle of the night!).

Cheetah - your post from last night was soooo funny, and its great you also did your official run today. I'm not surprised your taking it easy till Sunday - hopefully the beer will help you chill out.

I didn't run today, but will do my run in the morning hopefully....xx

Bit of bad news on my part....

 I've taken up playing tennis and football more often in order to keep up my fitness for running however, just before I was ready to pack up my racket and go home I stretched out to hit the ball and felt a "twinge" in my knee. It didn't feel bad at first but it soon became apparent It hurt to walk, anyway after a trip to the doctors it turns out that it's not too serious and  shouldn't be one of those injuries that keeps re-occuring but I won't be out running for a couple of week.

 Luckily this might have come at the right time because I go on holiday in a week and I was planning to take a week off from running anyway, If  I think it's hard running in the heat over here I can't imagine what it would be like running in benidorm but hopefully will do some swimming to keep fit.

Anyway I get back on Saturday the 15th so all being well I can go out for a small run on the following Monday to see if it's better.

Hi everyone,

What a lovely weekend! I am so glad i ran yesterday - cos its much hotter today and i doubt i would have been able to last long. So, ready for the next step which thankfully is only one minute longer, at run 18/walk 1 x3. Can't wait then till the following week when i go down to 2 repetitions (even though i forfeit one of my walk breaks and run longer, i think its easier psychologically - cos at least i can say 1 down, only 1 to go..... rather than 1 down, oh my goodness how am i going to do this another 2 times!!).

Sorry to hear about your injury Tommy - though as you say maybe if there ever is a right time, its now, as your going on holiday anyway.......plus you won't feel guilty about not trying to run, as its important you rest your leg - and no better place than a sun lounger....enjoy!!

Cheetah - were you able to get out for a run today? If you ran in that heat you deserve a medal! Whats the plan for next week then - 30mins non-stop?

Minty - hope you enjoyed your weekend at the coast - it was perfect weather for it.

Iain - hope the parkrun went well yesterday.

Norfolklass - hope your running is going as planned.

Hope i haven't left anyone out - if you look back at a previous page you lose what you've already typed - and it takes me ages to type it once let alone twice.....

Have a good evening..........xx

Evening - I am REALLY not good in heat!!!! I managed 3 quarters of my run and walked the rest of the way or I would have melted! (15 minutes running, one minute walking, 7 minutes running and the rest just MELTING haha!)

I'm not being too hard on myself as I do an extra day anyway, and I stuck to the plan the rest of the week WITH an extra run too

Yep 30 mins tomorrow, if it's this hot though I'm taking my timer and putting a walk break in, or the canal will just look TOO tempting to throw myself in!

Well done on your run snails - I hope it cools down before you have to add a minute!

Sorry to hear about your knee Tommy, but at least you have a holiday to recover.

Hope everyone else is doing OK

Now can somebody PLEASE turn the weather down so I can get on with my training properly!!!!!

I graduated from the beginners' group at the running club! I ran all 30mins without stopping yesterday, and I'm going to join the Improvers group next Monday, starting with a 2 mile run which is less than I did yesterday.

I just went VERY slowly as it was still hot - it helped that it's nice and flat by the canal and river I think. I just need to try it round here with the hills now! Some people are repeating the beginners programme - but I don't think I could go back to running a minute walking a minute now so I'm going up to the next group. I can always go back to the beginner's if it gets too hard or scary for me(it's building up to 5 miles in 8 weeks ).

I've had a total rest day today as my sciatica has decided to start playing up  - so I have my TENS machine stuck to my bum! I think it's just down to the heat and I should be OK to run tomorrow after my driving lesson. I drove OH's car home from Sainsbury's  at the weekend, it was the most nervewracking thing I've ever done I think, as it's an Avensis and feels completely different to the mini I'm learning in, all the controls feel different as well as it being 3 times the size and with no dual controls in case I crash! I didn't crash though.....

Hope everyone's doing OK - the heavens have opened here now so hopefully it will clear some of the heat a bit! 

Hi guys! REALLY well done, Cheetah! I've been a bit slack since my last run on Sat (DH's birthday, meals out etc.), but going tonight so will write a proper post after that. xx

Hi Everyone, well done on your fantastic running! Sorry to hear about your injury Tommy, hope it gets better over your holiday.

Not good news for my either I'm afraid. I went for another run 2/walk 1 on Saturday at Blakeney. It was still quite warm, but I managed it. BUT both my legs and knees were really hurting. I hadn't been out since then because various reasons, bad sleep from being up with the kids all night and was my hubby's birthday so we were out last night etc. etc.! So I went out this evening, planning on doing my first run 3/walk 1 and it was agony immediately, so I stopped and just had a brisk walk. My legs had been hurting since Saturday, whilst walking. I just don't know what to do? I think my only option is to rest completely for a couple of weeks maybe until there's no pain at all when walking, and try again then. Maybe my body's just not up to it whilst carrying the excess 2-3 stone in weight? Any advice gladly received. 

So frustrating and depressing!

Hi everyone,

Congratulations Cheetah on your well deserved graduation to the improvers group, and also on your driving on Saturday - isn't it so scary without the instructor to brake for you? Still, you did it - just wondering if the OH nerves were frayed at all after the experience? lol

I haven't run since Saturday - and wasn't a bit motivated to go tonight, but i'm glad i did. The only thing is - i changed the training schedule - i just couldn't face doing 3 reps of 18 mins all week. Next weeks schedule is good - day 1=22m x2, day 2=25m x2, day 3=30m x2........ so i thought i'd do each of them twice over the next 2 weeks, cos its quite a jump doing all that in only 1 week. So, did 22m x2 and it was ok.

Enjoy your next runs...........xx

Hi Minty,

Sorry i was cross-posting as usual.....really sorry to hear about your knees - i'd say you might be right to hold off running if you hurt even when walking. Are you able to take anti-inflammatory tablets?? or try icepacks? I read a few places where they recommend swimming when you can't run as its non-wieght bearing. Would you maybe even post on the 'injury' forum for some advice from experienced runners??

Really hope you feel better soon...

Evening all, hope you're all fit and well and have been enjoying more running. Had a fabulous weekend in Bristol at our friend's wedding, but it has completely blown my running schedule out of the window - apparently I'm now waaaay too old to stay up till the wee small hours and have only just caught up on sleep, so no runs since last week!

Did W7D1 last Friday morning and decided to venture out of the local park and onto the streets - running round and round had become really tedious and was making the running feel a lot harder, running out on the streets with new things to look at made the 25mins flash past in no time, and I really enjoyed it. And a very kind motorist went out of his way to drive right up next to the kerb so he could drive through a puddle and splash me with water - so thoughtful! I'm sure he wouldn't have bothered if he'd realised that it was actually felt really nice and cooled me down! The only downside was that my legs felt much more achy than usual so that was my excuse for not taking the trainers with me (Who was I kidding?? There was NO WAY I'd have been able to run for half an hour before breakfast!)

I spent a good half an hour talking running and marathons with one of my friends. He started running 5 years ago and has done loads of competitive stuff - marathons, triathlons, ironmans, etc - and he's so enthusiastic about it all, he was trying to convince me to sign up for a race, he reckoned 10k by October would be easy. He's such a bad influence!

Cheetah - massive congratulations on your graduation!!! And well done on the driving too! Hope the TENS machine has done its job and your sciatica has cleared up.

Snails - glad to read it's going well for you, it's very encouraging to hear from someone who's' running much further than 5k and continuing to enjoy it and improve. I'm at the one run of 25 mins stage, and the thought of doing that twice is pretty daunting!

Tommy - hope your knee is feeling better. Have you packed yet?? Have a great holiday!

Minty - sorry to read about your painful legs and knees, I wish I could offer some useful advice. I had a little bit of pain when I started but nothing serious, certainly not agony while walking. I agree that rest is probably the best thing to do, I shouldn't think that carrying a couple of extra pounds is the problem. I've read other threads on here written by people who were 5, 6 or 7 stone overweight and started running and were OK. Hope it stops hurting very soon and you can get back to the programme.

Right, off for a cup of coffee and Lord Alan!

Evening - we just watched Lord Sugar too, he definitely fired the right person!

Well, the weather is finally sensible again - so for the first time ever I ran my local route with the hills for 30 minutes without stopping! I've found that once I get past the initial "there MUST be a break coming up soon..." feeling, it's not as hard as I thought it would be to keep going. MapMyRun said I did 4.57km, or 2.8 miles.   No sciatica today either, it must have been the heat aggravating it.

I ordered  a new sports bra from ebay that's sort of built into a top and it arrived yesterday - only thing is it's not quite the same shade of pink it looked in the photo (there's pink in my shorts, I thought it would look nice...)...it's a sort of BARBIE PINK. It's really not my colour, but the bra fits just right so I wore it anyway tonight. For some reason I got more beeps from cars than normal.... I just hope the turquoise one that's on the way makes me look a bit less.....tarty!

Hi Minty, I agree you should definitely hold off running for now, maybe get a doctor to look as your knees and legs. There was a sports physio giving consultations at sweatshop for £15 a go here this week, maybe see if there's something like that near you. Have you had the gait analysis thingy for your shoes?

Failing anything else I find gin and tonic is really good for sore achy bits!

Snails - well done on your run, I love the feeling after one I really didn't want to do! (I haven't quite worked out if it's the accomplishment or the knowledge I don't have to do it anymore though haha!) OH went straight to the fridge and got a beer to calm his nerves after I drove us back and he'd parked the car (I sort of abandoned it across the street as it's a bit tight round here!) - I''m not sure who was more nervous but he did really well not to panic lol

Norfolklass - well done on your run too, I like a bit of variation too. I was really glad when the running club let us go further out instead of running up and down the same bit of canal - it made the longer runs much easier! It sounds like your friend is a bad influence in a good way! 

It's my day off again tomorrow, I'm still cross training in the morning though and will try to fit in some crunches in the evening. 

Hi everyone,

With taking a rest from running it never crossed my mind to come on here but since I go on holiday on Monday I thought i'd better see how your all doing.

Cheetah - Well done on graduating from the begginers, you're moving onto bigger and better things! Oh and i'm deffinatley with you on the apprantice thing!

Snails - Well done on going out for that run when you were'nt motivated. As i'm relitively new to running i'm still pretty motivated and having to take a couple of weeks off is just making me look forward to my running more but shouldn't be long before I don't feel like going out, but let's hope I can drag myself out too.

Norfolklass - I could do with a few "thoughtful" drivers on my runs too, and I've started packing, which is good for me, but i'll probably leave it to the last miniute and panick like usual!

Minty - Taking a couple of weeks off is probably the best idea, lets hope it's nothing too serious, hopefully just one of those things that happens to runners.

Anyway, i'm actually healing up really well, if I hadn't taken on doctors advice I would have been back to running by now, I went on the cross trainer for a while, really slowly and not for long because I was afraid of making things worse but I felt ok the whole way through. After a couple of days there was no pain in walking at all so it shouldn't spoil my holiday. Lets see how I feel on a light run when I get back but so far so good! Since I only just completed the first week of the 8 weeks anyway I think I might as well start again, I don't want to push myself too hard after the injury and.. well... all of that Spanish food!

 Probably won't be on now until I get back but good luck to everyone in the next few weeks.

Hi everyone, well not too much in the way of pain today whilst walking. Thanks for your advice and sympathy. I'm feeling a bit better today , was in such a grump last night about it and completely ready to give it up!

Hi Snails, good idea re the anti-inflammatories, will give it a go after I've had a rest, and will def use ice packs, well, frozen peas, next time I venture out. Well done on your progress, I agree that it seems a good idea to do each increased run a couple of times - it did sound like a big jump to go from 22 mins to 30 mins in one week.

Hi Cheetah - well done on your hilly 30mins! Sounds really impressive! LOL re the new bra! I'm sure it looks lovely! Thanks for the advice too, yes I really ought to get a gait analysis, We've got a wedding this weekend, so maybe I'll try and go the one after. And as for G+Ts, I find that they work wonders for all sorts of things.Glad you're sciatica has gone again. TENS are brill, mine was invaluable for labour, much better than the pethedine they gave me! In fact I think that's the one situation in which Gin sadly isn't really suitable!

Hi Norfolk Lass - glad you had a nice time at the wedding. I think I agree with you about running round the streets being more interesting than the park. It's nice to nose at people's houses and gardens, that definitely seems to make the time go quicker for me! And is it just me or does anyone else find it actually HARDER to run on grass than on pavement? I thought it was supposed to be easier on your joints, but it really feels like more effort on the grass, like you have to lift your feet higher and maybe with it being slightly uneven. And have you registered for the 10K then? Sounds like a great idea (says she, loafing injured on sofa eating pizza ).

Hi Tommy - glad you're on the mend, enjoy your holiday!

Was watching The Apprentice today which I'd recorded, and Dad (who evidently had watched it last night) comes in and says "I wasn't expecting him to have fired her". Thanks Dad!

Now, time to check who has cross-posted with me!

Hi Iain, sorry I didn’t mean to ignore you! Welcome to the thread, it’s good to hear about your progress. I agree that it’s definitely good to have a running partner. And inspiring to hear about your weight loss! Interesting that you’ve done the Norwich parkrun, something I would really like to do, but don’t feel ready just yet. My friend is going for the first time this Sat, she hasn’t run for ages, but says she’s perfectly happy to run/walk it, so good luck to her! How did you get on last Saturday?

Hi everyone,

No run for me today, just thought i'd pop in and see how everyone is doing....

Thats really encouraging to hear you aren't too sore today Minty. Hopefully a bit longer resting will sort things out. Gait analysis sounds like a good idea (i keep on meaning to get it done myself as my knees get bit sore, though they have improved - but it'd be worth a try).

Norfolklass - thats great how much the change of route helped you enjoy your run. Is your programme an 8 week one? If so, have you thought about what you'll do after? After I finished my 5k training and did the race for life, i didn't think of doing a further structured training programme - i just thought i'd go out and run 30mins at a time......i didn't last, and one day only managed to do 7mins!! Thats why i started the bridge to 10K - i really need the structure to keep pushing me.

Cheetah - 30mins plus hills! Well done! Glad the sciatica has settled too. I didn't run today either - but i'm more motivated now that i don't have to do 3 reps.

Tommy - im glad you are feeling better now. Hopefully by the time you get back from your holiday you'll be ready to start running again. Have a great time!

Chat tomorrow after my run....xx

Hi everyone,

Just back from my run, 22min x2 - didn't run well today at all, i was really out of breath on the hills and thought i was going to have to stop at 16min on the 2nd rep. But thankfully it sloped down a bit after that, though i really found it much tougher than the last day. Was also quite humid too, so maybe that didn't help. I really think i'll try and brave the local streets for my next run, and see if a change of scenery helps.

Hope if you ran today you had a good one....and Minty hope your knees are less sore today.

Well done for finishing your run snails!

I've cancelled mine for tonight -  we've had crazy thunderstorms and torrential rain for the last 3 hours, and every time it looks like it's calming down it starts back up again even harder! I said I'd give it til 7pm before deciding not to completely, but the road has just turned into a river again so I've opened a beer in case I get any silly ideas haha!

I love running in rain - even heavy rain - but this is like a river coming out of the sky! I'll probably just go either tomorow or sunday now (can't do both as it's the running club on Monday too and I don't want to do TOO much!)

Evening all! Just popping in quickly before bed.

Minty - glad your legs are less painful and you're feeling more positive. Don't let it put you off your training programme, you've enjoyed it until now so don't be put off. Hope you have a brilliant time at the wedding, plenty of opportunity for G&T and dancing! I started running on grass because I thought it would be easier on my joints than pounding the pavement, but uneven ground is hard just in a different way. My bonkers friend likes to run on ploughed fields as he reckons it's really good for your core stability. ?!? I haven't registered for any races yet (but think I might be slowly coming round to the idea) Hope your friend has a good run at the parkrun, let us know how she finds it.

Cheetah - well done on beating those hills, and really glad your sciatica has cleared up, fingers crossed it doesn't come back. I invested in a new sports bra today, but played it safe with black - I would have bought a pink one as it was in the sale but sadly they didn't have my size. Haven't tried it on yet so hoping it's comfortable and does the job - don't want my Coopers ligaments stretching beyond repair! Hope you enjoyed your beer

Snails - I'm doing the NHS programme which is 9 weeks long, one more 25 min run, then 3x28 and 3x30. I still find it hard to believe that I'm nearly there. It's amazing what you can achieve in such a short space of time - when I started, the idea of running for 25 mins nonstop sounded impossible and scary. Having said that, I'm planning on doing the bridge to 10k thing next when I've finished Which one did you use?

Tommy - have a great time in Spain!

Last 25 min run tomorrow - hurrah! Have great weekends everyone

Hi everyone,

Just had a nice brisk walk this morning. Am braving the streets tomorrow - but i'm going to go very early (if i can trail myself out of bed) as i think i'll not meet too many people then hopefully.

Cheetah - You were just right not to be out in that weather - a bit of rain is nice to cool you down, but that just sounds awful - i wouldn't put my nose out the door if i thought there would be thunder - mind you, it'd be one way to see if i could do a sprint finish!!

Norfolklass - i like the sound of your NHS plan, which i have never actually come across. Its good you are already used to not having walk breaks, cos i find i really rely on them. I actually chose my bridge to 10k plan purely because it had walk breaks, so i don't know if you would like it, but heres the link so you can have a look http://blog.c25kapp.com/about-bridge-to-10k/ . I've also noticed alot of other training plans are quite complex - running hard/easy/10-mile pace for certain no.of metres etc - or maybe i'm just a bit thick - probably the latter!!

Minty - hope your having a good time at the wedding, and that your sore legs are improving. A few G+Ts might numb the pain.

Tommy - i'm sure your all packed up and ready to go - enjoy.

Have a nice weekend everyone.......xx