Training Update: Beginner Running
This post is going to be a little history of how I’ve gotten in to running over the past 4 months. I feel like I can now call myself a runner and I never thought that would ever come out of my mouth!
My little history of running begins roughly on my birthday in September when I decided it was time to invest some time and money in my health and fitness. I had recently started spending time with an amazing bunch of women, doing sea swimming and frankly just getting out the house and socialising more.
The birthday girl in question haha
The overwhelming majority of our group (and their partners) are runners but I still felt too scared to do that. Perhaps it was worrying that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them (a surprising percentage have run marathons) but I also don’t have a great history with running.
Some of the amazing women with whom I spend my time ❤️
Prior to this I have gotten up to about 5-6km when I took part in my work run club back in 2014(ish) but stopped after 4 or 5 runs and gave it up until covid when I dabbled with running just to get out of the house and try to boost my endorphins. I have no idea how far or fast I ran as I wasn’t tracking it then, but it was mostly walk/run cycles for 30mins and did not progress.
Cut to my birthday this year and I decided it was time to make my health my main focus. It’s always been bottom of the list around work/study, family and hobbies but I found myself a few stone over my normal weight and very unhappy with every photograph of myself.
I really just don’t want to hate being in family photos.
I decided to invest in up to 6 months of gym membership to get myself off the ground (spoiler I’ve quit the gym haha). I can’t really afford the monthly outgoing long term as a mature student but I needed a kick start and that’s precisely what I got.
Showing off my post gym sweat marks in an old work t-shirt 😂
The staff at the gym set me up with training plans to work on for strength and encouraged me to do 10-20mins of cardio at the end of each training session. I hate static bikes and was using the rowing machine for my warm up so I thought, let’s try the treadmill for my cardio!
Initially I could manage 1 minute intervals of jogging to walking for 10mins, but progressed to the beginner to 5k plan that’s preloaded into the machine. Something clicked. I have no memory of a moment of revelation but I found myself wanting to try running outside and also wanting to get to a point where I could join my friends at Park Run.
Getting to 5k
The week before my first Park Run (which is 5k btw), I ran a 4k distance round the village and honestly, I am not exaggerating AT ALL when I say that I couldn’t stand up afterwards. My legs were complete jelly and I had to do 30 minutes of stretching just to make them functional again so I could carry on with the day.
I couldn’t stop the voice in my head that told me I would never get past 5k because “my body isn’t built for long distance”.
Needless to say I then smashed my first Park Run. I got to the finish line surprised with myself because both my legs and my lungs could have carried on further. I was shocked, but it was just the feeling I needed to quiet that voice in my head and allow me to believe that I could move towards 10k.
After my first Park Run!
The running bug has well and truly bitten and this is why I’m quitting the gym. It served its purpose in getting me going and now it’s not worth the money each month as I’m mostly outside running!
Current Training
As I write this I’m in my final week of a 10k training plan AND my longest run to date was 11.5k. I think what surprises me most is that I am now regularly running 5k or more multiple times a week. Last week in fact, I ran a 7k and 2x 9.5k distances.
I really hope that I am conveying my surprise here and not coming across as boastful because that is not the intention but I always struggle to talk about my achievements as it always feels boastful to me!
It feels counter-intuitive but the training plan I’m on is encouraging me to train my heart rate down. I currently run at about 170-180bpm average which isn’t too bad when you are running for an hour or less but isn’t great if you are attempting to keep pushing for longer/further. I’m having to slow my runs right down to get my heart rate used to running at a lower bpm range, the idea is that eventually you can increase your pace while maintaining the lower heart rate. We’ll see how that goes!
What’s next?
As I’m coming to the end of this training plan, I’ve been considering my options for what to do next with running. I know myself and without a plan I know I will struggle to keep going - I get into decision paralysis and end up doing nothing.
I’ve decided to keep going with distance training and I’m going to move into half-marathon training. Provisionally there is a half marathon in June that I’d like to sign up for but it takes place 1 week after one of my ultra hikes and I need to work out whether my body will have sufficiently recovered in a week for me to be able to tackle that distance.
After that, the temptation right now is to keep going to marathon but I think after I finish the half marathon training I’m actually going to try a speed work plan. Speed work plans aim to help you reduce your pace per km and I would love to get my 5k down under 30mins and to be able to do a 10k in an hour.
Memorable Moments
There are a few memorable moments already in this running journey and here are a couple of my highlights:
- Completing my first Park Run and feeling like I could carry on.
- Doing my second Park Run a month or so later and knocking 4 minutes off my personal best🎉
- Getting up at 6am on New Years Eve to crack out my longest distance yet, in time to meet my friends for a sunrise sea dip (let’s gloss over the fact it was too rainy to see the sunrise hahaha)
- Joining a running club in the village - I’ve only been to one meet up so far, but I can’t wait to go again.
- Running in the snow this week!
