Today I am absolutely buzzing!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that at the start (ish) of lockdown I set myself the challenge of doing the Couch to 5k programme to help keep me active whilst the fitness world was essentially “closed”.
It’s been a tough but interesting journey, and if you read My Journey, from Couch to 5k blog it taught me a lot about the difference between motivation and discipline…and how you need BOTH to achieve your goals.
Starting with an unrealistic expectation
There are so many Couch to 5k programmes out there – I chose the BBC one for two reasons. Firstly, because it’s free, and secondly, I like the fact you could choose a familiar voice over to guide you through the programme. I loved having Sarah Millican give me little pep talks and boosts as I went through. When you go onto the website you’re greeted with:
“BBC Sport and Public Health England’s One You Couch to 5k smartphone app will get you confidently running 5k in just nine weeks.”
It sounds great right? Unfortunately it’s a bit misleading. The way the programme works is that your progress isn’t measured by distance…but by the time spent running. It’s not a bad format at all, especially for those who have never done any running at all. I feel that you actually get a better sense of achievement – it feels so much better to say “I ran an extra 5 minutes” rather than “I ran an extra 0.2k“. I particularly loved the week when I reached the 20 minute run milestone – felt like a boss!
So at the end of the 9 weeks what you are actually doing is running for 30 minutes continuously. Now that’s no mean feat at all, and if you have completed the programme you should be super proud of yourself. But, if like me you’re not a naturally fast runner you’ll fall short of the 5k distance by the end of the programme. I’m definitely built for stamina, not speed 😉.
As I’ve done similar running programmes in the past, I knew the drill when I started and I managed my expectations accordingly. Back when I was in my “running prime” about 5 yrs ago my 5k PB was 39 minutes…so for me, a 30min 5k was going to be a really unrealistic goal.
Some of you out there might be thinking ” why didn’t you go for it?” or “you wont get there with that kind of talk” – and you might be right. As I hadn’t run since my back injury, I knew I wanted to take a slower pace to start and see where my limits were…that and running can be fucking hard, especially when you start! I’m glad I did pace myself though, as it meant that every time I went out I successfully achieved the run goal for that day.
Going blind…not literally ofc!
For me personally – my 30-minute run distance was about 2.6 miles so still had about half a mile to add. (I generally find it easier to work in miles than kilometers – but 5km is the same as 3.1 miles).
I decided to follow the walk/run format that I had been used to throughout the programme as that really worked for me. That was about as structured as it got! I didn’t really have a plan or a guide to follow… it was essentially, add a little walk at the start/end of the run to build the distance, then the following week aim to run that…then repeat until I get to 3.1miles.
Over the next few weeks, there was a whole new set of challenges that came up that I of course hadn’t planned for – from hip pain to heatwave. I had initially hoped to achieve the 5k run goal by the end of June but it didn’t quite happen. I didn’t beat myself up over it…I just kept plodding (sometimes quite literally) along, putting one foot in front of another and kept running as much as I could each time I went out.
When the time is right…shit happens!
After having a bit of a challenging end of June in terms of progress (by this time I was running about 2.8 miles – it felt so close) I decided to give myself the deadline of the end of July to reach the 5k distance. To help I even signed up to a virtual race – because who doens’t love a pretty shiny medal!
Sometimes you need to give yourself an end goal/deadline to achieve something – otherwise the negative voices in your head (oh, hi Alice) will start turning up and convincing you that you won’t be able to achieve it, or worse still that you can’t do it.
I trusted that a whole month would be more than enough time to build that last 0.3 miles and reach the goal of running the whole distance, and turns out I was right.
What I hadn’t appreciated at that all that work up until the end of June had been laying the foundations for what was a pretty bloody brilliant run today! For the whole of the month though I kept reminding myself that it wasn’t about how fast I got there…I just had to get there.
So this week I had been feeling really good physically and my running stamina had really improved…I can’t really explain it…but today felt like the “right” day to go out and try for my 5k run.
I went out, in the rain (perfect conditions for me) and I did it. I had to have some inner conversations with Alice at times who was trying very hard to convince me we couldn’t do it…but I knew better. It didn’t matter how fast…all that mattered was that I RAN the whole distance…and I fucking did!
The best feeling in the world
I was soo incredibly happy when I got home, I’d done it…it may have taken 15 weeks to get there…but I did it! I can now run 5k! To quote my fave Jonathan Van Ness “YAS QUEEN!”
I felt a huge sense of pride, not just for the sheer act of doing but for everything else I had gained along the way:
- Discipline
- Determination
- Strength (both physically and mentally)
- Perseverance
- Patience
- Supportive of myself
- Understanding of my body’s limits – when and how far I can push
And probably so much more that I can’t think of right now!
For me this was so much more than being able to run 5k – it was a lesson that taught me I can do ANYTHING if I put my mind to it. It won’t always be easy, there will be times when you want to quit, but if you dig deep, adapt where needed and keep pushing forward you’ll get there.
What next?
Well today I’m going to submit my evidence so that I can get my virtual medal (very excited about that) and then maybe spend the next month really getting that 5k run set into my routine. All the time I’m enjoying it…I’m going to keep going.
I may have also had thoughts about getting up to 10k…🤫
