From Couch to 5k to...who knows?
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wheezie · 04-30-2014, 07:10 AM

Good for you! You've actually inspired me to think about running. (well, really fast walking for now.

) I am the biggest couch potato and have a few health problems, but nothing major.

Great job!!

Tinkerboo · 04-30-2014, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheezie

Good for you! You've actually inspired me to think about running. (well, really fast walking for now.

) I am the biggest couch potato and have a few health problems, but nothing major.

Great job!!

Thanks so much..and enjoy your fast walking!

Amy L · 04-30-2014, 09:45 AM

Good job on Day 2! A couple of things come to mind re shins. First, it could be your shoes. Proper shoes are the most important thing when you first start running. I have a high arch too and find that the Asics GT 2000 series work best for me. But that is just me! Everyone has different needs. When I first started running I had issues with my shins. Not sure if this is something my legs just needed to get used to, or if it was because I was using the wrong shoes. After some adjustments the shin splints went away.

A really good stretch for shins AFTER running is to balance your foot on your heel and point the top of your foot (toes) towards your chin. Hold for a count of 15 or 20. I do this after every run. Be careful also of the stretching you do before you run. For me a warm-up walk is all I need to get ready to run. That is me though. Hope this helps!

Tim Sullivan · 05-01-2014, 04:52 PM

Awesome you got out again, congrats and keep it up!!!

Some feedback I will give....firstly you talk about bouncing while you run...there should be very little up/down movement in your stride. Any excessive up and down is both inefficient and wastes energy, but can also put undue stress on the body and lead to injury. Some up and down is normal, but you should keep as level as possible.

As I think it was Amy that pointed out, stretching before a run is not recommended (stretching cold muscles can lead to injury). The only warmup you need is a couple minutes of brisk walking. Stretching is something that should only be done once muscles are warm. Also keep in mind there are some that feel that you should NEVER stretch, and that it only leads to injury, so you need to find what works for you.

With your shins it could be a couple things. As some have pointed out it could be shoes causing the issue. If you haven't had your gait properly looked at that could be one of the causes, excessive foot motion can cause the muscles in the front of your legs to become sore from over compensating.

Second thing it could be is that this is just your second time running, and those muscles just aren't used to what they are being asked to do, so they're letting you know

. You might find after a few more runs that your legs feel better...but if not, I'd look at shoes next. My shins getting sore during a run is my "replace shoes" signal

.

Hope that helps, sorry if it sounds preachy, typing this on my iPad

Tim

**Fortissimo** · 05-01-2014, 06:43 PM

Great work so far!

As Tanya said, smaller steps are recommened. I'm short and I still feel like a cartoon character as I try to get 90 steps/minute with smaller steps.

Keep up the work and you will get stronger!

Tinkerboo · 05-02-2014, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Sullivan

Awesome you got out again, congrats and keep it up!!!

Some feedback I will give....firstly you talk about bouncing while you run...there should be very little up/down movement in your stride. Any excessive up and down is both inefficient and wastes energy, but can also put undue stress on the body and lead to injury. Some up and down is normal, but you should keep as level as possible.

I probably didn't describe it very well - it's not so much that all of me is bouncing up and down...my body does stay level as you describe, but it feels like I'm bouncing off one foot then the other. Though this is probably just because it's a movement that's quite alien to me, i.e. it's more bouncy than walking! Probably more accurate to describe it as my feet are not coming up high off the ground, nor are my heels kicking up high behind me (like the guy who ran past me this morning!) - the circle of motion they go through is kind of small if you looked at me from the side, if that makes sense? Maybe it's technically a trot...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Sullivan

As I think it was Amy that pointed out, stretching before a run is not recommended (stretching cold muscles can lead to injury). The only warmup you need is a couple minutes of brisk walking. Stretching is something that should only be done once muscles are warm. Also keep in mind there are some that feel that you should NEVER stretch, and that it only leads to injury, so you need to find what works for you.

I've read so much conflicting info about stretching that my way of thinking this time was "if it hurt like heck when I didn't stretch beforehand, I'll try doing a little bit and see if it's better". As you read in Day 2, it was indeed a lot better - whether that was down to the stretches or not I don't know. Either way, it wasn't 'boot camp' intense or anything, only a couple of minutes of very gentle stretching before starting the warm-up walk. I think I do need it because I sit down 90% of the day in my job and to go from that into a kind of motion my legs aren't used to is likely to lead to feeling ouch later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Sullivan

With your shins it could be a couple things. As some have pointed out it could be shoes causing the issue. If you haven't had your gait properly looked at that could be one of the causes, excessive foot motion can cause the muscles in the front of your legs to become sore from over compensating.

Second thing it could be is that this is just your second time running, and those muscles just aren't used to what they are being asked to do, so they're letting you know

. You might find after a few more runs that your legs feel better...but if not, I'd look at shoes next. My shins getting sore during a run is my "replace shoes" signal

.

I think it's more likely the second, as they were not so bad today. I'm surprised there aren't more parts of me screaming "what the heck are you doing to us after 30+ years of idleness??!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Sullivan

Hope that helps, sorry if it sounds preachy, typing this on my iPad

Absolutely not at all - I value the advice of people more experienced than me! Thanks so much for taking the time to offer it

Tinkerboo · 05-02-2014, 08:44 AM

Week 1 Day 3
When: Friday 2nd May, 9.30am
Where: Private road by the beach again (with DH and dog again this time)
Weather: Cloudy and cool
How long: 39 minutes (including the events of the story at the bottom!)
How far: 3.45km / 2.15 miles
How'd I feel physically?: Okay, though not as amazingly wow as Day 2. I'm not sure whether to put this down to the fact that I'm not really a morning person (yeah I know it wasn't EARLY morning, but it was still before I'd really done anything else this day [I'm off work, by the way, not playing hooky!]). Perhaps it takes my system quite a while to get going. The good news is that the shin issue of Day 2 did re-emerge while I was power-walking through the warm-up, but wore off as I went on. (As you said Tim, I think it's just that they're not accustomed to it!) Because it was cooler I didn't feel quite as hot and red-faced, which was nice, but still breathing quite heavily. However I jogged/trotted all the 'begin running now' bits without any problems.
How'd I feel mentally?: Optimistic, following the success of Day 2. I have a running playlist that I shuffle through and I find that certain songs make me want to strut along in the walking sessions as if I'm sashaying down a catwalk (runway?)...hopefully this doesn't actually happen anywhere other than in my own head though! The other problem with music is that I want to sing along, which doesn't help with breathing!!

But I couldn't be without it, it really helps me out..."oppa Gangnam Style, huhhh.."!!

Humorous side note of the day: DH and the dog were doing their usual walk - up the road I was on, then coming back they go over the wall onto the beach (gives the boy some good sniffing opportunities). So I carry on doing my thing and am on my cool down, almost back to the car park when the phone rings and cuts my music off. I get it out to answer it and as I look down, the dog is there at my feet. Wondering why on earth DH is phoning me to tell me he is right behind me, I answer while turning around only to see that...he isn't! Turns out he was throwing the ball and suddenly the dog bolted off, up the ramp, over the wall, down the ramp onto the road and charged up behind me - none of which I saw till he was there wagging away at me.

It was a good five minutes before DH caught up to us. The wall is high, so I wasn't in sight, so we can only assume that because the wind was blowing into my face, and they were further behind on the beach than I was on the road, the dog had caught my scent and dashed off to find me. Not sure if he thought I needed rescue or what?! But bless him for being my little guardian angel...

my3princesses · 05-02-2014, 08:57 AM

Good for you. Just wanted to repeat what was said early don't be afraid to repeat a week. I felt it started out slow but then progressed a little too quickly for me. Glad the dog's looking out for you.

Tinkerboo · 05-02-2014, 09:54 AM

He's a sweetie! A mischievous one but still... [emoji4]

Thanks for the advice re weeks. I would like to think I'll be okay with week 2, but if I find otherwise I'll do some more repetitions of week 1 till I feel more confident. [emoji106]

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk :-)

Amy L · 05-02-2014, 10:43 AM

Now I have that song stuck in my head!

Love the story about your dog!!

Tinkerboo · 05-02-2014, 12:55 PM

I don't care how uncool it might be, I literally could listen to it on repeat and not get bored...it just makes me laugh so much!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk :-)

disney_duke · 05-02-2014, 05:32 PM

Sounds like a pretty good day today! Remember to hang in there. Give your body a few weeks to adjust to the new muscles that have just woken up.

I love, love, love the dog story!! That's so stinkin cute!!!

Tinkerboo · 05-05-2014, 04:45 PM

Week 2 Day 1
When: Monday 5th May, 5.30pm
Where: Private road by the beach again (with DH and dog)
Weather: Cloudy and cool
How long: 34 minutes
How far: 2.13 miles (I can't get MapMyRun to show me both km and miles in the way I want, so I'm going to stick with miles from now on)
How'd I feel physically?: Hot and red-faced!

It was cold when we left the house and I couldn't bring myself to not put a thin jacket on - this was the right decision for the start as it was windy and I'd have been freezing without it, but I left it too long before taking it off and so my face felt pretty glowing by the end. Keeping to my 'jogger's trot' pace, I found that the 90 second runs were not too bad on either legs or breathing, and the "you are halfway through" announcement came much sooner than I expected.

I actually felt so good about it that when it told me to begin my cool down, I decided to do one last run/jog that would take me to the car (probably about two minutes? Over half of Nicki Minaj's 'Starships' anyway!). Towards the very end it did begin to feel like I might have to walk, but I pushed on and did it. And yes, I did still do the full cool down afterwards...

How'd I feel mentally?: Oooh...week 2! The week where ordinarily I would start finding excuses not to get off my butt. But I actually found that I was looking forward to this session! This was a very pleasant surprise, but doesn't take away the fact that I was apprehensive about the increase from 60 seconds of running to 90 seconds. I was convinced that week 1 had been a fluke and I obviously just hadn't been trying hard enough, and that this fraud would be exposed when I had to step it up a gear. When I managed to not only do it as required, but also tagged that extra jog session on the end without collapsing, I was super-pleased with myself.

Question for you: where do you look while you're running? I find myself looking down at the floor, about three feet ahead of me, but I'm sure this isn't ideal. I try to remind myself to look up and ahead, but inevitably my eyes end up dropping back down. I'm not in any danger of getting run over, so technically I could do the whole thing without looking up, but does this matter? I assume it must affect my posture to some degree?

disney_duke · 05-05-2014, 05:00 PM

Awesome job! It's a nice feeling when you can push yourself to more minutes jogging vs. more minutes walking. I'm still working on that myself (from a back injury in October). Over the last 2 weeks, I've been pushing that extra 30 seconds and today I did it for almost my entire time running!

So I totally understand that mental factor of getting over an extra 30 seconds!

And you're right, week 2 (or thereabouts) is where most people either give up or get more dedicated. Sounds like you're getting more dedicated, which is fantastic.

Where to look? I used to look down, and still do sometimes. I used to constantly remind myself to look up. So, yeah, just keep reminding yourself to look forward. Not "up" yet not "down" either. Just comfortably forward. The posture thing is something I'm still working on. Being tall, I've been a sloucher all my life. So my shoulders naturally curve inwards after all this time. This flows into my running posture as well, which in turn caused more strain on my lower back. So I've been working on keeping shoulders back, low and relaxed while running. Really hard!! So here's a tip for that (which may help you too with where to put your head): while running - or walking - holding your hands together, stretch your arms up over your head and hold them for a little bit, 10 seconds or so. Feel where your back/shoulders naturally align and slowly bring your arms down to your sides. This should position your back, neck and shoulders properly. Feels good too. The hard part is keeping everything in that position!

Tinkerboo · 05-05-2014, 05:31 PM

Thanks so much! I'm taller than average and slouch a lot too - always have, some of my childhood memories are of my mum telling me to stand/sit up straight or I'd regret it when I was grown up...she was right! Sitting in the office all day doesn't help - I do make sure to get up at least every hour, but I'm still stiff and a bit hunched over a lot of the time. Hopefully being more active in general might help with that...I don't want to end up like Quasimodo!

(<-- that's the closest there is to 'fingers crossed')

That's a good tip about the arm alignment - I will try that next time!