Don’t run before you can walk

Last year I set myself a challenge of running 5K. A walk in the park to some, but not for me. After downloading the BBC ‘Couch to 5K’ app and choosing Jo Whiley as my support trainer, I was off.

 

The app has been well thought through and you follow a steadily progressive programme. On Week 1 its a warm up walk, run for 60 seconds, walk for 90 seconds – repeating this seven times for a total of three sessions. And so it builds through to Week 9.

 

After Week 5, I became inpatient so went straight to Week 7. The result was a calf injury, which meant a lay-off and my enthusiasm fizzled out.

 

Roll forward to 2020; I set myself the same goal and was determined to achieve it this time. So off I went again with Jo Whiley in my ear and this time I stuck to the schedule. What a difference that made, as I’m now a 5K runner.

 

I think sometimes in every day life there’s a pressure to live at such a fast pace that it puts pressure on us to run before we can walk. Living through the pandemic (and the lockdown) has certainly given me time to think about what’s important and how we should all give ourselves time to achieve our goals.

 

Having run for all these weeks has made me fitter than I’ve been for a long time and I’ll now build on that. This can only be good for my physical and mental wellbeing.