From 0 to marathon

[hardloper]

Hi everyone. I read many stories about people with weight problems that found their way to a better life though running. My story is nothing like that.

I'm 34 years old, tall and thin (6'1" per 152 lbs, in my "fattest" period I was 168 lbs). I'm that kind of guy that never put effort in sport. I was thinking "oh well, I already look good, why should I bother to do sport"?

Then I moved in a foreign country where people are very serious about sport and I started to feel ashamed about myself. I therefore started three years ago to run three times a week (without any training I could do the 5 km immediately - sort of (the first times I had to stop because too much pain in my legs, but I was not feeling exhausted). My longest run 8 km. It's important to remark that my time was pretty embarassing (45 minutes for 5km ). Then a thing happened and I stopped to run for 9 months (this thing is called "autumn"). I restarted to run 5km three times a week but we the same problems and this time I stopped much before the autumn, so I waited other 9 months and then another thing happened, and this thing is called "girlfriend". Initially I was not thinking about getting back to run, but it happened that my girlfriend, a local girl, is a very sporty girl (in her best period she was lifting weights and she was beating many men at the gym), with a very sporty father (namely doing triathlon at 60 years old and beating many young people). I then felt even more ashamed about my poor condition and start to change many things about my lifestyle. I started to get a structure, going to bed always around 11pm, changing totally my alimentation (my typical day consists in breakfast: milk with oatmeal, honey, nuts and raisins; two fruits every day during morning and afternoon, lunch: 3 slices of bread (now they became 4) with butter and something else - like cheese, meat or jam; dinner: the dinner is focused on vegetables plus potatoes or grains - better if whole - and proteins - like chicken or fish or beans or quinoa. Extra snack: a yoghurt with honey and nuts). Then I started to go to the gym and do the crosstrainer. Then I accidentally read a post of a blogger about marathon and started to fantasize myself completing a marathon. I therefore read a book about it and decided that I really wanted to go for it! Talking about a friend of mine he told me about C25K, and so here I am I bought this winter the 10k pro and started to run, but after the third week I had to stop because of an injury that stopped me until two months ago. I did fysiotherapy, lot of exercises and stretching and finally I restarted to run with an interval training schema given to me by my physioterapist. Since some months I'm also training my whole body doing chalistenics training (I train 6 times a week, and I could easily see the results since I lost all the fat I had on the belly and I have a much more attractive body).

 

That's how this week I restarted with the 10k runner and today I ran the 5x02. The two times 8 minutes went very smooth without any problem but Friday I will have to face the famous 5x03, 20 minutes non-stop. Considering that I had to stop because of an injury I'm a little bit concerned; I also hope that it would not be a problem to run 3 times a week (during my rehab I was running maximum twice a week). For the rest, I already bought the 13.1 and the 26.2 apps and I want to go all the way from couch potato to marathon

[hardloper]

5x3 done, no problem! The 20 minutes of continuous running went very smooth. Better not to comment the pace, but it will improve

[udx1]

Awesome. I am just back from W8D1, feeling very good. I get v nervous to begin the day but complete it with little push. Can't wait to finish my first 5k next week. Good luck!

[hardloper]

Hey congrats to you and good luck with your 5k!

 

Today very fluid 6x1 everything good.

[udx1]

Ty hardloper. I completed my first 5k today in 30.57mins. Feeling good and ready for 10K now. Good luck with your progress.