C25k – Week #5 + New Shoes

At the start of January I had a couple of goals. See the couch to 5K plan through and lose some weight. As a reward for getting to the end of week #4, I promised myself some new running shoes which I bought last weekend and spent this week breaking in.

Shoes

Last Sunday I popped into Up and Running in Birmingham as we were meeting friends in town anyway to do an escape room with them afterwards. The guys there were really helpful. I got a gait analysis done with my old shoes which was surprising. I thought I was under-pronating but the video showed me I was over and clearly unstable. Mainly due to my old shoes being too narrow. They gave me a few shoes to try ranging from £140-£180. Surprisingly, the most expensive didn’t feel as stable so I went for some New Balance Fresh Foam X 860 v13’s which corrected my gait and felt the most comfortable. Not a ridiculous colour like some shoes too.

Week #5

This week the program stepped up a notch. Up till now each week has built up the time I run and reduced the length of the walking blocks. Week #5 started the same with 3 x 5 min runs on Monday. It was 2 x 8 min on Wednesday and today I banged out my first straight 20mins. And that was after a 30 min cardio step class in the gym. I was a bit apprehensive and the start was a bit iffy. My legs were mush after the class but I started off a bit slower and built the speed and finished with 3.94km in the bag…and yes of course I carried on to complete the 4km! I was really pleased with that as I was tired but finished strongly. My technique seems to get better as I run faster. Proper shoes definitely help.

Weight

My other goal has been some weight loss. I was 70kg on Jan 1st which was heavier than I thought I was. I’ve been intermittently fasting since. Mainly skipping breakfast but the odd day if I’ve been away at work I’ve skipped lunch instead. I took it really seriously the first week and my weight fluctuated a bit and weighing myself everyday became an issue for me so I just stopped it to take some pressure of myself. It was daft. I’ve had a couple of chocolate and beer binges in that time too. Instead I’ve backed off. I weigh myself maybe every couple of weeks now. I’ve kept up the fasting, moderated my alcohol intake and eaten better food and it seems to work. This morning I was 65.4kg but I was probably dehydrated after my class and running so I’ve realistically lost about 4kg (just over half a stone in old money) or a kilo a week. Steady and managed, just like I wanted, so I’m happy with that outcome too.

Interestingly, a decent climb I ride every week when I cycle to one of our stores for work, my Strava times have improved significantly. My PR from last summer is 3.35 and I’ve been around a minute slower for some time until the last couple of rides I’ve dipped below 4 mins again and I’m less than 20 secs off my PR. And thats with my winter wheels and big fat guards on too. A sign carrying 4kg less helps when the road goes up!