Wow! I did it! But now what....

[alec]

"How the hell did that happen!" I screamed as the lady on the App congratulated me on finishing W9R3 this morning. And truth be told I still don't know the answer. But nonetheless, here we are, I finished the course today!!! Yep W9R3 has come and gone and I even did it on a higher than usual speed and I still felt like I had something left at the end.

This whole course has kinda consumed me over the last 9 weeks but in a good way. I now care a lot more about what I eat and drink. I find myself interested in the running section of the sports store. I have a renewed respect for the people I see running. I have actually bought things with lycra in them! I know what 'pose' running is. I have a far higher opinion of myself and what I can acheive when I really put my mind to it. But most of all I am so damn proud of myself and everyoine else who is going through this programme.

Whilst I don't want to turn this into an Oscar acceptance speech, I do want to thank everyone on this forum (esp. Jysmystry) for being so supportive and of course huge thanks for the guys that produced this amazing, inspiring and beautifully simple App! Without a doubt it was the best however-much-it-cost I ever spent. I honestly think I will look back in years to come and consider this programme as when I turned my (fitness) life around and probably added a few extra years. Dramatic I know - but true.

Of course the biggest issue now is WHAT THE HELL DO I DO NOW!!!!!!!

So here is the plan in case it is of interest to anyone after they graduate. I am going to work on 3 things. Speed, distance and time. All fairly straight forward so far but this is my plan:

Speed
On Mondays (when time is generally a bit tight) I am going to repeat W6R2 (run 10 mins - walk 3 mins - run 10 mins) but I am really going to turn up the speed and try and go faster each week. (I run on a treadmill so this should be easy enough to keep track of).

Distance
On Wednesdays I am going to repeat W9RX and run as far as I possibly can in the 30 minutes. Hopefully getting closer to the 5K mark each week.

Time
Then on Saturdays when I have a bit more time I am going to run until I hit 5K.

Clearly the aim will be that eventually the distance and time runs merge so that I am running 5K in 30 mins.

If I hit the 5K in 30 mins target I'll then figure out something else to aim for but for now I think that will do it.

But thats all for another day (only two days time though!) and, for now, I am just going to sit back and bask in the glory that is finishing this programme. I will raise a few glasses to myself this evening and not have even a hint of guilt about it!

[starknut]

Congratulations! The rush you get after that final run is crazy: I got goosebumps. Honest to goodness goosebumps. All I could think of was how hard it was at first, how I'd looked at those final weeks when I was just starting and thought "there is no WAY I will ever be able to run for 30 minutes!" And then finally getting out there and doing it, and finding it totally within my ability... it was amazing.

It's always fun to me to see how other people approach running after they finish this program. Personally, I could not possibly care less about my speed. I'm slow, and that's fine! I am all about distance. Other people choose to focus on speed, or a combination of the two, and that's great. I find it fascinating.

[Janecampbell]

Congratulations! I hope you enjoyed that well earned drink. I too have been astounded at how much I am enjoying this programme and felt glad when I read that you too felt it was all consuming at times..but in a good way! I begin week 5 on Sunday and reading these blogs I'm a bit apprehensive as I think I have a whole 20 minute run coming up. Yikes! But you know something? I think I'm going to manage it because you get such a positive rush from this that failure..well it's just not an option is it. I'm already wondering what I'm going to do once I reach the end. I will have to search high and low for the next step to 10k but I don't think anything will match this.

[Jysmystry]

Yey well done matey!!! Im a run behind you so will be joining you in your celebrations on monday.

I have thought long and hard what to do afterwards and my plan is nearly identical to yours but im doing interval training so speed (shorter fast run) the same as you on monday, stamina (long slower run) wednesday and interval (2 mins slow 1 min very fast x 10) on fridays.

Mind I will probably change my plans many times haha. Might even just do 30 min runs at increasingly faster speeds.

But well done matey, keep posting so we all know how you get on, its actually an amazing achievement when you look back to those first few weeks hehe