• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Operation Move

Online Running Coaching

  • About Me
  • Contact me
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Coaching
  • Run Club
  • Personal Plans
  • Ebooks
  • Shop
    • Learn to Run
    • Downloadable Plans
    • My account
    • Cart
    • Checkout

Mobile Menu

  • About Me
  • Contact me
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Coaching
  • Run Club
  • Personal Plans
  • Ebooks
  • Shop
    • Learn to Run
    • Downloadable Plans
    • My account
    • Cart
    • Checkout
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

This is Learn to Run: Helen’s Story

April 1, 2019 //  by OperationMove//  Leave a Comment

64
SHARES
ShareTweet
SubscribePinterestMail

It is such a pleasure to bring you Helen’s Learn to Run story. There’s no greater power than investing in yourself, every day. Even when you don’t feel like it, even when it’s hard. And along the way, Helen inspired so many other people to do the same. It was such an honour to see her progress over the three months in Learn to Run and to see her continuing to build on what she achieved in Run Club. 

Zoey


Wangaratta 5k Fun Run 2019

I’m an “it’s better than the alternative” runner.

My running journey started back in 2013, overweight and unfit I signed up for the 12 week challenge at the gym that I had joined. The hook that got me in was training to walk a local fun run; hills, 11km, fire trails.  I seriously underestimated what was involved, and that very first walk I was hanging on to trees to stay upright trying to catch my breath. If it wasn’t for the fact that my car was at the far end I would have turned around and gone home.  10 weeks later, event date rolled round and I’d done 9 training walks. I knew I was fitter because when I got to the top of the hill it didn’t take anywhere near as long for me to get my breath back and on the day of the event I finished 34 minutes faster than the very first walk.

After that event life went back to what it had been, and next thing you know it’s 12 months later and I’m signing up for another 12 week challenge in pretty much the same spot as where I’d been a year earlier.  This time I set a time goal for the fun run that meant I had to do some running on the flat sections.  Somewhere in the next 10 weeks of training I realised that I didn’t mind this running thing; I didn’t love it, but it was way better than doing burpees or TRX rows – not that there is anything wrong with those things, I just really really don’t like them.

From there I moved onto parkrun. I loved it and worked my way up to being able to run the whole 5km.  Somewhere along the way I tried to leap from being a once a week 5km runner to a 10km runner and collected myself an injury although I didn’t have a clear reason why. I couldn’t tell any of the health practitioners I consulted what I’d done, there was no I did X and now Y hurts.  I tried to keep running, but things weren’t improving because I was treating the symptoms not the cause, and this was the start of a slow downhill slide to long periods of no running.  With hindsight, I know now that I just tried to do too much too soon and too fast.  One thing I did learn was that I’m pretty much a 5km girl who’s prepared to step up to a bit of a longer distance for special occasions.

Eventually my injury led me to a local physio group with a clinical Pilates class and a fiercely persistent massage therapist. It wasn’t a quick fix, but after a couple of program cycles I stopped worrying about my symptoms returning and started to think that maybe I could try running again.  I had some intermittent attempts to start again but never had a proper plan or a clear goal so each time I would fizzle out and give up. And I’d still be at the same point as when I very first started, overweight and unfit.

Around this time advertisements for Learn to Run started appearing in my Facebook feed and in the ads that google tossed at me, I guess because I had googled Couch to 5km apps. I ignored them at first but these things can be a bit persistent and niggle in the back of your head.  I was a bit interested. The idea of having a plan to follow was really appealing, but I was going away on a holiday and wouldn’t be able to finish if I signed up for the advertised program.  I sent Zoey an email to find out when the next program would be, and discovered I would be back from holidays just in time; and even better, Zoey followed me up with an email a couple of weeks before the program started.  Personal contact is so much better than just downloading an app.

Learn to Run was absolutely what I needed. There was a clear plan for the week, and explanations about why there are differences in the plan across the week.  The Monday check in and posting each of my sessions was great accountability that I would never have found had I gone down the Couch to 5km route.  Knowing that there were others having similar issues as I was (why can breathing be so hard!) actually helped me keep going, and of course being able to ask questions either in the Facebook group or of Zoey directly was fantastic.  I was home from holidays in time to do half of the pre-program walks which I think really helped, particularly going from doing not much to 3 run/walk sessions a week. Even more important was the gradual progression through the weeks.

Of course it wasn’t all roses. There were some days when I really wondered what the hell I was doing, when my huffing and puffing was so bad I couldn’t finish an interval, or when my legs felt horribly heavy. This is when the feedback in Learn to Run really kicks in, because well, sometimes running just sucks and it’s good to have someone to remind you of that, but running never seems to suck as much as burpees do!

Before I knew it, 12 weeks was done, and no injury issues.  As well as confirming for me that 5km is my sweet spot, Learn to Run taught me that I really need to have a goal sitting out there that I’m working towards, and a plan to get there, because I’ll never be the person who exercises just because it’s good for me.  So this year, because being back running is a special occasion, I’m going back to that very first event, 11km, hills and fire trails and I’m pretty excited about it.

 

 

  • Learn To Run (Payment Plan)
    From: $23.59 / week for 12 weeks
    Select options
  • Run Club
    From: $27.23 / month with a 14-day free trial
    Select options
  • Learn To Run
    $208.18 – $344.55
    Select options
64
SHARES
ShareTweet
SubscribePinterestMail

Category: MovingTag: learn to run, meet a mover

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Everything I want you to know about learning to run

Friday Freebie – 5km Training Plan

Title image - Training - get comfortable with being bad at something - running image

Get comfortable with being bad at something

So you had a really long break, are you starting over?

4 Weeks to a faster mile

Am I too sedentary? 7 strategies to improve your movement outside of training

The best piece of running advice I ever got wasn’t from a runner

Should you have more than one pair of running shoes?

I never thought I’d be injured for as long as I was

Meet Bridget!

You don’t need motivation, you need joy

Since 2014, I have taught 1,257 women how to run and this is what I learnt

Become a Patron!

Previous Post: « Podcast: Episode 97 – Kirsten’s 100km Adventure at Oscars Hut 2 Hut (Part Two)
Next Post: Podcast: Episode 98 – Does it really come naturally? Breathing while running »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

Podcast: Episode 138 – Why your running (or new habit) motivation falls off a cliff after 3 weeks (and how to fix it)

January 15, 2021

Podcast: Episode 137 – Creating the bubble and the environment for the change you want in 2021

January 8, 2021

Everything I want you to know about learning to run

December 31, 2020

Friday Freebie – 5km Training Plan

November 13, 2020

Footer

On YouTube

«
Prev
1
/
4
Next
»
loading
play
Why your running (or new habit) motivation falls off a cliff after 3 weeks (and how to fix it)
play
Creating the bubble and the environment for the change you want in 2021
play
How to build an aerobic base when you are new to running
play
Adductor raises
play
Who starts a training log when they have a stress fracture? ME
play
Ultra Race Romania but in Geurie
play
Plan, Train and Adapt with Nicole Avery
play
How to improve your running with more ownership of your sessions
play
Running in 1 Hour - Maintaining your running fitness in lockdown or when you are just short on time.
play
Resilience for Runners - Hip Release and Activation
play
When different, not more is what makes you better
play
127. The Year of Mini Goals
play
126. Why We Run
play
#123 I've lost fitness, speed and endurance. How do I trust the process in my comeback?
play
Key Workout Threshold Repeats
«
Prev
1
/
4
Next
»
loading

 

On instagram

opmove

Running Coach 🏃‍♀️ and Operation Move Podcast 🎙
@runfastergear and @athiaskin ambassador
Transform your Run.
Learn to Run 🏃‍♀️ April 12th

Zoey Dowling || Running Coach
Everyone knows every now and then you’ll get a r Everyone knows every now and then you’ll get a run that sucks. But you don’t mind because it’s the crappy ones that make the good ones great.
So happy to be finishing off my first 70km week si So happy to be finishing off my first 70km week since September feeling good! 

Not about the milestone itself as much as getting there without over-reaching.
We are nearly at the end of school holidays and it We are nearly at the end of school holidays and it must be something to do with having older kids but I’m not ready and I will miss them when they go. I also don’t think the cat is ready.
What to train for when you have nothing to train f What to train for when you have nothing to train for. This week, that's what I'm talking about in the newsletter (you can view and subscribe in the link)

And also a reminder that all your Operation Move singlets, long-sleeves, hoodies are only open for pre-order until the 29th so make sure if you want anything you get in before it closes!

{link in bio}
The truth is no one knows what they are doing. We The truth is no one knows what they are doing. We are scared most of the time. We are buoyed only by the kind things someone said to us once. Even if for them it was in passing, for us it nestled against our heart to make us strong as fuck when we needed to be. 

This week when I was applying for university, it asked me if I had a disability. 

And instead of pretending I don’t, I said yes I have a long term mental health disorder and it might affect my studies. 

You get so used to protecting people from it. That instinct becomes second nature. You get real good at impersonating it. 

I’ve lived with it my entire life. But it’s not a flaw. I was made this way. 

It makes it hard sometimes, but also I just know how to recognise people who need a kind word, that they might hold against their heart for awhile.
Working group programming into my running program Working group programming into my running program is an entirely creative exercise. 

It helps a lot that my gym tells me what workouts are coming up so I can pick the days that are going to work best (we focus on strength, I don’t need more cardio!)

But sometimes you end up with a situation where you definitely want to make it to the gym but you also have a 15km Fartlek to run. 

So, today I did the run early (the earliest I’ve been out running in awhile!) and started before sunrise so I could make it back for Snatch 🏋️ day at the gym. 

And funnily enough, it actually worked out pretty well and I remembered how much I love running before anyone else is up. And I got a small PB on the snatch too 💜
It’s a good feeling when you get an extra tempo It’s a good feeling when you get an extra tempo run added to your week and you get to run it niggle-free! 

Recovery takes time and patience and more time and more patience. It probably takes your brain even longer to trust that you can do the thing than your body takes to be ready. 

But little by little you build up they trust and convince it that it doesn’t have to keep protecting you. 

There’s still a long way to go but it was great to run and not think about it.
Yoga: where everything is about ten times harder t Yoga: where everything is about ten times harder than it looks. 

This is waterfall pose snd I can tell I’m improving because I can now keep my legs in a vaguely upward direction. 

Do stuff your bad at 💜
Some runs are amazing and some are just grinders. Some runs are amazing and some are just grinders. There are a fair few grinders in summer 😜

But like misbehaving children it’s not like you love them any less 💕
Best of intentions to get an early start today but Best of intentions to get an early start today but I had a few last minute Learn to Run things to do, because we start tomorrow! (You can still sign up at any stage today)

But there is something to be said with finishing in full sunlight at your back. 

16km long run today and I’ve hitting a running upgrade next week returning to 6 days per week, which is exciting!

Speaking of Learn to Run if you’d like me to pop in later and do a live answering questions just let me know and we’ll do it 💜
The convenient thing about having a 5km run on a S The convenient thing about having a 5km run on a Saturday is it’s #parkrun day!

It’s an easy effort run for me but today I spiced it up by turning it into an easy progression run. 

This is a fun one for you to try: 

1km at your usual very easy pace
1km at your easy to steady pace (usually about 20-30 seconds per km faster or about 10bpm higher than the last km)
1km at your steady pace (usually about 10-20 seconds per km faster or 10bpm higher than the last km)
1km 
1km at your moderate pace (usually about 10-15 seconds per km faster or about 5bpm higher than your last km)
1km at just under your tempo pace (usually about 5-10 seconds per km faster or about 5bpm higher than your last km)

I love it because you ease into it very slowly and it never feels like hard work. 

And perfect start to the weekend!
It's a thing right? You start off so well, and the It's a thing right? You start off so well, and then things just kind of fade bit by bit and then all at once.

This is definitely the number one thing people talk to me about when they start Learn to Run.

In this episode of the podcast I'm talking about why this happens and what you can do to be rocking that new habit of yours many months into the future. And somewhere in there I wander into getting a bit vulnerable about quitting alcohol.

I apologise for the audio quality. I can't use my podcast microphone because the kids have stolen my mouse. Trust me, the two things are connected. 

{link in bio or podcast on your favourite podcast app}
It’s all about the story you tell yourself. Th It’s all about the story you tell yourself. 

This morning I got up early enough, but I had a coffee, sorted out some intro stuff for a new run club member and had another coffee, played with the cat. 

I could have said something negative to myself about how I’m incapable of getting out the door without an epic level of procrastination but instead I said ‘enjoy these late starts while you still can with holidays’. 

I drove down to where I was running and it was quite warm (no surprises!) I could have talked myself out of the workout, or told myself off for leaving it so late, or told myself how much it was going to suck because it was hot and humid. Instead I said to myself ‘this is good, muscles will be nice and warm for fast running. Heat doesn’t slow you down when the workout is under 30 minutes.’

At a certain point there was some construction on the footpath and I had to pause to go around. I could have said ‘this workout doesn’t count because I’ve had to pause in the middle of it’ but instead I said, ‘you’ve had a bit of extra recovery - you can blast through these last two intervals’

Tell yourself a good story, and you’ll believe it.
Beginnings are liberating, if you allow them to be Beginnings are liberating, if you allow them to be. New newsletter now out. You can check it out and subscribe via the link in the bio.
It can be tempting to think new is better, when of It can be tempting to think new is better, when often it’s just new. 

Easy to do this with training too! When results are slow coming and improvements seem incremental or flat - the immediate gratification part of your brain wants to change EVERYTHING. Which leads to two problems one is a lack of consistency which is what is going to lead to where you want to go. And worse, even if some things do improve if you’ve changed ten things you can’t possibly know what worked. 

There is a place for making changes, and testing out things one at a time. But not if it’s because really you are just looking for a short cut or a magic bullet: there isn’t one. 

I’ve absolutely been guilty of this with shoes! Always looking for the perfect easy run/long run shoe even though I already found it. This time instead of trying out something new I bought a new pair of my old faithfuls and am reminded that the only thing I need to do is pray they never stop making them.
I might be biased but the best part of yoga is the I might be biased but the best part of yoga is the nap at the end.
The biggest mindset shift I had was a few years ag The biggest mindset shift I had was a few years ago. 

I love running, so I never thought of it as a punishment, but I did think of food as a reward. Some of it is so ingrained. Do hard things - get your metaphorical cookie at the end. Your prize! 

And you know for most of us I don’t think it’s about food at all! It’s just how our parents expressed love and care when we were little and it’s socially often how we celebrate. I still remember the special meals I got made when I was sick, or the breakfast that was made for me during HSC exams. 

You can forget it’s not the food that is the reward, it’s the connection to people who love you. 

Anyway I was about 6 months or so into nutrition coaching and I had my lightbulb moment: how can something be a reward if it makes me feel like crap and takes me away from my goals? So that day I celebrated by buying new shoes instead of a doughnut 😜

But like everyone, I slip back into old habits when things are stressful and I forget those things I learned. 

It’s good to be reminded that rewarding my body is about feeling good everyday, not just in a moment.
When you aren’t quite sold on this whole back to When you aren’t quite sold on this whole back to work business yet. 

Also one of the pitfalls of coming back from a weekend away is now I apparently have to make my own coffee. WHAT?!

If you are also looking to get organised, I have a few tips

🌟 Write down daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and long term tasks, this helps to make room for all the things, not just the immediate ones. 

🌟 Schedule in buffer space around things so you don’t throw out your whole day if one thing goes long. Not to mention you need to not be ‘on’ or have every second scheduled. 

🌟 Be willing to troubleshoot! If somethings not working, chances are it’s not you it’s just something isn’t working for you or something is getting in the way. 

🌟 Do schedule things that are for you like running or lifting or yoga or wherever it is. You are important too, not just the things you do
For every husband who has ever looked at the activ For every husband who has ever looked at the activewear collection and wistfully said ‘but when will they make stuff for men?’ 

PRAYERS ANSWERED! Thank you @runfastergear
There are so many things you can remember about a There are so many things you can remember about a race, so many things that make it important or personal or purposeful. 

Rarely any of those things are times or PBs, but without them, you wouldn’t get some of those parts of the experience that you do hold close. 

#runningcoach #runningcoaching #runningcommunity #runningaustralia #womensrunning #womensrunningcommunity #operationmove #opmovesisterhood #resolutionrun #brisbanerunning #5km #5kmrun #runnersofinstagram  #runningmotivation #trainingmotivation
Load More... Follow on Instagram

As seen in

  • About Me
  • Contact me
  • Sitemap

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • About Me
  • Contact me
  • Sitemap

Copyright © 2021 Operation Move · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme

Try out Run Club! Free for the first 14 Days. Dismiss