New route - a change is as good as a ....

[Als_mum]

Preparing to drop Student Son off at his summer job, I remembered that there's a disused railway line walking/cycle route 2 minutes from his work. Already changed for running as I planned to go out once I was back home, I decided to try this new route. Excellent (flat!!) running, lots of other friendly runners and dogs, and 34 minutes run in lovely countryside.

Having a relentless tempo for all my playlist songs is helping me to keep up my speed (the musician in me can't break step without breaking into a sweat and falling over!), but still I can't get beyond 4k. At the moment my plan is to increase gradually the amount of time I run and build up stamina, and stop worrying about distance - is that a good way forward? I feel a bit of a fraud - Couch to Not-Quite-4k doesn't have the same ring about it! I know it's all about running for 30 minutes, but is it normal to be quite so far off the mark?

[Sandraj39 Graduate10]

Your plan sounds great and no, it is not unusual to be running less than 5k in 30 mins, in fact quite common. Many people never run 5k in 30 mins but go on to run greater distances - endurance rather than speed. Don't know how long you have been running but your speed/pace will increase naturally over time. Good luck!☺

[Als_mum in reply to Sandraj39]

Thanks for the reassurance. I started C25K in March and completed it at the end of June so I'm not very experienced - still learning how it all works!

[Curlygurly2 Graduate10]

That sounds about right for your time running, lots of us were about there-ish after a couple of months. Yes, your plan sounds good, and you could try the C25K+ podcasts with Laura, they are excellent. xx

[Als_mum in reply to Curlygurly2]

Thanks, just looked those up and found the downloads. I'll get my tech team (Student Son!) on the case. It'd be good to have a variety of programmes.

[runswithdogs Graduate10]

It's great to have a flat route to run when you want. It feels so different from your regular route.

And you're doing fine with running. Your goals are personal, you never have to hit 5k in 30. A lot of people don't as mentioned above. That's just an arbitrary goal for some folks. Your plan sounds good. Would a race or Parkrun interest you? Running with that excitement always pushes me a little harder, and gives me a date on the horizon to set goals and improve my running - either distance, time, or technique

[Als_mum in reply to runswithdogs]

Thank you for your advice. I'd love to do a race but the shortest seem to be 5k and it worries me until I've proved I can actually run that far. Yes, that would be an incentive to train up to the distance! Sadly, Parkrun is next to impossible as I have a longstanding and regular musical commitment every Saturday morning which is when my local one is.

[runswithdogs Graduate10 in reply to Als_mum]

I'm sure you've heard it before, but if you can run 4k, in a race you can run 5. That being said, I had run a few 5ks before my first. But I had booked the race before even starting C25k - it was a work thing. Nothing like panic in wanting to ensure it was possible to keep me on track.

[Als_mum in reply to runswithdogs]

I think that's a great idea - get in so far that I can't get out! Will see what's around....