Following all your advice I tried my hardest today to run slow. Managed to add 30 seconds onto the first K! Then drifted back to my normal speed without realising it!
My aim was to run 15mins out and 15mins back so I’m running for 30mins (not the 25mins I was stuck at). Thinking I was slower tricked my brain into keeping going and managed the full 30mins which was brilliant!!
Just need to work at actually being slower now!! 10k is in 9 weeks 🙊
Brilliantly done, you! I'm sure you'd never imagined you would be congratulated for running very slow 
Keep at it and enjoy your next longer runs!!
Well done for trying lol but well done for getting the 30mins done 😀
I find sometimes if I can do the first 1 or 2 splits slowly my body adjusts to that speed within margins. Often it doesn't go to plan and finding the 1st k is quicker than planned is not unusual. As new runners we are all getting quicker too so old quick can become new slow sometimes 😅
lol What a great phrase and formula! Do claim the patent for it: '"the old quick is the new slow". I think we should have special C25K to 10K tee-shirts with this on
That's a good point. Yesterday I tried really hard not to think about pace or distance, but to try to keep my HR in the orange zone for as long as possible, which was not as easy as I imagined - admittedly I'd be better trying this exercise on flatter terrain. It does seem to be a more sensible criterion than pace, enabling us to take into consideration changing fitness, different external conditions, and the many other factors that may affect us temporarily. As your fitness level improves it makes sense that you might go faster but at the same heart rate.
Learning to slow down is a challenge many of us faced. I found as my distances got longer, I got better at starting out slower, and would often run the second half quicker than the first (negative splits, Yay!). Keep practicing, it'll come. And then as you run more and more for further and longer, you may find your speed picks up, but you're no longer struggling and it feels fine. That is a wonderful feeling when it finally happens, but it takes a while.
Thank you for giving us, beginners, hope and teach us patience!
There you go, progress! You managed the full 30 mins (and if you've done it once you can do it again, and much more besides).
Going more slowly is not as easy as it sounds and I think you have to really think about it. I tried hard to do this yesterday and succeeded for a while before getting tired of being so aware of what I was doing, and letting go a bit more for the second half of the run. I think it's good to try though, especially as inevitably it makes you think more about your form.
Fast, slow, fast
Slow, Steady progress
Slow start, slow middle and slow finish
1k fast - 1k slow -1k swimming- repeat!!
