I have been hanging around this forum for a few weeks feeling a bit of an imposter as you all seem to be runners in a way I am not yet but I thought I would see if any of you more experienced runners has any advice to help me over a bit of a hump. I graduated from C25K in the middle of March. I am sixty four, bit overweight, not one of life's natural athletes. I have always been an outside person but I have never been sporty. I genuinely didn't think I could do it C25K and I was totally delighted that I did. I really don't want to give up running, if only because it was so hard to get here that I am sure that if I stop I won't start again! I am a very slow runner. My strava tells me that it takes on average 8.5 mins for me to run a kilometre. I'd like to be a bit faster but to be honest I am more interested in enjoying running and keeping on doing it than breaking any records.
I thought I would consolidate for a bit as I was nowhere near running 5k so I have done twelve thirty minute runs in the last couple of months since I graduated, trying to run three times a week but with a couple of short breaks for a tummy bug and a sore throat. I did my first park run a month ago. Again, I thought I might not be able to run the whole thing but I did, in just under 46 minutes, so probably the slowest time ever, but what the hell, I did it! I am intending to do another park run on Saturday, although I am still daunted by the distance and by how hard I found it.
So a couple of weeks ago I thought I might be ready to try JuJu's magic plan, going for time and not distance and maybe going round twice, with distance as my goal on the second one. I am two weeks into that and it's going ok. I thought maybe I should start trying to mix things up a bit as I have read quite a bit about intervals and how good they are for your running. So today I had a go and it was absolutely terrible. I could only manage two lots of jog for two minutes, run for two minutes, sprint for one minute with a couple of minutes jogging in between. To be honest the second set didn't really contain a sprint as it just wasn't in the tank. I felt like I was going to die and I had none of the pleasure in either doing it or having done it than I am beginning to feel.
Am I doing it wrong? Or doing the wrong thing? Should I just keep poddling along at my slow pace and leave it at that? I have a secret idea that in a year or so I might like to run for 10k but just at the moment that seems an impossible dream. I am very new to all of this. I suppose I just feel that I have not progressed very much in the last couple of months since I graduated and today was a bit of a kick in the teeth! Any advice very gratefully received! Sorry for bout of self pity but at the moment I just feel like sitting in a corner with a bag on my head!
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Gwenllian1
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Hold on, let's take a look at this. In about 2 months you have gone from C25K to finishing a parkrun and starting a 10K plan, having kept up running 3 times a week more or less consistently since graduating C25K.
That's amazing!!!!!!! Well done!!!!!! 😊😊😊
If you keep to that standard, even allowing for the odd rest or sick leave here and there, I don't see how you can fail to be running 10K well within a year. You deserve a massive pat on the back from yourself and all of us here.
But also give yourself a break, you are still a new runner!
Looking at your intervals run, I think you might have made it a bit too difficult for a first attempt. Try this: 10 minutes easy jog, 1 minute fast effort, then recover - walk until you have caught your breath, then try jogging until you feel comfortable. Then repeat your 1 minute fast effort, and your recovery. After that have another 10 minute jog and then your cool down walk. Aim to take 3 minutes to recover - eventually with no walking. But don't worry if it takes longer, the aim is to recover enough to get the most out of your fast intervals. See if you can gradually increase the number of intervals in the session.
I'm not knocking poddling along (I love a poddle myself!), but getting fitter and faster will help you enjoy your running more, so it is well worth adding some workouts like this to your runs.
Thanks so much for taking the trouble to reply! And what a lovely encouraging thing to say. It sounds as though I was trying to do too much too soon, even though I thought I was adjusting what I had read to try to make it fit an old, slow person! Thanks for the suggestion and I will definitely try that next time. There seems to be loads out there to read about training for running but as far as I can see there is not so much which takes account of trying to come to running late in life!! Thanks again. I feel encouraged to have another go!
Starting small and building up will get you there! It's good that you've been reading up on intervals, because you will have been getting lots of ideas for different patterns to try as you go along. Mixing things up keeps it fresh and fun - apps are great for this as Dexy5 said. Also, I don't know if you've come across fartleks yet, but they are a great way to freestyle your intervals:
NB if you're sprinting it would be better to go for 30 second intervals. Otherwise choose a faster speed that you feel you can maintain for a minute - this is great for learning to judge your paces by feel 😊😊😊
You have been doing brilliantly Gwenllian1 and deserve a big pat on the back for what you’ve achieved. I spent around 3 months playing pooh sticks on the bridge before starting juju’s magic plan. I think you just know when you want to do more and I think you’ve got there now. Amazing though it sounds, the further you run , the easier it gets and as I went through the 10k plan my 5k times got better.
If you have an iPhone you can do an app called JogRunSprint; the timings after a warm up jog are 30 secs slow jog, 20 secs parkrun pace, and 10 secs sprint . You might find that easier ! Basically you can change it to suit yourself.
46 minutes is certainly not slow at parkrun, our Tailwalkers come in at 55 - 60 minutes on a flat course.
The reason we might come over as experienced runners is that we talk about our runs with such enthusiasm. Many of us are still in shock at what we have achieved in such a short time and, in my case, at such an age.
So your plan sounds a good one , just let us all know how you are getting on. 🏃♀️👏👏
Thank you! It does seem quite a challenge to find a way to move from the structured and very well thought out programme of C25K, which definitely takes account of all ages and sizes, to a way of continuing to run and improve when you are older and not very fit to start with! Although clearly I am fitter than I was when I started so I must hold onto that!! It sounds from what both you and Roseabi have said that, even though I was trying to give myself a manageable challenge, I was asking too much of the body. That is certainly how it felt. My body just wanted to roll over and die! I think I will try one poddling run (my favourite!), one run with much easier intervals in the way you have both suggested, and one longer run which for me will be parkrun this week. Really really don't want to give up!
Hi Gwenllian1 👋. You’re doing amazingly, really you are! And you’re definitely not too slow for parkrun. Our local one regularly has people coming in at over an hour. You’re nowhere near that. 👊
It’s hard not to compare yourself to some of the fabulous gazelles on here - I always used to. But you’ll find that over time your pace will start to improve without you really noticing. I also second trying JogRunSprint. It’s a fun app and you can customise your intervals. It’s hard work, but ultimately lots of fun too. 😀 How about also incorporating some hills if you don’t already? Mixing up your runs keeps it interesting. 👍
And that’s a good idea of yours about doing the Magic 10 once through timed, then again going for distance. I’ve done it 4 times I think. Again, tons of fun, and you get to ‘know’ the people doing it alongside you on here! 😀😀
Keep us in the loop with your progress! We love to help - and please don’t feel intimidated by us ‘good’ runners. This time last year I hadn’t even started C25K! I’m still a 🐌, just a bit quicker than I used to be! 😅
Thank you! And it is good to be reminded that you have all had to start somewhere. I find it is quite easy to read posts about people doing 10k and so on and feel a bit intimidated! Where are the people like me, I sometimes think, but perhaps it is at least to some extent that most of you are further along the road than I am! I don't really mind being a snail and I do like the thought that some of the more experienced runners here still think of themselves as snails. I am not surprised that people give up though. It is so hard to get the balance right between challenging yourself and not asking too much of yourself. I am really grateful for this forum. For two pins I would have stomped off and never run again this afternoon and now I am feeling quite motivated to have another go, just a bit differently! Thanks again!
Believe me you’re doing so well! There are plenty snailier than you, and I’m not a whole lot quicker myself. You’ll do fine. Go at your pace and make sure you have tons of fun! 😀
Welcome to the forum Gwenllan1. I can't add much to the fantastic advice you've been given but never forget that you're out there running and getting benefits from that and gaining fitness all the time.
There's really no rush, you've come so far already and I bet in six months time you'll be even more amazed at where you are.
Personally I prefer fartleks to intervals, you can get more info online but in a nutshell it's a swedish term meaning speed play and you just pick a point in your run where you want to and speed up, I use lamposts and run to there then recover, it's less structured than intervals so less pressure, I aim for two on three in a session once a week.
Well, I can’t add to all this excellent advice, but that’s because I AM one of those runners like you! 😊👍 In fact, my 5K time of 49 minutes makes me further into the snail class than you are. (Tho’ I prefer to think tortoise 🐢 because I am definitely going to get there.) I’m currently “resting” because of a gardening injury - ☹️ - but hope to be fully fit again soon. So I’ve been avidly reading all these useful replies and storing them up. I was doing the Bridge by time and hope to get back to it, so perhaps we can encourage each other. Onwards! 🎉
Yay! I am not the only slow one round here! Let us encourage each other. I am definitely, like you and the tortoise, wanting to be here for the long haul!
Well done on what you have achieved so far! Don't forget that every run builds your resilience and stamina - you will get to 10k at the pace that's right for you.😀
Just wanted to say thank you for all the help and encouragement, both the practical suggestions (was I getting it wrong!!) and the wider support. I think you have put things into perspective for me and made me realise that I really need to take my time and have fun with it. Thanks so much!
What they said! Seriously don’t beat yourself up, your achievement is fantastic. Keeping going, as you have once your initial goal had been reached is brilliant. I’m with the mix it up brigade. Long plods round overly familiar routes can be a bit deathly and make you want to put your feet up with a movie instead. Intervals, fartlek, hills and flats. Get a little bit out of your comfort zone, which is something you’ve been doing since starting c25k anyway.
I got a bit stale trying to do it on my own all the time, so took the plunge and joined a very scary running club. Who turned out to be not scary at all. I’m sure your local one isn’t either. Made up of all sorts, ages, backgrounds and abilities. We have over 70s who do the London marathon in 3:50 ish and young mums who are starting out on their c25k journey. They are a great source of advice and support just like this forum, but they are also available to go running with! They are also very good at arranging social events! I never knew that wearing a head torch in the dark in the woods, in the rain 3 miles into a 6 mile run could be so funny! Something to consider? The club I mean, not the rain/woods/dark thing. Although try it if you want to! Most of all, have fun. You are amazing, believe it.
I do rather like running on my own but I can see that a club might give you a different sort of experience once a week and a different kind of support. Might just see what there is around my area but they would have to let me go slow!
They usually have ability groups! So all the speed freaks go together while us mortals settle out into similar pace joggers. I do 2 club runs a week, 1 road and 1 XC. Anything else I go out on my own. I agree, own time is good.x
Echoing everyone above, you're doing fine! I've been running for ages and am still, by the standards of many people on here, a slow runner. That means that my average pace for 10k is between 8 - 8:30 mins/km, depending how 'undulating' the course is. It doesn't matter a bit, because I am still running and I am not competing against anyone. Just keep going, you'll get there!
I think your comment about not competing with anyone is so true. As long as I just focus on what I am doing and why I am doing it (essentially for my own health) I am ok! I am encouraged by your speed for 10k That is interesting! Maybe I will get there one day!
Hi, yes graduated in March as you did. Since then just been doing 30 min consolidation runs (jogs really). I find it difficult to keep motivated without the structure of c25k, even after treating myself to proper running gear and new shoes for completing the plan. But I have read all the advice given to you and we can do this! The fitness side must outweigh the negatives, and I plan to try Ju Ju’s Majic 10 again. I’m not a big social media user but will look out for your posts. Keep up the good work you’ve already achieved. 👏👏🏃🏼♀️🥳
I'm holding on to the memory of one run a couple of weeks ago when I felt marvellous, like flying. Sadly this hasn't happened since and mostly I find it hard and wonder why I am doing it and am relieved to stop. Afterwards I feel great. So maybe the marvellous run was a freak of nature but maybe it would happen again if I were a bit fitter? Who knows?
Hi. We have a lot in common. I too am 64. I too am at the back of the pack at park run and I too have, until C25K, always hated running. But thanks to lots of encouragement from my grown up kids and the posts on here I’m going out three times a week and gradually, very gradually, I’m getting faster and can run ( jog) for longer. When I look at the Park run results each week I try not to compare myself to the other much younger runners but look at the percentage score and note that it’s gradually increasing. My goal when I started was to be able to complete 5k without walking and that took me ages to achieve , now I’m aiming to be able to do 10 k with the hope that 5k will be a breeze! The benefit I feel from regularly getting out there both physically and mentally is enormous.
Good luck fellow 64 year old, aren’t we lucky that we are well enough to do this. 😃
You are so right - we are lucky to be healthy enough to make these choices and it is that focus on feeling better and knowing I am healthier which keeps me going. When I started C25K I was feeling tired and old and fat and I hated it. I have always been quite an energetic sort of person and that seemed to be disappearing. I have much more energy again since starting to run and as you say, that is both physical and mental! Let's keep going!!
I was reading with interest and then got to the bit about intervals. I made the mistake of trying to sprint for a minute during one of my runs and it ruined me.
After reading on here about jog run sprint I downloaded that and it’s a bit easier. As other have said 30 seconds jogging, 20 seconds run and then 10 seconds sprint is an easier way. Although I must say that after about fifteen minutes running mine is more like plod, toddle, jog than jog, run, sprint.
I’ve found doing different timed runs on the magic plan has made a difference with me. It’s shaken things up a bit. I especially liked going a lot slower than I usually do. Seeing myself a minute slower on my Strava segments and liking it was very liberating.
Now that is an interesting idea - being pleased at going slower! I find that hard to imagine but maybe I need to lose my fixation with being the slowest runner out there and mix it up a bit as you say!
I think you're doing really well, so don't be so hard on yourself! I started C25K about 18 months ago aged 61 and not having run since being at school. I'm quite slow, but my speeds have improved a bit since graduating. Like you, I find the intervals/sprinting stuff quite hard and a bit demoralising! Sounds like you've had lots of great advice from fellow runners - I'm going to follow some of those suggestions as well! You need to step back and look at what you've achieved, and give yourself a massive pat on the back (if that's physically possible).
Good luck with your future challenges, and happy running! 👍😀👏👏👏
Thank you! I realise after reading some of the suggestions on here that I was pitching what I was doing quite wrongly so I am definitely going to take the advice on board. I am I suppose finding that I improve very slowly just by going out for my usual poddling runs but I sort of feel that I might not be using the time to best advantage and I think the responses here have made me think that is right, it is just a matter of doing a little bit at a time and not asking too much of myself too soon.
Hi Gwenllian🖐, you are doing just fine! Plenty of us are just running for our own fun and enjoyment. Ju Ju's Magic Number plan is a great and safe way to build up your time/distance but there is no hurry or pressure and you are competing with no-one.
It is fun to write run reports and doing so can help with your motivation, we all enjoy reading them. Posting on the monthly Quests too can help you feel accountable.
Good luck and keep enjoying your running. How lucky are we to have found this program and these forums! 😊xxx
So very lucky with the programme and the forums, I totally agree! I am pretty sure I would not have got this far without them. I like your idea of writing run reports. I did blog about C25K and my first park run welshhillsagain.blogspot.com but I haven't written anything since. It does help to be able to look back and see the progress you have made, especially when you feel you have got a bit stuck!
Please don't worry - all this sounds completely normal. Your parkrun time is definitely not the slowest ever, because I've done slower. And I've not even plucked up the courage to walk/jog/sprint or any some such... Plus and 8.30 km is definitely still not unheard of for me, though have found I've got incrementally faster just by keeping running 3 times a week.
My regime was to stick to 3 x 30 minute runs for about 10 weeks after graduation just to get my body used to this activity level. I actually found that 6 was enough and I started to edge the distance up, but only gradually. I've done 8k but won't be going any further for a while as my Achilles have started hurting again.
The reason I'm saying this is that I'm struggling here and there and most definitely not in a different league to you. But I'm chuffed to pieces about where I am. I'm running! 3 times a week.
You should be so proud of yourself for what you are achieving!
Thank you for replying and it is so good to know that there are others who are like me in what they are achieving and what they are wanting from running. I am sorry to hear you are having trouble with your Achilles tendon. Everything I have read on here suggests taking it slowly and not giving up is the key so you sound right on top of that. I think your point about the body getting used to this level of activity is an interesting one too. Certainly the way I felt when I made my hopeless attempt at intervals was that the body was in revolt!
I'm fortunate to have easy access to a sports injury clinic and they told me that tendons take longer to get into shape than muscles so I'm guessing it's that. They have seen me through so far so it's just a matter of continuing with the strengthening exercises and not increasing mileage too quickly.
2 min runs is too for an interval to start. Try 30 seconds or 45. Then build up a bit. I’ve never done intervals. My pace has increased by increasing my distance and doing hills.
Yes, I hadn't realised that I was trying to do way too much! I had trimmed it down from some of the stuff I had read online but as my daughter gently reminded me, it was probably not a tailor made programme for a very new older runner!
No more talk of stomping off or bags on heads!! 🤣🤣🤣
Everyone has to go at their own pace (quite literally). I've been very lucky but everyone feels like you are now from time to time (there is always someone going faster, farther, getting fitter easier).
We all find what works for us. I couldn't be bothered with intervals etc, I find time constraints made my regular runs faster but I have my best runs when I just go play off road on fields and trails and just enjoy being alive and in nature.
You're much braver than I. I can't even begin to imagine joining parkrun. All those people...
Give yourself a massive gold star and bit more credit. 💛
Well so far I would agree that my best runs are those where I am out running by the river and the wild garlic or the bluebells are out and the birds are singing. I do know what you mean about parkrun and all those people! I had actually put a parkrun in my diary to make it happen after I graduated from C25K but I wimped out. It took me another month to get there and because I am not generally a crowds person I had to wind myself up to go. I was helped by the fact that my husband is running too and was keen to go. And then it was actually rather fine. The marshalls are amazing and incredibly encouraging, not unlike an in the flesh, hi-vis wearing version of the people on here, and I did find that I was actually running mostly by myself which is no doubt one of the benefits of being on the slow side! Didn't expect to like it. Won't do it every week. But did actually like it very much indeed.
Just wanted to say hi 👋 you’ve had such amazing replies and advice which I really hope will help. Happy Running G. You are doing brilliantly. Really you are. You, my friend, are a proper real Runner 😊
Thank you! I am very grateful for the advice I have had here and also for the encouragement. I can see that I had got my first attempt at intervals quite wrong! I don't know what I would have done without all the help I have had here.
What wimborne said. Of course you are a runner, you're out there running! I remember thinking the same watching other people doing the bridge to 10k, I couldn't understand how they could be doing those distances. But I'm doing it myself now, and it's just like c25k. You just follow the plan and it happens! In my case slightly behind the others, but that's ok. I haven't been brave enough to try intervals yet 😁
Just come back to say that inspired by this thread, I went out and did 4k this morning, with a few cheeky little fartleks in the middle! I have realised that I have been doing my own version of fartleks without knowing that's what it was called (you know, I'll just speed up untiI reach that bend, etc)
And also to say, that I came across your blog a while back, and I loved the way you write, so it's a bit like finding a long lost friend
I think fartleks of this kind might be the answer for me. Doesn't seem to need much tech or forward planning but does make you abandon the idea that you are single pace, which is certainly sunbathing I tend to think. I'll have a go!
Exactly! I can't cope with tech except for my Garmin watch, so I just glanced at it to make sure I was going faster for 30 seconds - ish, which by the way is quite enough, thank you! No wonder you were done in!😰 Then I slowed right down, nearly walking, until I felt ok enough to return to normal pace. Did maybe 4, then gentle jogette pace until I'd run 4k.
I completed my C25k back last May and consolidated for a while , then started jujus plan and got to 10k a bit sooner than I should have. Was really in the swing of it and running regularly on alternate days and boring everyone I could corner about running and C25k
Then was out walking with my son last June and turned my ankle on a loose rock, fell and sprained my left wrist, also fractured and sprained my right ankle so no running for 3 months. Then Sept came and I started building back up by redoing C25k, then I had a bad cough and my asthma got worse over the winter, I also dislocated 2 toes and couldn’t run for another month. And I’m now eventually in week 7 of jujus plan again and ran 9k on last Wednesday then fully intended to do my first ParkRun for the 5k on Saturday. But then overslept so didn’t go and it was too hot to run by then so I did a 4K recovery run today instead in 30 mins).
The point of all this rambling is...
-I am nearly 66
- hadn’t run for 25 years until C25k
- I am always moaning I’m not getting any faster ( then my daughter reminds me I’m faster than the people who are sat on a couch)
- when I actually checked last years times I find I am as fast or faster than I remember
- and a lot of the time I really enjoy my run but I am too self critical
( also I was scared of doing Park Run for so long because my first 5k was 40 mins and I have only got it down to 38.30 twice since - I thought everyone would be way faster than that)
So go out there and enjoy YOUR run. Don’t worry about anyone else. You are not a professional!! You don’t NEED to do a certain speed. Just enjoy it and I’m sure you will get faster. I shall be watching now just to see
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I wasn't going to run today 
10K races only for me 
In need of a plan to keep going
Where to start...
