I've heard lots of good things about the post C25K podcasts, and so I thought I'd give the speed one a try this morning, for my short run of the week. I must admit, it wasn't at all what I expected!
My usual cadence is around 178-180bpm, my pace remains slow at that, my stride is pretty short... but being vertically challenged (5ft!), I guess a short stride might be pretty normal?
The slow easy bpm section in the run felt very awkward, somewhere between a walk and jog... it just felt all wrong! The faster bpm didn't feel so awkward, but it did feel slow.
The one thing I did notice though was that being mindful of a bpm and aiming to maintain it did help me attack the hills probably a little faster than I would normally, as I usually aim to maintain effort rather than speed on inclines. Is that what this podcast is for? Developing consistency in speed rather than speed per se? Also, should I just go with the slower bpm, even though biomechanically it felt wrong? Or should I just adjust the slower sections a little to suit me?
Has anyone else had a similar experience with this podcast? If so, I'd really appreciate your thoughts.
Mucho thanks! Xx
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Sara_Wales
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You don’t know how relieved I am to read your post! As a fellow vertically challenged runner 🏃♂️ I have also been struggling with the slower BPM’s of the C25K+ podcasts (mainly Stamina and Stepping Stone to be honest) and I’ve been trying to communicate my struggle (see previous posts). You have managed to hit the nail on the head where I was struggling to put my experience into words! Little runners rock! 🏃♂️
I'm 5'2" and also found the slow section of the Speed podcast very awkward and difficult to keep to. But I did like the Stamina one where the bpm were faster. Now I'm just running and keep an eye on my pace on my watch and have been just gradually trying to increase it.
Definitely not alone! It’s very hard/frustrating to try to explain the struggle - especially when some just reply with the obvious copy and paste responses. We understand pace/cadence/distance - we are short not silly! We are just trying to voice our struggle! 🤭
I find that Speed is just about right for me so I will be keeping it for the short weekly runs. I might have to skip back a bit as the distance gets longer though 🤷♂️
I manage 5-5.5K with the other podcasts so they would do for some of the other runs. But their BPM is slower than Speed so you might not fancy them 🤔
Personally, I’m running now with a 165BPM playlist as my base pace. I may drop back to the C25K+ podcasts in a few weeks to compare and contrast development.
I’d personally steer clear of these runs. Running is very different from one person to another. I’m running 3 years now. I still don’t know what my cadence is, what BPM best suits my running style, or what Vo2 max is. And to be honest I don’t care.
When I’m unfit I struggle to run a full 5K at any pace. So I run slower at a comfortable pace until I’m fit enough to run it all. Then I start to do interval training and bit by bit I get faster. And as I get fitter I also get faster. My best 5K or 10K PB time would be an easy recovery run to someone else and in achievable to another person.
My speed work is running faster than my own pace for 500 meters. Rest and repeat. Or sometimes I do it for 1K, rest and repeat. I just use my watch to gauge my pace.
Thanks very much for your thoughts. Yours seems like a sensible approach to me. It did feel like I was somewhat trying to fit a square peg into a triangular hole by forcing the bpm!
My Garmin watch records my cadence, amongst other things. I tend to use it more for recording distance than anything else tbh. I have no idea what VO2 max is!
I remain almost in shock that I actually run (well - jog!) regularly now 😊 I'm looking forward to the challenges of Ju-Ju's plan.... just need to decide how to approach the short run. I could always use the speed podcast for the timing of intervals I suppose - but just run my usual bpm for the slower sections and take it up a notch for the faster ones.
For the short run you could do simple intervals. Run at a nice comfortable pace, and as you pass a lamp post pick up you pace until you reach the next one or maybe run faster for 3 lamp posts and then slow back to a gentle jog and repeat. There are loads of ways to do speed work without having to listen to someone jibber jabbering away on a podcast. I have turned off all the fancy shmancy stuff on my Garmin watch. Pace, Distance and Time is all you need.
I used to be an Engineer and so believe in the KISS approach to life. (Keep It Simple Stupid). Not calling anyone stupid. That's just what the abbreviation stands for. Keep everything simple. Especially running. Look at all the kids in play grounds running around like lunatics. They are not thinking about cadence.
The post grad podcasts feel very awkward at first because everyone has developed their own rhythm by that stage. It took me two or three runs to get to grips with it.
Unfortunately you have to take some of it with a pinch of salt. If you have little legs you may well be more comfortable with a higher cadence.
You can also try kicking your heels up a bit higher behind you. This will increase your stride length.
Hahah! I did this short run intervals using the pod cast this morning. I too have short legs and found Laura’s off beat counting very annoying. I won’t mention the music - can you call it music? Having said all that it did provide me with some sort of prod to shift myself faster and the result was almost what I had planned despite not really knowing what I was doing. I ran the warm up walk by mistake and then Laura said get ready for first speed interval 🙈😂
I found these podcasts a bit slow at first - I started it having only just finished C25K and my 5k is still around 39 mins so I didn’t think I was ‘fast’ and needed to go ‘slower’ - but I’ve actually found that the discipline of going slow means I can run for longer - which is my objective so.... I find them useful ! Stamina and Speed are my favourites.
We have similar 5k times.... as you say, I couldnt exactly be considered 'fast'! Whenever I head out to try and run a little further, I always tell myself to slow down, to pace myself. I completely agree that that is important. It's just the bpm in the speed podcast just doesn't suit my ickle legs unfortunately! I have now found a mode on my watch to set interval times, so I think I will use that to do a little speed interval running instead. I liked the discipline of maintaining a bpm regardless of the hills!
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That's just what the abbreviation stands for. Keep everything simple. Especially running. Look at all the kids in play grounds running around like lunatics. They are not thinking about cadence.
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
morning run
