Hi everyone. This is my first post on the bridge to 10k forum so I just wanted to say a quick hello and say how inspirational your posts have been whilst I've been lurking in the background for a couple of weeks plucking up the courage to post.
I completed C25k on 3rd October and have been doing consolidation runs since. I decided to make 5k my target for the majority of these runs and have been experimenting with running at different times of day, different paces and new routes. I thought I'd turn my last few runs into the beginning of Ju-Ju's magic running plan and have so far been enjoying it.
After completing the 6k run in week 2 today, I just wanted to ask a quick question. Should the runs in the plan be continuous or is a quick breather allowed? There is a hill on my route and for love nor money, though I can run up it in one go, I do have to walk for ten to twenty seconds after reaching the top to catch my breath (it's rarely more than this). Can I still count myself as completing the runs or is it like c25k where we should be aiming for one continuous run? I'm managing to maintain my usual pace before and after this mini break so I hoped that I could just carry on (today I did 6.13km in 38:30, with an average pace of between 6:17-6:30 depending on the app used). Any advice would be greatly appreciated even if it means I have to repeat the run 🙂
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Pnegirl
Graduate10
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24 Replies
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Hi 👋
Welcome aboard this awesome forum full of friendly and supportive people!
Firstly, well done 👏 on your progress so far and on beginning the excellent 10k plan.
Secondly, yes a moment to pause a bit or catch your breath or take on fluid is perfectly acceptable. As you begin to develop and gain experience you can learn to run longer, slower runs where you take the pace back a touch. Many people choose to run it all, or walk/run (jeffing) so you go with what suits you. Hills can be tough but you will conquer it in time.
Keep going, keep posting and above all...keep enjoying it!
Hi GTFC! Thanks for welcoming me to the forum and for the encouraging reply 🙂. After the C25k programme my friend said you'll be doing the 10k next and I replied no chance...guess I'll have to eat humble pie on that one haha.
It's good to know that people do take a moment to pause as they run longer distances. I did think that with about an hour's running, if not more, some sort of break would be needed but wanted to check earlier rather than later in the programme.
I'll definitely keep going and will see how it goes but not going to put pressure on myself as that's one thing I've really enjoyed about the consolidation runs, just judging how I feel on the day and seeing what I'm in the mood to attempt
Wow! 'just judging how I feel on the day and seeing what I'm in the mood to attempt' this is something I've always advocated. If you keep thinking this way you'll go so far 😊😊😊😊
Hello Pnegirl ! Well I’m no specialist but it doesn’t stop me having an opinion so.... 😀 I think you’ll find people say things like, it’s up to you, you do what you can, there are no rules, etc - and with that speed (definitely quicker than me !) I’d say you have nothing to worry about - you could get away without admitting to a tiny ‘breather’. Besides there are all sorts of training techniques which include short periods of walking aswell. Some people on this forum have practiced ‘Jeffing’ which I had to look up, but seems like pretty good way of building distance and stamina, less risk of injury, etc. couchtorunner.co.uk/2018/11...
So I’d say do what your body tells you to do. Alternatively, have you tried slowing down going up that hill ? I found taking smaller steps made it much easier going up hill - previously I had tried to slow my step but take longer strides but I found that quicker shorter steps worked better for me and I could continue at the top because I still had some puff left in me !
Hi Juliet 202! I'm all about different opinions so thanks so much for replying. I'm always interested in hearing different experiences as they're really helpful in preparing yourself for what to expect 🙂
I have seen people mentioning jeffing a few times on the forum but I've never actually looked into it. To my mind, it very much fits with the effing and jeffing I do going up that hill haha! The link you've sent will definitely be helpful so thank you. I do try going as slow as possible up the hill as with the gradient, I couldn't approach it any other way but I'll see if I can still slow it down a tad next time in case that does the trick, or I might try taking smaller steps like you suggested. I am definitely enjoying the challenge!
I think a small break is fine! I find that there are natural breaks which need to happen on long runs (ahem - a quick visit to the bushes 😂), time to sip water or eat a few raisins which I take with me, to re-tie shoelaces, negotiate gates, take a photo, admire a view etc. I think when you're running over an hour there are bound to be little gaps.
My longest run has been 10 miles and that took me over 2 hours, so there were a few short gaps for various reasons. Mainly I occasionally slow right down. Yesterday I had to negotiate a very muddy slope and it was more sensible to walk it because I was in the middle of nowhere and didn't want to have an accident!
I'm just beginning to handle inclines better, but have to say I occasionally walk a few steps (Just a few mind) to make it up to the end of longer, steeper inclines, as I had an injury a few months ago which I don't want to set off again by pushing too hard up hills.
Sorry for the ramble but yes, no harm in a few breathers here and there!
That's great Roxdog and thank you for the welcome! As I'm only just starting to extend my runs, I didn't want to approach the programme with any 'bad habits', so to speak, so knowing that the odd stop isn't a problem is really helpful. I've loved the freedom of running after competing c25k and as you say, sometimes it would just be silly to run when it could risk injury. I can't yet quite imagine running for 2 hours so that's brilliant! I'll break the 40 minute barrier soon and I'll just see how it goes from there 🙂
Hello Pnegirl....Following on from the great advice below, I agree that, you could maybe run up this hill but very very slowly...that’s what I did on the dreaded hill on my alternative route, having said this I think there’s nothing wrong in slowing to a brisk walking pace up it if that’s not possible, your still moving forward and powering ahead, well done on increasing your distance, you’re doing great 👍 🏃♀️
Hi Couchphoenix! Who knew I'd end up on this forum too haha 😂! Thanks for the reply and the encouragement. I have managed the hill on every run so far but haven't yet managed not to take a mini break, that's my next target actually. I thought I was doing it slow already but if there's anything I've learnt since I started running and posting on this forum, there's always a slower gear to be found. I'll definitely give it a try 🙂
Taking a breather sounds common sense to me. I plan my routes so the uphill sections come when I have built up steam and I use the very short steps technique. My running apps have a “pause” button. Sounds a good use for it😊
Hi BradC! Thanks for your reply! Yes I use two apps and one does have a pause function but that usually only kicks in when I stop entirely (i.e. at pedestrian crossings). The hill is just after half way which is when I've already had a good ten-fifteen minutes of limbering up and getting into a steady rhythm. I did wonder about doing the route in the other direction but I remembered that there's another hill that's difficult to run down, nevermind up, so that was a definite no-no 😂. I think the short step technique needs trying again. I'll get there at some point hopefully
I agree with all of the above but would just add a little bit about hills. I do 2x5ks plus a long run each week. One of the 5ks is labelled my hill run; it has 4 hills in it for an overall elevation gain of 154m. I had to walk the peaks to start with (and still have the odd blip!) but I experimented with different paces and used a shorter stride..so the whole run is built around the hills and I usually run the whole 5k now but at a reduced pace. That might be easier than including it in the weekly long run, assuming you have a choice of course.
Hi Beachcomber66! Thanks so much for your reply, it's really helpful. I have actually been doing 2 x 5ks and a long run too (I know there is a shorter run each week but I've felt OK turning it into a full run so far) but there aren't many options where I live for the actual routes. After everyone's advice, I'm going to try out different paces and steps going up and like you say, at some point, I'll hopefully crack it 🙂
Sounds like a plan. A flat trail 5k currently takes me about 31.5 minutes at sensible pace. The hill route takes 2 to 3 minutes longer; I really do have to back off the pace and shorten stride....fun running down them though!🙂⛰
I don't know how helpful this is to you, but my own plan to consolidate and build towards 6km over the next three weeks is to do a mixture of:
* Quick short run
* Slow run (comfortable distance)
* Jeffing run/walk session to a certain distance
* A standard run, maybe using Fartlek intervals
I will definitely be adapting it to how I feel previous runs have gone. (eg. I've adjusted tomorrow's 31 min run to have shorter intervals, following my experience yesterday.)
And the occasional brief break is fine now you're getting experienced. Gates, stiles, traffic lights and photo ops are all valid reasons to break a run.
If you're doing timed runs, you need to pause the clock. If you're doing distance runs (which is my current plan) quick breaks will only affect your overall time.
Hi Nowster! Great to hear from you and it sounds like you're doing great too. I did go through a week and a half trying different types of runs but it didn't quite suit so I decided to go back to something a bit more steady. I do still try different paces as with a bit more running under my belt, I now know when I don't feel quite up to an intensive run or when I feel bright and want something a bit more up tempo. I don't really know much about fartlek or jeffing runs so am going to look into those as it's always good to try something a bit different. Thanks for the suggestion 👍
I am doing distance runs so the breaks don't really affect anything but I didn't want to kid myself in thinking I'd ticked off a run when I hadn't so that's why I wanted to check about the break thing 🙂
Hi LottieMW, I'm so sorry I'm only just replying. I don't know how I missed your message. I don't feel so bad now lol. I have since managed the hill a couple of times using people's advice about taking small steps but I don't beat myself up either if I realise I have to walk for a bit too. I always manage to get to the top but it's whether I need to walk for tiny bit after that's still inconsistent. It's not a major thing though. I hope you're ok 🙂
Hi Racingingthesteeet! I'm sorry for only just replying. I missed a couple of my notifications. Thanks so much for your lovely message. How are you getting on? I hope you're ok. I'm going to try and catch up on posts as I've not been on the forum for a bit 🙂
It is getting trickier to keep up 🤷🏼♀️ I went through a phase of not posting or replying much , not sure why 🤔🤔 just a bit of ‘screen fatigue’ maybe .
Kind of back on track with both that and also getting runs done . Although now I’m now sort of semi back at work so I’m trying to work out a new routine for everything that seemed so easy to slot in before 😂🏃🏻♀️🤷🏼♀️
Hope life is treating you kindly 🙏 you’ll be running half marathons by now are you 😂 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️👌
Hahaha! 😂 No chance! I did my first 7k yesterday but I did not rush as I didn't know if I'd have the endurance, but managed it. The halfway stage was horrible though for some reason but you've got to keep plodding on.Yes, I'm finding it trickier to keep up and pop on every now and then but unfortunately don't post/comment as often as I'd like. It's lovely to see how everyone is getting on though. I'm glad you're finding your new routine after going back to work. It's so tricky, especially with the dark nights now. I think I go back in January so will try and figure something out for then 🙂
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