How did that happen 🤔

[CredenceRainyDay]

Yesterday's run was a revelation. I've committed to building up to an actual 5K through the November Quest. So all geared up I set my NRC app to 33.30 mins. Not realising that the measure was for distance not time I ran a comfortable run, tiring slightly at the point where I thought I was on 33 mins (3 mins over what I would normally run) When planning my Quest I honestly felt it would be a struggle and I'd need 4 weeks to gradually add the extra 1.5 K to get to 5K. Any hoo the NCR girl announced that I'd run 36 mins and 5K. Dead chuffed but wondering if I should make my November Quest slightly more ambitious? Alternatively I could just consolidate 5K. Any suggestions welcome 😁

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10]

Well done, congratulations on your 5K!

Some days everything comes together doesn't it?

If it was me I'd get comfortable with 5k before increasing your distance too much, maybe mix things up with some interval runs just so it doesn't get too routine

[CredenceRainyDay in reply to Yesletsgo]

Sounds like good advice. Many thanks. Will certainly look into interval runs. Don't know what that is at the moment 🤣 though can guess from the name, sometimes I think I'd benefit from a glossary of running terms. There is so much more to learn 🏃

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10 in reply to CredenceRainyDay]

An interval run is pretty much what it sounds like. You run for a few minutes at a specified pace, then recover by stopping or slowing right down then run again, either at the same or a different pace. The NRC app has lots of these.

I found the idea very daunting at first because the description mentions '5k pace', '10k pace', 'mile pace' and 'best pace' - how could I do the run if I didn't know my paces as I'd only run 5k a couple of times and 10k was way beyond my capabilities?

All was revealed when I did the run. It's not about how fast you're running it's about the effort you make. So you imagine a scale of 1-10 where 1 is going really slowly and 10 is flat out, the other paces are different points in the scale so eg 10k pace is a 6/10 effort. You will get used to it, the NRC coaches are really good at explaining it.

The other run you might try is a fartlek, a Swedish word meaning 'speed play'. Similar to intervals in that you vary your speed but it's a continuous run, no recovery periods. (Coach Bennett makes a lot of bad jokes about fartleks. it's up to you whether you laugh )

Have a look at the app, they really are good fun

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Well done you 😀 that's a good run and 5k is special, especially the first one. I'd consolidate for a while, give one run a week to 5k and do other things on the other days.

[CredenceRainyDay in reply to SueAppleRun]

Thanks for your encouragement and good advice. 👍 Definitely feels like the right thing to do.

[apatsyf Graduate10]

That's a jolly good time for your first 5k. Well done and 🏅- a special run. Definitely consolidate for a while. Then you could increase the distance or time slowly - I enjoyed Juju's Magic Plan... you can find it somewhere on here. Have fun!!

[CredenceRainyDay]

Will give this plan a look. Many thanks apatsyf 😁 Everyone on this platform is so generous with their encouragement. Thank you also for the emoji medal 🏃

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10]

Well done you! Just go with it, for a while would me my advice... get comfy as Yesletsgo suggests with 5K, so minutes and plus runs and do shake things up... shorter runs, new routes and the lovely longer relaxed runs that build every single thing up

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

Fantastic news! That’s such a milestone. You deserve some serious celebrations!

You had some brilliant suggestions already. You could combine using the time based magic plan structure with using the Nike Run Club app by picking runs of the right time length. Their guided speed runs are brilliant for getting started with this sort of running. They focus on effort not actual pace numbers. “First speed run” is a great one to start with! It’s really important to make sure you warm up well (especially in cold weather!) and you don’t need to push too hard. There are a lot of fans on here. Keep most of your runs at a comfortable pace-no more than 20% faster to 80% easy…that’s what the elite runners do too! I should warn you…it’s addictive!

[Wine]

Well done congrstulations