Well, I’ve just come back from run 3 week 5, and I’m now heading into the last week of my ASICS Runkeeper 5K plan.
The reason why I chose this plan was because it was a six week plan, relatively short for any Couch to 5K plants. And so, as a returner, coming of the injury couch, six weeks sounded perfect.
This week, week five, it was all about skipping those little walking intervals during these sessions that could be called jeffing sessions. So the coach gently suggests to try skipping over the one or other walking interval, allowing you to get the feel for running for six minutes or even nine minutes, depending on how many walking intervals you skip.
So it’s a great way to adapt the sessions to your level of ability and fitness.
It also helps make the last run of that week not as daunting as it could look. Having said that, as my stint on the injury couch was relatively short, and as I am a slightly more experienced (super slow, though) runner by now, this felt so much easier than my memory of the first time on the Couch to 5K plan.
But even though I have considerable miles under my legs, , there is no chance of me being able to run the 5K in the 32 minutes of running session of the last one of this plan.
But that’s okay, because I’m getting fitter and fitter,, and my stamina for running continuously is increasing by each one. And that’s great to experience again.
I know I will always be super slow, so 5k in 30 minutes has never been a goal, but I do have aspirations to get to the 10k distance again, and this feels I’m on my way!
So keep running everyone!
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Graduate10
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This really sounds like it's been the perfect plan for you. Interesting mix of walking and running and great idea to put power into the hands (feet) of the runner. Really well done for seeking it out and for persisting!
🍏🙌Slow running is happy running when it gets us to where we want to be!! Well done. I’m with you on this one… Getting back up to 5 & then to 10… we can do it …
It’s great to hear how well it’s worked for you. It sounds like you might be a little sad to finish! A celebration for your impending graduation from the plan needs planning I think…
Lol! Yes, and once finished, I will have to decide if I stop subscribing or keep in the full version of Runkeeper. Difficult choice!
and yes, I must plan something to celebrate this milestone.
Having now run 25min continuously (my first 25min run in 2024, I think) I did wonder if Runkeeper should have called it “5 weeks to 25”! Snappy and apt, I think. And I’ll probably use this plan again if I have to come back from an injury again, as it seems perfect for off the IC training.
That’s sounds a great plan and as MissUnderstanding so rightly says it is great to hear How well it’s working for you. So big congratulations to you👍👏👏😂
Yeah, as I mentioned to MissUnderstanding, it’s a great plan to come back from the IC from.
I think it should be called “5 weeks to 25”, as it feels this last run was a great achievement, but easily reached, so the plan certainly worked for my come-back.
Sounds interesting! I must have a look. I'm trying to use the nrc 10k plan to get back to distance and finding that the increases in distance are too steep for me. I like the idea of the runner being in control rather more!
As a fellow slow runner I know the frustration with this constant suggestion that 30 minutes is 'the' time we should aspire to in order to cover 5k. Most of us just aren't built that way. Even male beginners are unlikely to achieve that, though men are generally faster than women.
Just look at the number of posts on the C25K forum along the lines of 'I'm on week 7/8/9 and only covering 2/3/4 km'. Instead of celebrating the achievement of running for the best part of half an hour it's suggesting we're failing because we haven't reached an arbitrary and often unachievable goal.
Not very inclusive. 5 weeks to 25 is a way better description.
I sometimes wonder whether if I got a coach and trained really, really hard the 5k in 30 minutes would be achievable. I've occasionally hit 6 mins/km on a very good day during an interval run but can barely keep it up for 30 seconds, if that. According to this chart of 5k running times only an advanced or elite runner of my age is likely to achieve this pace. runninglevel.com/running-ti...
If I were to attempt this, and even less likely succeed I know that my glow of achievement would be punctured within minutes by someone innocently asking, 'but didn't C25K get you to 5k in 30 minutes?'
We've done C25K, we run 5k when we are ready, the main thing is we enjoy our running and don't hurt ourselves setting unachievable goals. Well done on your progress with the Runkeeper plan, your posts just radiate your happiness at what you are doing
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Week 1 of jujus 10k plan done ✅ 
Week 1 of the 10k plan - 5k
JuJu’s plan Week 5 Run 3
