Hi. I've come over from C25K. Now that I've graduated I'm still a bit lost about what to do next. I was desperate to get out for a run after all the snow and ice, and since I've bought myself a Garmin watch to celebrate making it to 5k I thought I would give the Garmin suggested runs a go. My watch said "Base 9.00/km 45.00". I had no idea what that meant but thought it must be run for 9km in 45 minutes. Now I know I can't do that. My best 5k took me longer than that, but I gave it my best shot. Why not? Anyway, I managed a circular run around a reservoir and back home which took me 7.55km and 1 hour 10 min. I stopped because I was back near home and pretty tired after almost 3 weeks break. I felt great afterwards and really enjoyed it. Now that I've looked at the stats and thought about it, I think I should have run for 45 min at a pace of 9km per hour. I'm glad I didn't know at the time because I had such a lovely run.
A happy mistake.: Hi. I've come over from C... - Bridge to 10K
A happy mistake.
Congratulations on your run with the help (?) of your Garmin.
I really couldn't get my head around the numbers when I was at your stage of running. I think what Garmin were suggesting was to run for 45 minutes at 9 minutes per km, ie to cover 5km in 45 minutes. They are probably suggesting this on the basis of your age, sex etc to establish a baseline.
This next paragraph is my own personal view and so if anyone wants to challenge me on it, please feel free.
I personally do not want to be told to run at a certain pace unless there is a very good reason for needing to run like that. How fast we run depends on so many things - our age, sex, height, weight, where we are running, our mood, health, general fitness - you get the idea. The numbers that describe how quickly we move mean next to nothing in the overall plan of things unless you're a competitive racer. There are many ways to measure the success of a run and speed is nowhere near the most meaningful as far as I'm concerned..
Instead, it's more relevant to focus on the effort we put into our runs. For example, my normal running place is paths through fields. In the summer when the ground is firm it's easy to get my pace right up. In winter when there are deep muddy puddles, ice etc, it's twice as much effort to go half the pace. Which run is 'better'? The fast easy one or the slow one where every step is a challenge? See what I mean?
Well done for managing 7.55km, though can I advise a note of caution. You are still a relatively new runner and the general recommendation is to gradually increase the distance/time we run for. To go straight from 5k to nearly 8k is a big leap, so don't be worried if you need a couple of days to recuperate. I'm so glad you enjoyed the run though, much better to run the run you enjoy than to fixate on the numbers on your watch.
By the way, you might enjoy the Nike Running Club app. It's free and you don't need to buy Nike stuff to use it. It has loads of different guided runs and also training plans. It really helped me when I was just beginning and a lot of us are fans of it (if you like a guided run). They are very strong on running by effort and once you realise what they are on about it makes perfect sense!
Good luck 
Thanks Yesletsgo. I have used the Nike running club app a few times and sometimes it suited, other times it didn't. I'm sure I will try it again and see if I can get used to it. I often listen to a podcast while running and they don't always go together well. I've also looked at the Jeff Galloway method but I'm not too sure about that, although if I start off with Jeffing it gets me through that first 10 minutes without tiring me out. (I always find it hard when I start off)Good advice on not getting hung up on the numbers (even when you don't understand them). I ran at my usual pace, which was probably just right and I stopped when I thought I had done enough. I felt I could have gone a full 10k but would have been shattered for the rest of the week and I have my strength training class to do too. So I hope I've got the balance right.
Although I'm newish to running, I've been walking for many many years and my stamina isn't bad.
"I think I should have run for 45 min at a pace of 9km per hour."
Looks like you're confusing speed and pace Roseth . 9km per hour isn't a pace, it's a speed. Here's a definition from Runbundle: "The difference between pace and speed is that pace is measured as time per distance, and speed is measured as distance per time. Runners tend to use pace to work how fast they're running. I.e. minutes per mile or minutes per kilometer."
So while a speed of 9kph does indeed mean you'll cover 9 kilometres in an hour, the equivalent pace is 6:40/km. if your pace is 9:00/km, you'll cover approximately 6.67 km in an hour. See here: depicus.com/swim-bike-run/p...
Garmin was suggesting a pace of 9:00/km for a duration of 45 minutes, so you were only expected to cover 5km.
As I run a lot of hills and prefer trails to road running, pace isn't a particularly helpful measure, and I prefer to run by effort. Depending on terrain it's entirely possible for me to go twice as fast running downhill as running uphill, all in the same run and for similar effort.
Personally I agree with Yesletsgo that there are many ways to measure the success of a run. I don't use any Garmin suggested runs either, as I know from experience that the more I enjoy I run the more likely Garmin's algorithm is to disapprove of it.
If you haven't already, maybe have a read of this post from MissUnderstanding : healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... It has lots of ideas about ways to develop your running.
Hi Cmoi. I seem to get pace and speed mixed up when I speak or write about it but in my head, I know that I walk at a pace between 11/km and 13/km depending on terrain and purpose and that I run around 9/km to 9.5/km. (Just writing that down has helped but why don't we call it 9m/km and make it clearer).
All of my running is done on paths, either concrete, grass, or dirt and I make a point of avoiding very muddy or rutted ground. Who needs a broken leg at my age?
I know from experience that Garmin will make suggestions that are not helpful, for example, if I take 15,000 steps one day, it gives me a higher target the next. There comes a point where you need to just ignore it.
However, I still enjoy my watch and I'm glad I treated myself. I could have gone for chocolate instead but my diabetes nurse would not have been impressed.
Thank you for the links. I'll have another read of the one from MissUnderstanding.
Tbh I find 9m/km more confusing than 9:00/km, because I automatically read the m as metres. Some Strava friends use m as an abbreviation for miles, other for minutes, and I always misinterpret their posts on first reading.
Using a colon rather than a full stop helps me because to me it's unclear whether the latter is a decimal point or a divider between minutes and seconds. If I see 9.25/km, for example, I don't know whether that means 9 minutes 15 seconds per kilometre, or 9 minutes 25 seconds per kilometre. To make things even more complicated, in French the comma is used as a decimal point.
Living in the back of beyond has undoubtedly influenced my running. I do run on roads, but trails give me far more options for routes and I find them far more fun.
Enjoy your running!
Perhaps less confusing if pace is expressed as (say) 7’30”/k and the equivalent speed as 8 kph?
I've just read that as 7 foot 3 inches per kilometer. 🤣😂 There really is no hope for me 😁
Hi. Firstly super well done to you for completing the C25K plan. After I did C25K, (almost 8 years ago)I found that I wanted to firstly get comfortable running 5K. I started doing parkrun and ran twice during the week. Initially I struggled to run the full 5K so would take walking breaks. My first parkrun took me 39 minutes to finish. Over time I brought my finish times down. When I got comfortable with my 5K distance and could comfortably run it all i started adding more distance to my long runs until I got to 10K. I still love 5K distance and I run 10-13K every Sunday as my long run. I personally don’t enjoy running longer than that so I have never bothered running a Half Marathon. It’s just not for me.
What watch do you have? Up until recently I just had a basic Garmin Forerunner 35. I had it for about 6-7 years and I loved it. It was accurate, easy to use and I just had it set up to display time, distance and average pace. So I never did any Garmin training plans or anything like suggested runs. In October my strap broke and I couldn’t replace it as the fixing point was damaged also. So I had to upgrade and I bought a Garmin Forerunner 165. It has loads of features and data which my previous watch did not have. I played around with it and discovered the Garmin Coach menu in Garmin Connect App. After playing around with it I decided to try it out. My parkrun PB is 25:22 and it’s my dream to run a sub 25 minute 5K at a parkrun. So I selected to go with a 5K training plan from coach Amy, I entered all my information, age, weight, gender etc and it asked me to select a specific finish time. I selected 24:50 minutes for 5K and pushed the race date out to the 22nd of March. It’s honestly amazing, it has pushed me out the door all through the storms and cold snaps. I’m 9 weeks into a 17 week training block. I love that there is a pace meter for the runs and I have to stick to the suggested pace for each run. It’s an amazing feature and I can feel myself getting fitter and stronger every week. It’s currently predicting that I’ll finish 5K in 23:10, not a chance 🤣, but I’m confident that I’ll finish comfortably in a sub 25 minute time by the 22nd of March.
It’s difficult to figure out how to use a running watch which is full of data and features when you are just starting out. Just play about and perhaps try a 5K training plan on Garmin Connect. Garmin Coach. Pick a realistic finish time for you and base the plan over 8 weeks. It will get you to do a time trial first over a distance of just over a kilometre and from that it will build up a program for you. It might help to motivate you to get out and run plus it will help you learn about the features on your watch. Also type in your watch model into YouTube and watch a few videos which will help explain how to use the watch and what the diffent features are for.
Thanks Damienair. I got the forerunner 55. It's a bit of an old model now but I didn't want to spend a lot on my first watch without knowing much about them and I saw on here that people were generally happy with this one. I'm also not likely to want to run a marathon EVER, but I do want to use it to give me a bit of a push. It's certainly doing that with all the other activities I'm doing. I've learned not to be too much a slave to it and also to ignore things like the body battery which seems to think eating is more stressful than a trip to the dentist.
I must admit, I'm someone who likes tech and I want to know how and why things work (or don't) so I'll continue to experiment without getting too hung up on it.
By the way, a 25 minute park run is a distant dream for me. I've only done 1. It took me 47 min. Between that and the 4k walk to and From the park, I needed days to recover. I'm sure I would do better if I tried again but the 4k walk to get to the park before I even start is putting me off a bit. My Garmin says I can do it in 37.15 (maybe I could too)
My watch is just 1 step up from your Forerunner 55. The beautiful thing about the Garmin Watches is that you can disable a lot of the data so it does not annoy you. For example I have stress turned off and a few other items are turned off too. The Garmin Coach feature is on the Forerunner 55 too. So for example if you wanted to run a 5K in a time of 37 minutes then it would design a training plan for you. I’m on a rest day today, I love my rest days. 😁
I find a lot of the information on Garmin confusing, I just look at the my basic stats; time, distance, avg heart rate, pace and V02 Max. The V02 Max always cheers me up as it seems to think I have the fitness of a 30 years old (I'm 67) I don't question it 😂😂😂😂
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