Can 7k walking count?

[Beek]

My plan for last week was to do S&F1/2 on Friday and W2R2 on Saturday. Life got in the way and could do neither. BUT did walk from Harlow Carr to Yorkshire Show Ground yesterday. 7K distance brisk as I could. Got the most amazing crampy pain in the sole of my foot behind my left small toes which made brisk walking difficult. (I often get that after 1-2 miles walking) Not sure if it could count as enough effort for R2. Just got back from proper R2 now and will do another before going on to week 3 on Tuesday. Decided that will be best. Surprised myself that I managed all the runs though! (must admit i was VERY glad when Laura gave me permission to slow down)

[swanscot Graduate]

A brisk 7 km walk is great cross-training for a non-running day. However, running and walking uses different muscles and uses the same muscles differently, so you'll still want to do all of the runs in the C25K plan to progress with learning to run.

[Beek Graduate]

Hi Swanscot, thank you for the reply. I'm very new to all this so need to get to grips with what is acceptable.

[Oldgirl Graduate]

I agree with Swanscot, running is much harder than walking no matter how fast the walk. I'm not knocking it though as I walk 5K most afternoons with hubby as he's no runner and never likely to be. I would still do your 3 runs for week 2, there is no time scale on how long the program takes you to complete. Good luck.

[mdec Graduate]

No. I would walk >10 miles before I started C25K and I still found Week 1 hard! Walking is good additional exercise, but running requires a whole other level of effort to walking.