Week 7 - not even 4k :-(

[lola465]

I've just finished week 6 and finally calibrated my iPod so I've a better idea of how far I'm running in 25 mins....it's not even 4k! Darn. Also I'm getting a bit fed up of the music on the podcasts.

For week 7 I've made playlists - one at songs of 130bpm and one at 140bpm. I'm going to to try running to the slower one and see how I go. It takes just over 5 mins from my house house to the start of the prom, so that's my warm up up and cool down walks. I know that one end of prom to t'other is 4.02km and I'm not managing the whole thing just yet. I reckon I will be by end of week 9 but that's still a kilometre away from the 5k target. I think I might try the speed/stamina podcasts once I've graduated - I want to run that 5k in 30 minutes!

[Daisy333 Graduate]

Same with me Lola - I'm only doing 3.3km in 25 minutes. I've got an ipod too and use Nike+. For the non-interval runs I've been using my own music. I'm going to do some more playlists with faster bpm - I'm currently using one for 8 minutes per km (not sure of the bpm) which helps me run at a pace of 7.5 on a good day. Am going to try some faster playlists. I've just finished week 7. Good luck with the rest of the plan and I'm sure you'll do the 5km in 30 minutes at some point

[Birdie74 Graduate]

Same for me, too. I've just done W8R1 and did 3.7km in 28mins so reckon I'd be doing 5km in about 38mins at this pace. I want to be doing it in 30mins as well so need to concentrate on increasing my speed once (if?) I've graduated. Might take a tip from you and put some playlists together.

[Deb0rahB]

Snap! I'm running 3.5 in 28 mins on Week 8 but trying not to get too wound up about distance. Can't bring myself to 'desert' Laura until I get to the final podcast, but am looking forward to running to my own choice of music as a treat, after I graduate.

I think it will also be something to work towards, when you get to the end - increasing your distance until you are covering further in 30 minutes.

I've had a look at timings on my local parkrun and there are a few people taking 40-50 minutes to cover the distance,so I think we're all on the right track - think positive thoughts!

[Poppy2010 Graduate]

This programme is great but should be called c2 30mins as that's what it actually gets most people doing in the 9 weeks (I think Greenlegs did a study a while back which proved this).

I graduated a few months back and still can't do 5k in 30 minutes but as a nearly 50 year old and 4 stone overweight woman I don't expect that - but since graduating I have taken about 8 minutes off my official Parkrun times and currently have a pb of 36mins 39seconds; so am much closer already than I thought I would be! I also took part in the 5x50 and did 350km in 50 days (walking/cycling and running nearly every other day).

Enjoy the programme, trust in it and carry on with the hard work after graduation and speed will come in time!