Stepping Stones, Stamina, or Speed

[GillPower]

Having just graduated, I really want to try to achieve my 5k. I am as slow as an asthmatic ant at the moment. I have downloaded the 5k+ podcasts but which do I need. I sort of think I probably need all of them at once!

Gillx

[Oldgirl Graduate]

Well I can relate to an asthmatic grandma so if this is any help to you

I tried all 3 to start with, owch none of them was easy for me. Then I got into Speed and loved it, and I mean really loved it. I called it my short and sweet routine. But give them all a try, what suits one person won't suit another. Good luck and well done on your graduation.

[Fletchasketch Graduate]

GillPower we must be having a mind-meld, I came on here to ask the exact same question. I'll be doing my first post-graduation run tomorrow and downloaded the next podcasts with the idea of doing each one once a week.

However I started listening to the Stepping Stones one last night and got the serious giggles - my best km times are around the 7min mark and some are 7.20/7.30, so running at 150bpm for the 'easy' run sounds very fast to me!

Not quite sure what I'll do yet, I might start out with a nice easy 30mins of my own music and see if I can get anywhere near the 5k (which I'm currently not).

Oldgirl I'll give them all a try and see if I can fall in love with Speed the way you did!

[GillPower Graduate]

I know just what you mean! I listened to Stepping Stones when walking the dog tonight. I even tried a few steps. Crikey! Don't think I could last 5minutes!! I had a look on iTunes and found an EasyBeats audio fuel at 130bpm. Also seems unlikely....

[RainbowC Graduate]

I'd recommend leaving Stamina until you can cope with a Stepping Stone - it's basically the same thing but slightly faster, and with an extra five minutes! I do like Speed - it's particularly handy for evenings like today when I don't have enough time to do a longer 'proper' session. Somehow in my mind it's the easy option, even though my legs would totally disagree!

It's a good long while since I've run either of the other two out of doors, but I'm going to be reintroducing them to my running as soon as I'm back in my routine...

[pingle Graduate]

After I graduated I spent a while just running to w9 until I felt comfortable with it. Sometimes I added a bit on at the end if I felt up to it. When the C25k+ podcasts came out I tried them all but found them all hard at first. Like Rainbow I'd suggest getting comfortable with Stepping stone before trying Stamina. I love Speed too but don't be fooled into thinking it's easy just because it is short! Nearly killed me the first few times! I also started doing C25K over again but faster which was fun tho I managed to sign up to a 10k Race for Life so improving the speed had to wait in favour of increasing the distance. I'm back to doing intervals one day a week now and loving it. I'm also experimenting with Audiofuel downloads. The guy who does the voiceover is not as touchy feely as Laura but I like the masculine focused effect.

Good luck. The main thing is to enjoy it and don't worry if you don't manage a particular podcast. Any run is better than none!

[ktaylor217 Graduate]

I repeated week 9 a few times then moved onto stepping stones which I did for a few weeks then I alternated speed and stamina for a while before moving onto the Audiofuel podcasts... I'm now following a training plan from runners world magazine.

Good luck.

[lola465 Graduate]

I tried stepping stones and found it a teeny bit too slow, so tomorrow I'm trying the stamina. I'm not to bothered about improving my speed but want to be able to run for long enough to hit the 5k every time and at present that extra 6 mins is often too much.

Speed sounds a bit daunting, but next time I sleep in on a run day I'm going to give it a try!

[Oldgirl Graduate in reply to lola465]

Speed is just intervals of fast and slower running. I was using lamp posts to do the same because C25K+ hadn'y been brought out when I graduated. The Speed podcasts is less time so its a great workout if you've little time for a longer run.

[rockchick69 Graduate]

This is a great question. I graduated in April and I was one of the slow but steady group. I did W9 for a few runs and then moved onto Stepping stones. It was difficult at first but I kept at it until finally it was too slow. Now I use my own music for my long runs at 158bpm. I also do Stamina and Speed every week with a long run on Friday or Saturday. Again both were difficult to begin with but keep trying and the feeling you have when you do it is amazing. I also love the interval training like Oldgirl and recently downloaded some from Audiofuel. Again they are pretty difficult but I will keep trying. My time now for 5km is 35 mins, not the fastest, but a lot faster than when I graduated. I am now working towards my 10km as I have a run in September, so I'm getting the distance first and then work on the speed. Whatever you choose enjoy it and believe in yourself.....you can do it