Time or distance?

[Mummy-Jill]

My goodness I ran slowly today. In my defence I was ill at the beginning of the week, and it was icy this morning. My question- should I be happy with running for 30 minutes, three times a week with a vague ambition to join the park runners soon, or should I be pushing myself to run further each time? I'm still listening to week 9 but I sort of panic when it gets to the last track and find myself speeding up to get further, which completely knackers me. Would I be better to ditch Laura and run to a playlist? Comments / advice please, wise fellow graduates!

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

Why not mix it up a bit? You could use the podcasts sometimes - try the C25K+ podcasts if you like to run with Laura. You could also try extending your run once a week, increasing by 10% each time. Just experiment and see what you enjoy.

[Toonlou24 Graduate in reply to Ullyrunner]

Spooky!!! I hadn't read your reply before I wrote mine!! Great minds think alike!!!

[Toonlou24 Graduate]

Great question!!! I wonder this myself sometimes!!! I mix it up. I'm so slow!!! Sometimes I go out and do a 5k which is about 40 mins ish at mo. Other times I run 30 mins and try to get further so try to run the last k faster. Occasionally I just run fr as long as I want to! Did a 50 mins plus once and felt great. I'm never going to be speedy. But am so much fitter than I was and am enjoying what I do so that's all that matters really.

[Hidden]

variety is the spice of life. i know i found it very confusing at first about what to do after graduation, so many different plans etc out there . I run 3 times a week, parkrun on a saturday , 1 longer run and then alternate the other run on speed/intervals and hill work ( baby hills at mo lol )

it is really upto you , do you have any specific goals you want to achieve ?

[Hidden]

Yes, it depends where you want to end up really. I've had this thing about doing 10K non stop so I've been working towards that. Once I've achieved that I'll almost certainly stop thinking about it and just enjoy my running. Mixing it up is good and will stop you getting bored too. It also depends on how much time you have, if you only have, say, 25 minutes to spare intervals are good. Got a bit more time? Go for a nice long slow run. There are no rules, as long as you don't try and increase your distance too quickly, that can lead to the injury couch.

[Tomas Graduate]

I think you should be joining the park runners. And run a bit further on the two other times per week

[GoogleMe Graduate]

The Couch to 5K+ podcasts are good taster sessions to give you some ideas about what sort of goal you'd like to pursue next although I think your consolidation has been a very good idea.

If I look at my running overall, essentially I am about getting out there and doing my 30 minutes... which I'll extend for all sorts of reasons eg carry on till I've finished this kilometre, just takes a bit longer to get back to 5 minutes from the car, today I'd like to run to X point. And yes I've had "Run 5K", "Get an average pace under 10 minutes", "Run the length of the canal" "Run 10k" "Do an interval session" plans. I am not a sociable runner and hate tarmac and funding vivisection so no parkruns etc for me.

Another option is to maintain the running and add in another fitness activity to support it/develop all round. If you like Laura, she has an NHS Strength and Flexibility podcast programme for you to follow.

Do check out the Quests that Realfoodieclub starts here every 6 weeks