Newbie looking for advice on pace

[Rubywednesday]

Hi, I'm quite new to C25K as this is my first post. I have been running on a treadmill at the gym and have just completed week 4.  What I was wondering was what pace people run at and does anybody else run on a treadmill?  I was running at 8 km/hr but found it too difficult, I've since dropped down to 7.5 km/hr and I'm finding it much easier.  It seems awfully slow but it's all I can manage.  My problem is cardio, I gave up a 40+ a day smoking habit in January to take up running and find that it's my breathing that lets me down.  I was wondering what pace other runners are managing and have they found their pace improving as they progress.

Thanks

Ruby

[Bazza1234 Graduate]

The object of each run is to finish the task . The tasks gets harder and harder as you progress through the programme - culminating in running non-stop for 30 minutes.  Everybody has different levels of fitness and personal abilities - but everybody has one commonality - that is to finish each day's task. So - do whatever you personally have to do to achieve this - and you will ultimately graduate the programme What pace you do is , at this time , irrelevant.

[Rubywednesday in reply to Bazza1234]

Thanks for the reply, yeah I've been reading around and see many people also train on a treadmill at a similar pace, I was starting to dread the sessions but slowing down has brought back the enjoyment of running (besides I don't come away from the gym drenched in sweat!)

Ruby

[runswithdogs Graduate]

Really slow is best during the program.  If you feel great near the end of a run you can pick up the pace. 

[yatesco Graduate in reply to runswithdogs]

This, this, this and this. You cannot start too slow in the beginning. Some advice I was given - if you can talk normally you are too slow, if you can't hold a stilted conversation then you are too fast. 

In the beginning I couldn't hold a stilted conversation when I was simply _thinking_ about running :-).

If it helps, I am in week 8 and including the walking my last run was 4.44km. My very first run, which was ridiculously fast was about 3km.

Self promotion as it is my post (but the wisdom comes from others): healthunlocked.com/couchto5......

[John_W Graduate]

As Bazza1234 suggests, if 7.5km/h works for you, then *that's* your speed

You did exactly the right thing - you found 8 was too fast and you adjusted accordingly

I did the whole program on the treadmill but what speed I did is irrelevant - we're all different. The right speed for you is the one that works

Keep going, you're doing great!

John

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

I have never run on a treadmill...but would go with the advice of those who know!

Slow and steady?

[Niggit]

I agree with all the comments. I'm doing Week 3 at the moment, and my husband has started coming with me; my run is about the same speed as his fast walk! But it works for me, and I feel chuffed that I can keep it up for the full three minutes.  And as runswithdogs said, if you find you've got a bit in reserve at the end you can always cog up a gear for the last bit of the run.

Well done on joining us and sticking with it, and well done on quitting the dreaded weed! Every day things will get a little better

[Shivani05 Graduate]

I did the whole programme on the treadmill and my running speed was slower than yours. You might find you need to slow down more for the longer runs (or you might not...you never know) and that's ok too. So long as you're still running/jogging, the speed doesn't matter. 

[Jeleybelly Graduate]

I did it all on treadmill, and found I had to slow it down as the runs got longer

Go at whatever speed you need to to get thru that section, it's all about time not speed or distance

[Rubywednesday]

Hi everybody and thanks for all the advice.  I'm so glad I found this forum as I thought that you needed run at 10 km/hr to complete the course!  I think I probably will slow down again to complete the dreaded wk5/s3 20 min run, just hope I can manage it!

Thanks again to everybody that replied, and good luck with your own running.

Ruby