Pace, Time or Distance

[Jilly114]

Getting back into my running after injury .. my first goal is 5km but this time I am so discouraged with my pace. I can jog 30min now at 7-7.30min per km pace. I am not built for speed and I am happy with that but I would like to be a little quicker. Should I stay at 30mins and work on speed or keep upping my time (I do want to do a 10km in Nov). Thanks 🙂

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

So you want to run faster and you want to run longer, which puts you in the same boat as most new C25k graduates. In my opinion by running longer you will improve your general fitness and the speed will follow. Also you will arrive at 10k earlier and to have the distance under your belt before the race is a great psychological boost. If you increase one run per week within the 10% rule then maybe do intervals for one of your other runs, then you will be covering all bases.

[Noaky12 Graduate]

Just exactly what he said above.☺

Good luck, enjoy it & just remember not to push to far to fast.

[Sandraj39 Graduate]

Definitely agree with the replies above. Your pace will increase naturally over time at this point. You also have plenty of time to up that distance sensibly to 10k. I bridged to 10k by running two x 5ks and extending the third run each week into my 'long', also using 10% rule. Good luck!☺

[Curlygurly2 Graduate]

Yup, our Iannoda hit the nail on the head as usual. Increase distance gradually, do some intervals, oh, and enjoy your running!

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

It is up to you. I prefer to have 5k as a goal and recently with a calf which was painful while running, I decided to reintroduce run-walking and keep going to 5k. I found as I kept doing that my run segments grew longer and I could enjoy running faster. While walking, I focus on slowing breathing, relaxing tense muscles etc. That worked for me and then when I was ready, started just running 5k X 2 times a week and a long run (5k run plus a 5 run-walk)