Naughty? But reached 5km!

[mand3966]

Hi, I graduated last week (Hooray!) and went out last night for my 2nd post graduation run. Well, up to the end of C25K, I was reaching 3.8km in the 30 minutes, 1st post grad run, reached 4km, then last night got to 4km in the 30minutes, still felt pretty good, and wanted to carry on, and just see if I could reached the magical 5km, and guess what! I did!!!! Ok, according to my Garmin to took 40 minutes and 44 seconds, at a 8.09 pace, but I did it!!!! I felt amazing!!!! Then suddenly remembered that on this forum it is suggested that you only increase your run times by 10% each week! Obviously, I'd gone a long way above that! Should I continue to try and hit 5km when I feel comfortable enough to, or should I go back to my 30 minute runs, and gradually work up?

Any advice welcome! (got day off work today, so also going to get by gait analysised!)

[Fat_stab Graduate]

Morning Mand.

My advice would be to steady on 4 km for a week or two. This will help your body adjust to running that distance as 'the norm'. Then there are several options to you.

Firstly start the C25K again. But this time jog rather than walk. But when Laura informs you to run, you pick up the pace to a faster jog/run. I would start at week 1 day 3 and if that is easy, then you can make a decision as to which run you will do next.

Alternatively find an app like Endomondo where you can create your own intervals (I can explain how to do this). But basically a good way to increase your speed is through interval training.

Hope this helps

A

[melly4012 Graduate]

Well done!! I know a lot of people push for that 5k on their graduation run (me included), consider it a one off and then go back to consolidating 30 minute runs for a while. I'd suggest doing that and building up from then. With a few weeks of 30 minute runs and then a couple of added minutes a week you'll probably be running 5k regularly in perhaps a month and a half or two months. Not worth getting injured and having to spend that two months on the IC instead. Others may offer different advice but that's what I would suggest.

[AncientMum Graduate in reply to melly4012]

Great advice melly, absolutely spot on (haha your name keeps autocorrecting to jelly!!)

[melly4012 Graduate in reply to AncientMum]

Haha my name has autocorrected to worse so jelly is fine!

[simonwilliamstutor Graduate]

Just listen to your body, both during and after your runs. If you're aching too much then slow it down a bit. For the time being why not consolidate with 4-5km runs at a steady, easy pace... once you know you're comfortable running 5km, why not give the Couch 2 5K+ podcast Stepping Stone a try?

[mand3966 Graduate]

Thanks for all the replies.... looks like I'll keep at the 4km range for a few more weeks, and then either try the Stepping Stone pod cast, or back to C25K as Fat_stab mentioned (not sure if I can stomach the music that comes along with the lovely Laura though for a 2nd time!!!)

[Curlygurly2 Graduate]

I'd say it's ok to do 5K but not every time. The 10% rule applies to your overall weekly mileage, so if you push up to 5K one day, do a shorter run the next few times. There's joy to be had in a short run! Or as Simon say, try the +podcasts