Lingering on weeks

[DiogoC]

Following Laura's/NHS advice, I try to complete every run on each week before I move on to the next week. As a result, I've been stuck in week 3 for over a month now. Finally completed that last week and will now tackle week 4.

I believe, this has helped me build resistance and I can now "comfortably" run for about 6 minutes which in theory I shouldn't be doing until at least week 4.

Of course, I will now try to tackle each week head on and not linger, but I was just wondering if anyone had run into this issue as well?

Also, do you always leave a gap between runs? When I started my weight loss journey over a year ago, I went from 0 to 60 and would run/exercise almost every day and ended up with runner's knee, which put me off running for a while. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Cheers everyone

[Returning2Run Graduate]

Definitely keep the rest days and only do 3 runs per week. Walking or other gentle exercise on rest days is really good for loosening off and helping our bodies recover.

I got stuck on a few weeks too, I slowed down which really helped and even though I was running slower than I could walk, I managed and the speed came with time. So don't stress about speed by persevering you are doing brilliantly and take as much time as you need. Hopefully your knee keeps playing nice this time round!

[GoogleMe Graduate]

"Week" can be a bit of a misnomer. For most of the NHS C25K it means three successful repetitions of each podcast on non-consecutive days.

So, to take my own example... my 'Week One' took something like 6 weeks because it took a lot of outings before I achieved a running motion throughout every period Laura said I should be running (and somewhere in that I was ill as well, unconnected) But subsequent 'weeks' were not always a full 7 days because I was often able to run every other day, and every session was a complete success (not necessarily easily!)

If you think in terms of building a sustainable habit, you won't go far wrong.

[RuNananana Graduate]

It took me 15 weeks to complete the program. I really did go from the couch & a lot of excess weight - 3 days per week with 1 or 2 days break between run days when I was doing strengthening exercises at the gym.

This isn't the time to stress about speed - that you can develop in the post-grad C25k+ program. I think this is more about building stamina.

If you feel a twinge anywhere, you can slow down and build up. No body is holding a stopwatch on you You'll get there - you'll be great!!!

[shelleymoo]

I've also been on week 4 for weeks! Worried that I won't be able to manage week 5 so have stuck with becoming more confident with week 4.

Not sure what today will bring because I haven't run for about three weeks! I'm aiming to be starting week 5 in a weeks time. 😀