Week 8

[Jigglemooce]

Well I've reached week 8 and I've just completed run 2 on the treadmill. I'm confused though! 28 minutes of running plus minute warm up and 5 minute cool down and I'm still only reaching 4K. Is the 30 minutes of running supposed to be 5k or should it be 5k in 40 minutes including the 20 minutes either side? I know it shouldn't matter but once you think you can do this you want to do it better each time! Or at least I do 😜 The first run of week 8 was done in the mountains of Blanca in Spain last week so I can't complain!

[Sandraj39 Graduate]

C25k should really be called 'Couch to 30 mins of running'! Not many people will be running 5k in 30 mins at this stage (some may never run at that pace), so don't worry about the distance at this stage. Once you have graduated you can start to work up to 5k as a distance and you can choose to work on your speed a bit more if you want. It will increase naturally however, as you get stronger.Good luck, you are nearly there now!🙂

[Kingfisherk26 Graduate in reply to Sandraj39]

Sandra is spot on. The aim is to run for 30 min but C2 30 min isn't as catchy as C25K! Ive just finished Week 9 run 3 today and am nowhere near 5k in 30 min. I've done a couple of park runs. If you look on your local parkrun page at the results you'll see what people there in your age group are doing. I'm 51 and the fastest 5k I've done is 37 min.which put me towards the back but who cares. I seem to have run a bit faster in the 2 park runs I've done... Running in a crowd seems to pull me along a bit!

Sandra is right when she says don't worry about it. I just look back at where I was when I started and that's how I judge my progress! You sound like you are doing really well so keep on running.

Regards John

[davelinks Graduate]

No, just the 28 mins and the 2x5 mins either end, don't worry about distance or speed come to that, just the times, getting to 30 mins at w9 and graduate, then consolidate some of those 30 min runs, when your next goal is to try and reach 5k in your own time. Go slow and steady, well done!😊

[RainbowC Graduate]

I graduated in February, and my fastest 5k so far is 37 mins. There's plenty of time to build up speed or distance (gradually!) once you've finished the plan...

[Whatsapp Graduate]

From the website: "The programme is designed for beginners to gradually build up their running ability, so that they can run 5K without stopping."

There is nothing in the programme to dictate the speed which we choose/ are able to run.