I started couch to 5k in January and have been taking my time about it, doing what felt comfortable usually doing each week at least twice (I am a good 5 1/2 stone overweight afterall!) Until a few weeks ago when I couldn't stand the stop start as I find the first 5 mins such hard work abd I randomly pulled 3km out the bag!! I done that about 6 times now as a slow pace of 23 minutes. I then did 3.3 in 25 min's and today kept going for the full 30 mins as I was feeling good. I'm so chuffed. Its hardly 5k it was about 3.7/8 but in happy with that!!
A little retching afterwards as I forgot breakfast but apart from that no hiccups!! If I've done it once I can do it again! Only twice a week mind as otherwise my bones hurt!!!!! Ha (when did 32 start feeling old!!!)
Written by
TwistaRuns
Graduate
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Well done with how your getting it is up to you how you continue just as long as you are running in some capacity and atleast you look like you are smiling so it is not doing you any harm just keep up the good work.
Well done.
If more than twice a week makes your bones hurt (as you put it) then twice a week is perfectly good. It's certainly enough to make progress.
There's a fact that is often overlooked by people who train in anything. That is what actually happens to the body when we train. It is actually possible to overdo it and actually become less fit. Sounds counterintuitive, but it's true.
When we train, what we're really doing is deliberately fatiguing our muscles close to the point of failure (on this context, failure doesn't mean destruction, in training terminology it means the point at which a muscle is too fatigued to do what you want it to do). Muscle fibres do actually become damaged. Muscles get micro tears in them. That's all normal. Furthermore it's necessary, as it's what triggers the process of everything become stronger and fitter. But note how you can't easily repeat a run straight after you've just finished one. That's not simple tiredness. That's because at that moment, you are physically weaker and less fit, because your training session has induced injury (perfectly normal micro tears). Getting fit happens in the rest period. When you rest after training, the body takes the opportunity to do something quite magical. It kind of says, I could just repair the damage, but it'll just happen again, so let's make it stronger than it was before. This takes time. The amount of times varies from person to person. If you train again before the repair is even as strong as it was before, then you become weaker. If you wait til the repair is complete, you become stronger. Wait too long though and atrophy happens and you start to weaken again as your body diverts resources to stuff that is regularly used. The trick is to find your own ideal recovery time. If yours is more than a couple of days, then twice a week is your optimum training frequency. For some, a day is enough. For others it might start once a week.
the thing is though, if you hit your optimum training frequency, your fitness will improve quickly. Part of that is recovery seeds up. So you might be on twice weekly now, but in time you might find that three times a week is fine, or more.
Thanks for your response- really interesting as I don't really k kW much about the science behind the training. I usually do 3km on the cross trainer mid week abd a slow 45 mins swim st a weekend. Does that seem about right to help my body recover whilst still keeping fit? Just thought I'd ask your advice since I'm winging it!!!
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30 minutes but only 3.65 km
Third 30-Minute Run – Done! 
Still not hitting 5k on 30 minutes.
1st sub 30 minute 5k!
