How long should my routes be?

[Sortyourlife]

I went out for my first run of week 1 this morning. I did a couple of minutes extra walking before starting the podcast and I ended up doing around 5 minutes extra cool down walking (my total time was 38 minutes compared to the 28:30 podcast) and the route was 4k in total. I’m figuring this distance will be fine for week 1, 2 and maybe 3 (but starting the podcast as soon as I leave instead), but when do I need to start thinking about increasing my route? How long should I be making it? I’m also assuming that my pace will be slower when I start running for longer.

Attached is my route from this morning.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Just follow the plan.. you get where you get to and you turn around at the halfway point

There are no set distances or times..(other than the timings of each run) you start with your brisk walk.. and run the run sections at a slow and steady pace... and the walking sections... then your cool down walk... I always forgot to turn at the half way point and had long walks home

Check this post out...

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

Keep it slow and keep it steady.... that is all you have to do

Well done

[Sortyourlife in reply to Oldfloss]

Never thought about running one way and then turning round tbh! I’ve just always had loops in my mind ahahah, thanks!

[Nictwit Graduate]

Congrats on starting. As you do a couple more runs you'll soon learn how far your body will get you in the runs and be able to predict where to turn round. I ran repeats of the same loop for weeks! Some weeks were a longer walk to warm down but that's no harm really 😁

[Sortyourlife in reply to Nictwit]

Yeah exactly , I don’t mind the extra bit of walking at the end but at the same time didn’t wanna make anything too short ahaha! But yeah I’ve never thought heading in one direction and turning around ahaha, just had loops stuck in my head!

[Tasha99 Graduate]

Don’t think of distance or pace until graduation. Just follow the plan.

[Sortyourlife in reply to Tasha99]

Yeah that is my plan! But I’m just not wanting to make a loop too short for the length of the run lol that’s all! So as the weeks go on was just wondering about how much extra distance this will be. But as others have pointed out, I can turn around half way, I’d just never even thought of it, always had loops stuck in my head !

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to Sortyourlife]

😂

[Soz22 Graduate]

I ran up and down the same pathway for 7 weeks lol, passing some people maybe 3 times! Really do what works for you, I’m sure you will enjoy it no matter what xx

[Sortyourlife in reply to Soz22]

😂😂 love it!

Yeah I hope so! Would love to have a running buddy to do it with but can’t convince the OH to get involved lol.

[telford_mike Graduate]

My circuit for the first 2 weeks has been 3.7k, so you're definitely in the right ball park. Might need something a bit longer for the next few weeks, but I'm hardly the fastest!

[Sortyourlife in reply to telford_mike]

Ah it’s not about the speed though! But yeah me either. I’ve always been a pretty speedy walker though! But thanks, good to know that this will do me a couple of weeks at least

[sallenson Graduate]

If I'm running before work during the week I've either got a loop run or else a turn around halfway run. For weekends I do a run to the end and can then have a good long walk back to the car. Having a good long walk afterwards I've found really helpful to stretch out the muscles and avoid getting stiff and sore.

Have fun and let us know how you're getting on!!

[Sortyourlife in reply to sallenson]

Good to know! Thank you and I will do