W5 R3 Almost... but not quite

[EL82]

OK, so week 5 was tough and after giving it my best effort I ran 17 1/2 minutes. A little disappointed not to have made it to 20mins but on a positive note I am still amazed I ran for that long and i think I was right to stop as had nothing left. I did start running through to the end after thirty seconds walk. Not sure whether to go back a run or just do run three again after my rest days. Any tips?

[cheeseheads]

Consider it a practice run and you will get it next time. But still 17 mins is still dam good

[51firstrun Graduate]

I had same prob with this one . To give me confidence i went back to W5R2 which was easier than 1st time ;and then also repeated W5R3 . Which went well . Keep it slow good luck

[KN25 Graduate]

I will be doing this tomorrow and I am worried. To go from doing 2 X 8 min runs with 5 mins walk to recover to a full 20 minutes seems like a big leap. Personally I would consider anything past the 8 minute mark is an achievement so you should be pleased and not beat yourself up

[Melc25k in reply to KN25]

I thought the same. I struggled to eight minutes on Tuesday in run 2 but Thursday night I did the 20 minutes at first attempt. The first five minutes or so were really hard but it got easier as the time went on. If someone had told me in 3rd June I'd have run for 20 minutes on 5th July I'd never have believed them. Believe in yourself and push when it gets tough. You can do it x

[KN25 Graduate in reply to Melc25k]

Well I did it and although it was hard I wasn't as tough as I thought! I admit I'm pretty slow but I had a serious Achilles injury 14 months ago so getting to this point has been a real achievement.

[EL82 Graduate in reply to KN25]

Fantastic, good luck in week 6.😀

[ArthurJG Graduate]

The standard advice on here is you don’t need to repeat a run you’ve already completed. So just run 3. However if you got so close to the end and really had nothing left maybe take two rest days instead of one before you you go again with run 3?

[Crittermad Graduate]

If you are in uk it has been super hot today, so 17.5mins is still good. I’d consider it a practice run and just repeat that one

[TrickyRuns Graduate]

I agree it is soo hot - so 17.5 mins is fab. Have a few days off - make sure you are well hydrated and give it another go.

KN25 if you are planning to run tomorrow I would go super early as it's to be another scorcher (assuming your in UK)!

[KN25 Graduate in reply to TrickyRuns]

Yes I think I will go early although after celebrating the football not sure what shape I will be in 😂😂

[Crittermad Graduate in reply to KN25]

If you’ve had a few 🍻🍷 I’d definitely skip a day or drink loads and loads of water b4 bed - I really see a difference in this heat

[EL82 Graduate]

Thanks for all the replies, I will see how I feel and maybe just repeat run 3 after two days rest. On reflection I think it was a good result after a long and hot week with a lot going on. Looking forward to my next attempt! 😀

[Fabulous450 Graduate]

You did really well EL82! Very close. I wouldn’t imagine you need to do all 3 again. Have a rest and do the 3rd. You’ve done the preparation. Well done! That’s the spirit that going to make sure that you smash it next time. ❤️

[F4TMAN]

I've been focussing on total running time rather than how long the intervals are. If you ran 17 1/2 min then walked 30s then ran to the end, you actually ran for 19 1/2 min!

I'm sure you'll smash it next time!