Evening all! I've noticed a few people on here saying they repeated a week or particular run because they couldn't do it & I'm just wondering wether that means I should be repeating runs too. I'm just about to start week 5 and never abandoned any of my week 4 runs but did have a couple of occasions where I was meant to be running but had to walk for 30-60 seconds to get my breath. Am I best repeating another week 4 run until I'm absolutely spot on? Or just go straight in to week 5? I do tend to add on another minute or two of running at the end to make up for the minutes I walked but I'm aware that that isn't helpful in improving my stamina at running non-stop for length of time.
Hope this makes sense?!
Written by
Piratelover
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
If you feel you completed the task fully, move on.
If you have doubts, it is wiser to repeat the run, bearing in mind that this is a training plan designed to build stamina, not a check list exercise to tick off the workouts.
I sometimes just tick over on a particular run, continuing at the same level for a couple extra runs then move up to the next level when I feel comfortable. I won't complete the whole program in 9 weeks, it will take longer, but thats fine.
Repeating a session if you completed says "I don't actually believe that this is the right programme, they haven't put enough repetitions in"... but so long as you keep getting out there, it all builds habit and fitness and eventually you leave all that behind so if people are insistent that they can't not do extra runs then they may as well get on with it and good luck to them whether it is unnecessary or not.
Repeating a session if you did not maintain a running motion throughout a run section and did not maintain a walking motion throughout a walk section is another matter. As @IannodatTruffe says, it is really up to you and it depends what you are looking to achieve. If you share the goals of the programme ie learning to run continuously for 30 minutes sustainably then the best way is to follow the programme. Now there are countless reasons why there might be a teeny break... some of which might give you a sneaky breather... eg doing up your shoelaces (a jolly good idea), picking up your dog poo, tripping up even... my feeling is that those are OK. However, the very reason you give for taking that break says that you and your body haven't 'learned' what you need to about pacing and breathing.
I had an infamous battle with Week 1 but have no regrets about my approach that if I walked in a run section then I walked the rest of the session and then repeated that session afresh another day. This helped build up an attitude of sustaining the run being the priority and learning tactics to do so - slower pace, smaller steps, long breath out etc. You see the progress so beautifully rather than starting again.
You are on the cusp of the big time as it were, so it may well be a good investment to try out strategies to sustain a run section on another week 4 session.
Maybe just repeat one of the week runs and try going a little bit slower, adjusting your pace and making your steps a bit shorter. See if that makes a difference and then you can move on with a better understanding about what works best for your own pace/stride length. Good luck.
Thanks for all the replies everyone. I did read the intro thread but didn't get through all of the posts in there so sorry if I'm asking a question that's already been answered. I see W5R1 is 3 sets of running for 5 minutes so I'm planning on starting W5 and maybe just repeating run 1 a couple of times. I had no issue with running 3 mins & MOST of the time I did run the 5 mins fine but think I should probably get comfortable with it before I'm expected to do the 8 minute run.
A bit of background first. I'm 57, stopped smoking two and a half years ago after 40ish years and if you believe all the graphs and charts I'm about 30lb overweight; 5'10, 192lb. and at my last 5 yearly health check I was told I wasn't doing enough vigorous exercise, plenty of walking but nothing getting the heart pumping.
I came across this program and thought it sounded ideal. Really chuffed when I got through week 1 as I haven't ran since my school days and I wasn't that keen on it then. I failed week 2 run 1, probably because I was running too fast, so went back to week 1 and stayed there for four weeks. I moved on because I found that I wasn't pushing myself anymore, week 1 had become the norm.
I have repeated just about every week several times so far since; I started in June and I'm banging away at week 5 run 1 at the moment. I’ve sorted out my pace and on week 4 my breathing started to settle down within about thirty seconds of starting. I'm finding week 5 a bit of a toughie, it's a lot of progress over three different runs. I managed run 2 but struggled so I'm back to run 1 for a while.
I'm going to continue with my version of the program, A 30 minute run is still the goal but for me that will be a by-product of getting a proper bit of exercise three times a week and the program is the reason I get up at 5.30am and run in the dark. I'll be glad when spring arrives but I do like the cool mornings. In short, I'm doing what works for me, when it gets too easy I move on. The program gives me targets. Good luck.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Good runs, bad runs
Repeating c25k
Weeks 6 and 7 - I've run for 25 minutes
Holiday Runs
