Week 5 HELP !!!!

[Raisintoast75]

I’m starting week 5 tonight and I’m really concerned about running for 20! Minutes !! From 8 to 20 seems like a massive leap ! Any advice or success stories most welcome 🙏

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

It is not a massive leap and W5 R3 is the shortest workout since W3

It is all explained here healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

You can do this.

[Jell6 Graduate]

Just take it slowly, week 4 was the biggest leap in total activity, and you have already done that! John_W recently posted a graph showing the increases.

You're ready for this 😊

[Hidden]

I remember when I was at this stage I thought the same thinking “no, no, no it’s too much of a jump” but honestly that’s just the negative self talk we have within ourselves..... take it slow and you’ll be fine.... don’t think about the how you’ll do it but think about why your doing C25K.... try keep hydrated today and think you can do it.

Good luck with tonight’s run and hopefully you’ll shock yourself 🏃🏻‍♀️💪🏼

[Hidden]

This run needs a mind over matter approach. W5r3 is actually the shortest run of week 5. Everything in the plan has prepared you for this run and, as long as you have completed all the runs so far, you are ready for this run. You will have a wonderful sense of achievement once this run is done. Good luck!😊

[Ercolino Graduate]

I felt the same and consciously slowed myself down and it was absolutely fine - in some ways easier than the stopping and starting you can do it! Let us know how you get on

[John_W Graduate]

You want success stories? Just browse this forum! Search for 'W5R3' - a fair few success stories just this week alone. There are more posts about W5R3 than any other run .

8 minutes??? Surely you mean 16??

But first, congrats on getting this far... and especially for getting through Week 4 - the most important week in my opinion. Do you realise that Week 4 was the hard bit? Week 4 sees the biggest jump in TOTAL running in the whole program from 9 minutes in Week 3 to a whopping 16 minutes! By the time you come to W5R3, you'll have 157 minutes of running under you belt. Surely enough to ready your body for a 20 minute jog!

W5R3 is a *mental* test, not a physical one. As ever with W5R3 worries... the body is ready but the mind is not! Yes, your body has been prepared for this... as it has for every run so far.

Instead of worrying about the length of individual running segments, think about the TOTAL amount of time you're running for.

W5R1 was a TOTAL of 15 minutes running. W5R2 was 16 minutes, so 20 minutes is perfectly doable, as *thousands* of users here will attest. Remember my mantra: every run you've done prepares you for the next one. It's very simple but true.

Here's something I wrote on W5R3:

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

and this:

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

As for how to approach it physically, have you tried Japanese Slow Running yet?

youtu.be/9L2b2khySLE(Not working as expected?)

Or look for "Quick steps: the running shuffle" on YouTube - also v helpful.

Just keep your JOG nice and conversational - easy pace, easy breathing.

Good luck! Not that you need it

John

[Raisintoast75 in reply to John_W]

Thanks 😊

[Raisintoast75 in reply to John_W]

Yeah I meant 8 minutes continuous but I see what you mean ! I’m sure I can do it like you say it’s a mental block and I’ve managed all the runs up till now ! Thanks for the advice 😊

[Stellarun Graduate]

Just trust in the plan. It works. It seems counter intuitive to just leap to 20 minutes but I was there also a few weeks ago and believe me once you’ve done that first 20 minute long run you won’t look back.

[Raisintoast75 in reply to Stellarun]

Thanks 😊