How to run 5k!

[Veryan]

I graduated a couple of weeks ago and am using the podcasts now with Laura as I still need someone in my ear!! But my Fitbit ( not a real one) is saying I’m only running about 3.5 k. If I am using the step count surely I should be doing 5 K. Is my watch thing incorrect🤪 feeling frustrated!!!

[Bozsky Graduate]

i have been doing the same. and Strava has been telling me I'm not doing 5K either. but I have decided not to worry about it and just run for as long as I fancy. Seems my ideal run is 25 mins anyway, which definitely isnt 5K!

[Veryan Graduate in reply to Bozsky]

I’m sure your right but I would like to do it at least once😂

[Bozsky Graduate in reply to Veryan]

I did manage it for the graduation run, thankfully! Im still not really enjoying the running whilst I am doing it, but feel amazing afterwards, and am piling on the pounds during lockdown so am determined to keep going!

[Granspeed Graduate]

C25k gets you to half an hour of steady running. Very few of us made 5K in that time, especially at first. It all depends on so many factors other than time. I’ve been running more than a year and because I have a slow natural pace, 5K still takes me nearly 45 minutes. Just keep running at your comfortable pace for your half hour until you feel really happy with that. There’s a Consolidation Club on here that offers lots fb of suggestions. Have a look at the pinned posts for the latest from them. 😄 Enjoy your running. 👍

[Roxdog Graduate]

I think it's pretty common to achieve the distance you are running at this stage

Certainly when I graduated I was running about 3.7k. It doesn't matter, you are still building as a runner and you will run 5k at some point soon-ish, but I think it's important not to push to hard, too fast at this stage. Took me about a month post-graduation to run 5k. Most importantly, just keep going at the comfortable pace and enjoy it!

[MarkyD Graduate]

Your “FitBit” pedometer is simply counting your steps. The first error comes from the fact that it is on your wrist (it is very hard to detect footfall on a wrist-worn device). So it is probably wrong with your number of steps. Then to determine distance it will be guessing your stride length. By multiplying the number of steps by your stride length, it calculates the distance you’ve run. Since both the step count and your stride length are wrong, the distance that you’ve run will be wrong.

Simplest approach to sorting this out is to run a measured distance. Find and run your local parkrun route. That will be 5km and then you’ll know what 5km feels like, how long it takes you to run it in minutes, and importantly, what your pedometer records.

Running watches contain GPS receiver to get a more accurate measurement of distance travelled.