Hi, I started the program 5 weeks ago but accelerated to week 7 now...was feeling great so rather than doing one 25 minutes run did two back to back 25 minutes today with 5 minutes walk on between....feeling ok though muscles are aching a bit.....shoudl I just jump to a single non stop say 35 -40 minutes or keep doing the program and then repeating agin after 5 to 10 minutes walk...or should focus on the speed now rather than time...
Any advice please?
Personally I wouldn’t deviate from the plan, and you definitely need the rest day in between.
I agree stick to the plan otherwise you run the risk of injury- it’s tempting to do more if you feel ok but all the advice on here is not to do this.
Personally I’d stick to the plan, and make my focus not getting injured by doing too much too soon.
Stick to the programme. It’s worked for 1000s of people. But, essentially, it’s designed to significantly reduce the risk of injury. You’ve plenty of time to work on speed etc.
Please be cautious about your approach. I really recommend that you don't skip runs and you stick to the plan. Rest days are absolutely non-negotiable.
By accelerating through the plan and running on consecutive days you risk injury as the micro-tears that appear in your muscles when you exercise do not get a chance to heal. Eventually skipped runs and back-to-back run days will catch up with you and put you on the injury couch, then there will be no running at all. Generally only experienced runners who have many many miles on their running legs do daily runs.
How long have you been running for and before you started this when was the last time you ran?
I did c25k 3years ago...then was off running....now started 5wks ago... there was 2days gap between this and the previous run-)
So you´re effectively a beginner again. Do you know it takes 1-2 years of regular running for your body to become fully adapted to it? If you want to have many years of happy and enjoyable running, then I strongly suggest you respect the rest days that in the program. They are there for good reason.
It´s easy to get carried away thinking that it all feels very easy. Trust me... it´s the path to injury. Been there, done that. T-shirt etc.
Complete the program as proscribed, consolidate for a few months, then think about where you want take your running. I´would not even consider running on consecuative days until a minimum of 6 months from now.
Cheers
John
Hmm my husband tried doing things like that, as did my friends husband. Both ended up injured for several months. My husband has now restarted and is following the plan properly including rest days this time. My friend and I followed it, we had no problems. Don’t know about you, but is it a man thing 🥴 ? Really the programme works, you just have to follow it (it’s like a diet) 😉🤓
Testosterone rules .........through brute force and bloody minded ignorance............until ...........
Probably is a man thing, ha ha. Where I live generally the female cyclists dismount and walk over the foot bridge, most of the male cyclists ignore the signs and just ride over expecting any pedestrians on the FOOT bridge to just squash themselves in to the railings! (even now, with social distancing)
There are plenty of women who have something to prove, who will make all the same mistakes..............
Training plans are not tick box exercises, but are designed to build your stamina, strength and most importantly, your injury resistance.
The rest days in C25k are part and parcel of the plan. When you run, the impact creates microtears in your muscles, which repair and strengthen on your rest days, not while running. Without rest, repair and strengthening are compromised and injury risk increased.
We are all capable of doing way more than our bodies are conditioned to do, but not without increasing that injury risk. Sticking to gently progressive training plans is the safest way to push our limits, whilst gently increasing our resistance to injury.
Of course we are all different and start this at very differing levels of fitness, but many new runners totally underestimate the damage that can be done by not carefully following a gently progressive training plan. Ignorance can lead to injury.
This post was written basically about speed, healthunlocked.com/couchto5... but it is just as relevant to your case as it explains the basics of how our bodies develop as runners. Please read it and do follow the links to the posts from runners who admitted regretting doing too much too soon.
Take care........stick to a plan.
I just read your post and all the links and couldn’t agree more. I am one of many who pushed too hard and am now unable to run at all due to a knee injury. Yes I took each and every rest day, and followed the plan to the letter, but my knee was getting more and more sore each time. Did I take an extra rest day? No. Did I slow down? No. Did I stretch? No. Did I speed up in week 7 even though I had quite substantial knee pain? Yes. That was my final run, ending up with limping very slowly home. Clearly I was very stupid and had I run slower, and taken longer gaps between runs I would probably still be running now. Your advice is spot on and I just wish I had followed it!!
What’s the hurry. C25K is one of life’s good things to be savoured.
Follow the program. It works and if you’re finding it easy, then it’s more chance to enjoy it 😀
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