W8R2 done! Finally back out there!

[Bloomsbury22]

So three rest days later, after my comedy wipe-out in the shower, finally back out and completed W8R2. And back feels fine! Finally also remembered to turn on Strava, although began it at the beginning of my walk, as opposed to the run, so still trying to figure out the analysis and what it all means. Also trying to figure out if there is any sort of gage of what speed one would be aiming for when one did get to 5k? So far this programme I have just been concentrating on running the time, not on my speed. And I will continue to focus on that, and not going so fast that I cannot complete a run, or injure myself. I can work on speed when I can continuously complete 30 minutes. I was just curious, that's all. Also listened to a podcast instead of music for the first time, and that was interesting. While I found it was great from distracting from the time (I have become very good at the maths about how long a song is and how many songs to get to point X etc...), I did find I missed the extra oomph that a really good song can give you when you are flagging. Hmmm. Jury is still out for me. But nice to change it up a bit.

[Deetermined Graduate]

Welcome back! It's great that you gave yourself as many rest days as you needed, there is no point in running too early again and risking an injury which might take longer to heal then.

Regarding speed: I only track the actual running time, i.e. I start my running app (Adidas Running aka Runtastic) at the end of the warm up walk and stop it when I start the cool down walk. If someone aimed to run 5k in 30 minutes they would have to run an average pace of 10 km (6.2 mi) per hour if I am not mistaken. However, from reading quite a bit in this forum I get the impression that most people do not actually run 5k when completing C25k. I am far away from it (when I run at the top end of my comfort zone I reach an average pace of 7 km/ hour) and plan to just try to maintain running for 30 minutes for several weeks and to slowly extend the duration of my runs until I can run 5k. There is no rush in reaching that; the most important thing is that we go out there and enjoy the progress we have made/ still make. 😃

[Bloomsbury22 Graduate in reply to Deetermined]

Oh, don't worry, I'm not actually trying to up my pace, I am much more concerned with getting to 30 minutes in one piece and when can consistently run 30 minutes I will work on getting faster then. I was just curious as was first time I had ever recorded a run on Strava, as opposed to just looking at my iPhone health data after. I was pretty happy, and must admit surprised, to see that my pace is pretty consistent, from start to finish. At this rate it would probably take me 45 minutes to complete a 5k! But that's fine with me. I am thrilled to be running 28 minutes without a break. I definitely think I could have done a couple more minutes today.

[SweatyHettie Graduate]

Glad you are recovered from your comedy capers😜

As Deetermined rightly says most people don’t hit 5K in 30 mins ( I think it’s about 10% who reach 5K by the end of the programme) so you may want to think about slowly increasing your time post- grad rather than speed. I did 5K in 40 mins on Saturday but I’m not ready to do that every run yet, so I went back to a 32 min run this morning

You can choose what you want to do after graduation which is so close now! 🏁

[Bloomsbury22 Graduate in reply to SweatyHettie]

Thank you! I am feeling sooooo much better. Don't worry, as per my response to Deetermined, I'm not focussing on anything other than getting to 30 minutes, and only when I can consistently run that length of time will I work on getting faster, which I assume will happen quite naturally anyway.

[liz163]

Wooo well done 👏👏 did make me chuckle about the song/ distance calculations .. I do that too with music.. funny how we do things like that! Nearly there now!!! 😊