After months of lurking I’m finally posting. It’s taken 11 weeks to get here due to work commitments getting in the way a couple of times, but my only run left is my graduation run which I aim to do on Monday.
The programme is amazing! I won’t be running 5k on Monday, but if I can match today’s run I will make 4.26 km 👍
But I’m nervous! Firstly because I would love to go further and faster than today but worry I’ll burn out early and not finish!
Secondly because what’s next? I don’t want to think about 10k as it’s too much time commitment before work. But I’d like to keep running for at least 30 minutes and I’d like to run 5k. I don’t want to keep hearing how I’ve made it to week 9 by repeating this weeks podcast if I’ve gone beyond that point, but I would really miss having someone tell me when I’ve reached 5 min, half way, have 5 min left and then can stop running. What have other graduates done? I keep reading the term “consolidation” - what’s involved with that?
Written by
IceFae
Graduate
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Welcome to the forum and well done on your progress.
When you announce your graduation I will send you a link to a guide to post C25k running.
If you cannot wait, it is sitting in the FAQ Posts, which you will find in the Pinned Posts.
Consolidation is simply easing back on the weekly increase in demand that you have endured during C25K and just running for thirty minutes for a while until that becomes totally comfortable before pushing for greater duration or speed, which helps avoid burnout or injury.
There is a monthly Consolidation Club post healthunlocked.com/couchto5... where new graduates, who often struggle with motivation, can talk about their plans and get advice as well as see what others are doing.
Is there a podcast available that can keep a check of the timing? I find that really useful, but don’t want to keep re listening to a C25k week 9 one of possible!
I use Strava - the free version - and set its audio cues to tell me how far I’ve run every 0.5km, the time spent running and the average pace. The pace is very useful for duration running because it tells me if I’m going at it too fast.
The cues can be set for km or miles if you prefer.
It works with a music app in the same way as the C25k does, cutting in on the music to inform you of your progress.
I imagine the other activity apps do the same sort of thing.
If using Strava, the cue settings appear in the top left corner of the screen only after you click “record”, but before you click “start”.
Well done, you're on the brink of graduating and it's a great feeling when you do! I just kept running for 30 mins 3 x a week for a while. After a couple of weeks I stopped using Laura to keep me going. I did buy myself a running watch, which I've set to go off every 5 mins, so that keeps me aware of how long I've been going. I'm following JuJu's plan to get me running for an hour and then I'm going to go for the 10k. Her plan involves 2 short runs and 1 long run each week - so ideal if your working.
I don’t have a watch at the moment as use my phone, which sadly in an Apple, but thanks for the ideas 🤣. I use Alexa for my kitchen timers although have some sand egg timers to teach my toddler how long “in a minute” is 🤣
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Week 9 completed but slow!!!
Week 9 Run 3 Completed! 
Week 9 Completed! Graduated! 🏆🏆🏆
Can’t complete a whole session of week 1!
Week 9 Run 3- completed✅
