I was really dreading this one, so decided to go out early so I didn’t overthink it. It’s definitely all about believing you can do it and in the end I LOVED it! It felt so liberating, my lungs opened up and legs just kept going. What an amazing feeling to have completed it 🤛🏻💪🏻😆🎉
Bring on Week 6! And good luck to all running today - enjoy!
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Dee2609
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Congratulations, it is a mental milestone, but it is actually the next run, W6R1, that catches out more people than any other run in the programme, so stay nice and slow.
You were 'really dreading' it (why???) but in the end you 'loved' it !
If there's another post that better illustrates that W5R3 , nay the whole of the C25K, is NOT a physical but a mental test, then you'd be hard-pressed to find it.
Well done! NOTHING else in the program should faze you now.
Thanks John_W. Haha I know I’m a numpty prone to exaggeration! Dreading it because 8 mins to 20 mins seemed impossible and was afraid I’d not manage it and give up. But I did it! And loved it. Hopefully others will be inspired by my numptiness 🤣😆
You didnt realise it, but you already had 157 mins (over 2.5 hours) of running in your legs before yesterday. Your body was MORE than ready for it More so than your brain!
I can’t go back and check on the app but I think w5r2 (16mins) has 3 or 5 mins walk between the 8 mins x2. The 20 min run is solid. I think that’s why 8 to 20 mins feels a big leap.
The 'leap' from 8 (SIXTEEN!) to 20 mins is intimidating on first glance, but when you understand that '8 minutes' is not really 8 minutes then it becomes easier to understand.
The point is to look at the TOTAL running time (in fact, the total workout time) to what you're subjecting your body to. By running for 2x 8 mins (W5R2) or 3+5+3+5 mins in Week 4, you're subjecting the body to 16 minutes of running every time - just broken up differently. The walking break really only helps you mentally.
Let's look at the total workout times, excluding warm-up and cool-down walks:
So you can see that the program has been getting you used to being on your feet for 20-21 mins from the very start, just with different levels of run/walk ratios. Clever eh?
By the time you come to W5R3, your body is more than ready.
But the brain ... well... that's a different matter.
John, 8 minutes is 8 minutes. Yep 8 + 8 is 16. Not disputing that. Basic arithmetic is not a mystery to me, I said before it’s the lack of walk. Anyhoo let’s leave it at that shall we. It’s done now, moving onward. 🙏
(1) by the time of W5R3, the *body* is a lot more ready (as it is for every run on the program) than the mind. It's only when you look at the numbers involved in a different way that you can see that all is not as it first looks.
(2) Week 4 is actually the big leap in the program - not many realise that. A leap from a total of 9 minutes of running (3 times of course) in Week 3 to a total of 16 minutes in Week4 - that's a 75% increase.
(3) I made a post about this a while back. You may wish to read or avoid it here:
Hey John, I must confess I’m not takin this really really scientifically or technically, I appreciate that your graphs and breakdowns are probably very informative. I’m just a gal who is tryin to be a bit more active. I guess we all do it in our own way. Au revoir.
It has been over 5 and a half years since I did this run (yep, I’m still running!😀🏃🏽♀️) and I still remember the buzz I felt from completing it!😊 Well done - and best of luck with the rest of the programme!🙂
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