Not getting any easier ….

[Runner6w]

I graduated on 30 May. On that day my run was 3.4k at 30 minutes . I’ve run 3 times a week since. Yesterday 3.3k same time and heart rate remains at max 88% of the time. Should it be this hard? I am 62.

[Ian5K Graduate]

You’re managing a lot more than 87% of 62 year olds - running three times a week, for 30 minutes each time.

I would continue to think about the duration of running, which is the basis of C25k despite its name, rather than the distance you run. The same advice as before, run slowly, not too hard, and steadily increase the time out running - say, 32 minutes, 35 minutes and so on. Strength and stamina will come and then in a couple of months of that go back to 30 minutes and see how far you go. I expect you’ll see an improvement on 3.4 km.

If it’s possible, try to vary the route. I think this helps motivation.

[Jools2020 Graduate]

I hear you! During my consolidation runs I was busting a gut trying to get faster, so much so that I almost gave up running. All my gazelle-like running buddies were getting amazing times for their 5Ks and left me standing!

It’s not about speed, it’s about stamina. Some people seem to be able to do both at the same time, but I wasn’t one of them!

I agree with Ian5K. Run somewhere new to explore! Shelve all thoughts of distance; focus on time spent running. Take in your surroundings. Slow down a bit! When you’re ready, start to gradually increase the time spent running on one of your runs. Listen to your body and don’t increase too much at once. Ignore the distance covered for a while, it’s irrelevant. The first time I ran for 60 minutes I wasn’t even out of breath, but I covered less than 6K on that run. It was slow, but I’ll never forget it. I discovered I couldn’t do fast at that time, but I was excellent at slow! I could feel my endurance improving.

Eventually, you’ll get faster, but this way you’ll enjoy the journey more 😊

Oh, I’m 67.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate in reply to Jools2020]

... and you rock! x

[Jools2020 Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

Haha, I may have the occasional day when I rock! Thanks Oldfloss 😊👍

[Thommo23 Graduate]

You're stamina will naturally improve over time. I used hills to speed things along - if you can (eventually) run 2K up a hill your flat running feels a lot easier!

[Runner6w Graduate in reply to Thommo23]

Thank you so much Ian Jools and Thommo! That’s so encouraging. I do love running even tho it’s hard and will persevere. I am very off road and lots of steep and this week bog too! I did misread my watch and continue for 40 minutes last week and didn’t really notice. I think it’s the watch that I need to ….not watch. Thanks again All

[MeganLloyd]

Perhaps you need to reset your running watch to accurately reflect your maximum heart rate rather than some random 'average'. When I did this I was pleased to find that I was actually running at medium and low exertion, rather than full pelt.This meant that I relaxed and enjoyed my running and went faster (well a bit faster)

🤣

[Runner6w Graduate in reply to MeganLloyd]

Thanks Megan. It was right for my age but I’ve added a resting heart rate. See if that makes a difference.

[nowster Graduate in reply to Runner6w]

What's the highest your HR has shown up on the watch? Add another 10, and feed that in as your max HR.

As long as you weren't feeling faint or as if your heart was about to jump out of your chest at the time, even that number will probably be an underestimate.

The age-based formulae are notorious for being wrong for a lot of people.

[Tasha99 Graduate]

Slow down!

Google slow down to speed up.

[Runner6w Graduate in reply to Tasha99]

Ah. Ok I did that and it suggests I keep to 126bpm for 80% of time. So will try walk/run combo. Thank you Tasha.

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to Runner6w]

Google 80/20 running 👌🏽

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

To get faster, run slower... the more your run the, the more it all evolves. Well done to you though!

You are still a fairly new runner so, take it steady. Let the new running legs and the new running body, get used to it all.

Mix the runs up, shorter, medium and those lovely relaxed long slow, see where I get to, runs which build up your strength and your stamina.

As others suggest, change routes, find new locations of possible and do make sure also that you continue some strength and stamina work on your rest days, that is so important, especially but not exclusively, for us , more seasoned runners, ( I am 71, started Couch at 65).

Take a peek at the great ideas on the Strength and Flex forum. Lots to work on there, if you look at the pinned posts

Here is one linked to me

healthunlocked.com/strength...

[Runner6w Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

Thx Old Floss. I will have a look. 🥰

[Raisemeup Graduate]

I found an improvement came after many months of feeling stuck by running 2 x5k and walking one 5k each week. I just wanted to see if I could stop the post run aches I felt all the time when running 3 times a week regularly. It seems to work for me as it feels as if my body appreciates less continuous demand being made on it, and when I run am able to get to 60 mins reasonably reliably, although slowly. So although 3 runs a week may be the ideal, substituting one for a 5k walk has been the key to 60 mins for me. How to get to an actual 10k? Not sure yet, but I'm working on it!I'm also in my late 60s.

Best wishes ☺️

[Runner6w Graduate in reply to Raisemeup]

Many thanks R. Yes. I will mix up run/walk! Thanks for encouragement. 😀

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate]

By the time I finished C25K I had covered 5k a couple of times, if you include all the warm up walking, so decided to just try and do 5k at a run to see if I could. It wasn't that much of a stretch and was a huge boost to realise I could do it.

I'm 63 and a bit nerdy so treated myself to a Garmin watch and downloaded Nike Run Club. I hate being told what to do but I've now done a couple of the guided runs and thoroughly enjoyed them (guided 5k and 45 minute run). I thought it would be a shouty geezer telling me to hurry up, quite the opposite.

I managed to get my heart rate showing on the Garmin today and every time it went over 150 I slowed down (until the end when I just went for it!).

From reading this page it seems it's more important to feel comfortable than what the numbers say, so every so often I'll just check by saying, 'I can get to the end of this sentence on one breath.' Today I also tried saying, 'This is easy' out loud. Strangely it seemed to work and I seemed to run a lot more efficiently!

Good luck

[Runner6w Graduate in reply to Yesletsgo]

Many thx OBK. I will keep going. Super helpful!

[backintime Graduate]

I remember my 9th consolidation run actually feeling good, the first run where I felt like I could do this running stuff - I've never been stuck on time, I prefer duration and distance. I'm never going to win a race on speed, but I discovered I could go a long time at a slow steady pace. As I'm doing this for "fun", I may as well do what I enjoy and occasionally push outside of my comfort zone with an attempt at a speed run or something.

[Chris--B Graduate]

I am 60 and have done 5 runs since graduating (for the second time). I am doing 5k in around 32 mins. My HR reached 170 at the end of my first 5k. I am now monitoring my HR and trying to slow down if it gets to 150 and at my last run the max was 164 so heading in the right direction but the average was still 149 down from 156. Although I am slowing down the overall time does not increase that much. The split times are just more even.The problem I seem to have is that slowing my running down to what is probably the same speed as my walk does not seem to drop my HR that much but my hips and back seem to hurt which eases if I speed up slightly.

I have done a lot of reading on max heart rate calculations ( and there appear to be quite a few on them) and they all are based on 'the average person' and there are tolerances of up to +/- 20% or +/- 20 bpm depending on the calculation used. To further complicate issues, some say that the MHR is the max possible, others say its the max before it is dangerous. None seem to differentiate between elite athletes and couch potatoes.

My conclusion is that to lower it is good and maintaining it at a very high rate is probably bad but as everyone is different the actual rate for you is probably difficult to obtain.

If I didnt have a fitbit I would have no idea that my HR was that high as I dont appear to have any physical signs.

[nowster Graduate in reply to Chris--B]

Indeed. If I followed the default settings, my max HR would be 168, but based on experience my watch is set to 195.

I've hit 185 a few times during hard runs, and I didn't keel over gasping for breath, so I know that's not an unreasonable number.

[Chris--B Graduate]

At the moment I am stopping at 5k with the final 5 minutes up hill with an increase in gradient just before I finish which I can see is the point where my HR peaks. I am sure I could do more, particularly if I was being chased by lion or something (maybe even just a man eating snail) so like you, dont think I am completely done for at that point.