Advice please 🙂

[Never_too_old]

Hi guys,

I want to improve my running speed, I'm very slow. My husband always runs with me and never complains but I know he would enjoy it more if we could jog a little faster. I can do the 30 minutes none stop and don't want to loose this but at this point I can't speed up, I've tried but end up not being able to reach 30 mins.

I've started couch to 5k w1 but running faster, at present I can manage the 8x1 minutes!

My questions are,

Should I still leave a days recovery in between?

Can I alternate between 30 minutes and the shorter faster runs without loosing any fitness?

I've looked at other methods, fartlek and the bridge to 10k but at this point a minute is about right for me.

I should say I completed c25k 6 weeks ago and continue to run 3 to 4 times per week.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[dory950 Graduate]

Hi there you could try increasing your run time by 10% per week and not worry too much about getting faster at the moment. By increasing distance you will get stronger and this will naturally lead to an increase in speed over time . I would take the rest days from running, you can always walk on those days if you want to keep active . Maybe also try a park run on a Saturday great fun and that may give you the drive to try and beat your times. Good luck and have fun

[Never_too_old Graduate in reply to dory950]

Thanks for replying, I can't yet do more than 30 minutes, that's why I started the c25k w1 but faster to hopefully increase my strength and stamina. Park runs are out of my league just now 🤭 I have asthma and I'm in the process of having my meds reduced while being monitored by my asthma nurse. 🙂

[dory950 Graduate in reply to Never_too_old]

Park run is for everyone you can walk the whole thing if you want . Once you are all sorted with your meds give it a try one day

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

To build stamina, strength and endurance you need to spend 80% of your running time at an easy conversational pace. Only work on speed with intervals or fartlek for the remainder.

Speed develops with strength and technique which only come as you get more miles on your legs..........you are still a very, very new graduate and will require patience.

My all time 5k pb came three years after graduation and was less than 3 minutes faster than my graduation time. By that time I was running between 20 to 30k every week.

As stated in the guide to post C25K running, it is not recommended for new runners to run on consecutive days until they have an absolute minimum of six months regular running on their legs. Older runners (over 40) in particular need to be extra cautious about increasing training load and allowing adequate recovery time to avoid injury.

[Never_too_old Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Sorry if this is a stupid question. Does your reply mean that what I'm doing (30 mins slow then my next run 8x1 minutes faster) won't work?

[IannodaTruffe Mentor in reply to Never_too_old]

It may well work, but it is probably not the optimal way to develop speed.

Say your running cycle is four runs, then only one of those should be working on speed.

[Never_too_old Graduate]

Thanks, that's what I will work with then.