New Here

[BlackCountryLee]

Hi everyone. New to the forum but not to C25K. I have just one run left which I will do this Friday (W9R2 done in the lashing rain this morning 😀). Doing 2.6 miles in the 30 minutes. Any tips on building that up the extra half a mile to hit 5k over the coming weeks?

[Instructor57 Graduate]

Welcome to the forum and well done on your progress .I really wouldn't worry about the 5k , it will come soon anyway .

What's more important for your progress is that you are running at a conversational pace.

After completing the program spent a few weeks consolidating those 30 minute runs and then maybe extending one of them by a couple of minutes or so .

Also you may find this FAQ post usefull.

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

Enjoy week 9 run 3 !

[BlackCountryLee Graduate in reply to Instructor57]

Thanks for the advice and kind words. I will take a look at the links. Consolidating the time sounds like a great plan

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome and congratulations on your progress.

As well as the guide to post C25k running linked to by Instructor57 you may find browsing through the other FAQ Posts here healthunlocked.com/couchto5... which cover a range of topics, including how to get faster.

Only a small proportion of graduates from this forum who responded to a poll, managed 5k in 30 minutes by graduation healthunlocked.com/couchto5....

Graduation requirements are that you complete three thirty minute runs, regardless of distance.

Keep running, keep smiling.

[BlackCountryLee Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks for the links and advice. Will take a look!

[nowster Graduate]

The goal of the programme is 30 minutes of continuous running, not 5km. Do not worry if you're not covering the distance. Many here have never done 5km in half an hour (even many years after graduating C25K) but that's never a problem.

If you want to reach 5km, get yourself used to running for 30 minutes first for a few weeks, then gradually lengthen your runs bit by bit.

Some of us have pushed to cover that distance in our graduation run and have regretted it through the subsequent period of injury.

[BlackCountryLee Graduate in reply to nowster]

Yeah, consolidating the 30 minute runs seems to the consensus so that’s what I’m going to do. I never expected to be able to run 5k in 30 by the way, just wanted some input on a plan to get up to that distance. The forum has been a great help. thank you

[MissUnderstanding Administrator On a break Graduate in reply to BlackCountryLee]

Congratulations on nearly graduating! Another option for getting to 5k could be to look at the time based magic plan over on bridge to 10k. That’s officially to get from 5k to 10k but there’s no reason why you couldn’t follow the timings for your runs to extend your distance (once you’ve finished consolidating). Who knows, you might love the longer runs and end up all the way to 10k! I found it much, much easier getting from running 30minutes to 60 minutes than from 0mins to 30 minutes. You’ve already got skills in adjusting your pace and slowing down as needed to enable you to go longer to cover the longer distance.

Really good luck with whatever comes next for you.

healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...

[BlackCountryLee Graduate in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Thanks so much for the kind words and advice. I’ve seen the magic plan mentioned a lot I will certainly take a look!