I can't tell you how proud of myself I am. I pushed it a bit too much though and ended up outside of the cardio zone (per my fitbit) and into the peak zone. I took my nice 6.4 kph pace and pushed it to 7 kph for the last minute of my second 8 min jog.
I sing to the music while I run to keep me at a conversational speed, but I was feeling cocky 🤣. Going to dial it back for the third and final run of week five and just be humble that I WILL run for 20 minutes.
Are you on week 5? I love the idea of singing as you run. Keep it steady and work really hard avoid the temptation to go too fast. You don’t want an injury and you’ll develop faster by going slower.
The other thing to make sure of it taking a rest day between each run.
Really good luck for the next one. It’s a good one!
whoops, yes week five 😂
I’m sure no one noticed! 😉
Hi Punkmummy , well done on your progress. What MissUnderstanding said though - slowing down is crucial. Sometimes the challenge is in learning to take it a bit easier rather than pushing on! Enjoy the rest of the programme.
well done
for me, week 5 was one of the most enjoyable weeks of the program!
And remember.
'Running slowly makes faster runners'🙂
Enjoy
I do the exact same - singing under my breath (or at least quietly enough for the people at the bus stop not to hear when I go past) when I'm not running with the C25K group, really helps to keep the pace sensible/conversational.
Pedant point: 7 km/h is not a pace, it's a speed (distance per time). A pace is the reciprocal (time per distance). That's an 8:34/km pace. You'll see runners discussing pace more often than speed because it makes it easier to work out how long it'll take to run certain distances (eg. at that pace a 5km parkrun might take just short of 43 minutes). Across The Pond they tend to use mile-based paces which is very confusing.
That said, you really shouldn't be focusing on the figures at this stage. Go with what feels most comfortable.
Ideally, at the end of a run you should be thinking that you could have continued on for another few minutes.
Best of luck for the 20 minute run. You may not realise it, but you've already done the hardest bit of the whole programme by getting through Week 4.
You deserve to be very proud of yourself Punkmummy, well done 😀, take run 3 of week 5 slow and steady, it is the longest run so far on C25K, once you have completed that run it's only around 4 weeks until you graduate, as for singing during a run, wow
Well done, keep having fun.
To maximise your development as a runner your conversational pace needs to be one at which your sentences are ungasping.
This FAQ Post about breathing explains it all.healthunlocked.com/couchto5...
Keep running keep smiling.
I graduated last year and used it as a springboard (at the age - then - of 69) to take up squash after a 45 year gap! I didn't hugely enjoy running but the increased fitness and confidence C25K gave me allowed this extraordinary change in my whole outlook. One of the things that worried me during the programme was that I *always* went straight into peak as per my Fitbit and I just couldn't go slowly enough to get back into cardio when running outside.
The club also has a small gym with a treadmill, and I've taken up doing a gentle jog on that with my phone showing me my heart rate. It does go into peak (which is over 136, so not high by younger standards) but I feel completely fine at 140 (no breathlessness, able to chat just fine etc) so that's my regular routine now. I've been working with a personal trainer on core strength and weights too, and actually feel great, and confident that I'm not pushing myself beyond my limits. I suppose I'm saying that it's matter of finding what works for you. You're doing great, from the sound of it - C25K was the start, for me, of something absolutely life-changing.
Unless you've been tested for your real max heart rate all those preprogrammed HR zones are pretty useless. According to the basic calculations I should have exploded my heart early on in my running career 🤣 take them with a huge dose of salt and don't let them stop you doing whatever feels good 👍🏻 I ended up increasing my max HR in Garmin to way above the recommended for my "age" but it's much more accurate on the effort put in now.
Yes, I agree. I've been working with a personal trainer and we both agree that 136 is too low for me now, given my level of fitness. So it's definitely pretty arbitrary! If it goes over 150 I'm beginning to feel it though, so I try to keep it at about 140-145 unless I'm doing sprints on the static bike.
Well done Punkmummy ! I remember singing at the top of my lungs to Queen - it was such a good feeling. Best of luck with your 20 minute run, and take it nice and slowly 😊😊😊.
Hey PunkMummy, I also run that exact speed on the treadmill and I got to week 5 and I've got a back issue hoping that I don't lose it too quickly. I find going to 7kmph does start to exert a little bit. Apart from singing while running, what's the secret to a happy run? Fabulous work by the way and good to be cocky occasionally, it good for moral.
Completed week 5 Run 3
week 5 run 2
Week 5, Run 2 completed...
Week 5 Run 2 completed!
Week 5 completed 
