W5R3 - What a great feeling of achievement.

[mwoody46]

So yesterday I did the seemingly impossible, I ran for 20mins straight. I must admit that it was (for me) a mind over matter thing. Before the run I was not convinced I could do it. 5mins in I also doubted myself. But once I got to 10mins, I thought, maybe I can do 15. Once I had hit the 15min mark there was no way I was giving up, despite being exhausted.

Looking at my stats I ran the first 10mins slower than the last. This wasn’t a conscious decision, other than to start slow, I had no intention to speed up, and hadn’t realised I had. Thinking about it more, the music I started with was slower, so maybe that is a tip for others. Choose slower music, if you listen whilst running.

Anyway, I was over the moon that I did it, and now can’t wait to move on. I’m having a week off this week as I’m now away skiing, but I said to myself I would have a week off only if I achieved the 20mins.

Looking forward to starting week 6.

Good luck everyone, and for those facing run 3 of week 5, just try to tell yourself you can do it. When I started this I really was starting from ‘the couch’ and found week 1 run 1 really hard. It is amazing to think what I have now achieved. So just keep telling yourself that you can do it too!

[Instructor57 Graduate]

Very well done on completing one of the most rewarding weeks of the program!And starting off slower is the key and will serve you well on the future continuous runs !

Infact bear this in mind even with the first 2 runs of week 6.

Many set off too fast on these as they now feel invincible.

Enjoy the skiing and the rest of the program!

[mwoody46 in reply to Instructor57]

Thank you for your support and advice. I will certainly make sure I start slower on the future runs.

[Tigress39]

I did the whole couch 25 k two years ago, and remember that training very well. As you say, its mind over matter. At first you think you will surely die if you run that long 🤣. Then something magical happens and you just focus on each extra minute or five .in my case it was just going to the end of the ing.and the next ine, and the next one...a song at the time. After last year's health problems,surgery and putting on lots of weight im baci, and just finished week 1. Well done you, looking forward to reaching your level🙂

[mwoody46 in reply to Tigress39]

Thanks for your message. Good luck in your own journey. You have done it once, so I’m sure you can definitely do it again. Good luck.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Congratulations to you mwoody46 on completing run 3 of week 5, that is a milestone run with C25K, you ran that in what we call negative splits, that's when a runner runs the second half of a run quicker than the first, onwards and upwards to week 6 run 1 but be careful about that run and the 2nd one as well as they catch out runners with a few walking breaks after the non stop 20 minutes of W5R3 which you have just ran, run 3 of week 6 and from then on are all continuous runs.

[GTFC Graduate]

Love posts like this. Awesome achievement 👏👏👏

[SkiMonday Graduate]

Great progress there. Starting slow definitely helps.

Going off what’s on my playlist, I think my running’s progressing well!