I am doing c25km for the third time in 6 years as injuries and work etc have caused breaks in my running. I did run 1 of week 6 today and don’t understand why 3 shorter runs seemed harder than the 20 minute run of at the end of week 5. Any advice/views?
Thanks
Lindy
Catches a lot of people out that run does. Certainly did me. I’m no expert but I think it’s 95% psychological. We think we are world beaters after the 20 minutes at the end of week 5 and a bit of subconscious complacency probably creeps in. Promise you will ace the next two though. Keep going 👍🏻😊
Exactly... as our dear friend IannodaTruffe once said, famously, " 20 minutes, does not a runner, make ". 
If you want a bit of encouragement that you’re not alone, look at what the admin team try and say to people finishing week 5 on a glorious high! Week 6 catches people out, I think mainly for the reason BlackCountryLee has said. We see intervals again, think it will be easy and go off a bit fast. That’s certainly what I did!
It’s a good idea to plan to take the next one extra steadily. You’ll be absolutely fine. We all get runs that don’t go the way we want them to. I’ve always learnt more from the hard ones than the easy ones!
Good luck for run 2! 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
Hi LindySearle , I agree with the others that you might well have gone off too fast. Also, don't forget that W6R1 has you moving for longer: it's 34 minutes overall, W5R3 is 30.
Enjoy the rest of C25K!
I think it's because running is ALWAYS horrible to start with (that's my experience anyway) 🤣 Then you sort of break through a barrier and feel like you could just keep going. Back when I was running longer and faster than I can at the moment, I always found the first 10 minutes or so awful, then kind of settled into it, and if I had to stop for a walking interval for any reason, I then found it much harder to start up again.
It is most definitely not just you! It’s even got a name-the toxic ten. Knowledge is most definitely power! Once I knew about it, I knew it would get better and it made it so much easier to keep going until it passed. I totally relate to the walking interval disrupting your rhythm!
Oh, I'm glad it's not just me! Those minutes at the start are just horrible 🤮
You might find this an interesting read…
like you I also wrote a post on this same issue. I was feeling on a high and positive about the programme after week 5 run 3, but then bam! What on earth is week 6 run 1 all about? I found myself out of breath, struggling to finish those runs. I thought it would be easy after the No break run and I think that’s where the problem lies. It was on this week I was told by amazing instructor on here IannodaTruffe to slow down and make sure I can talk at a comfortable pace while I’m running. I tried it on my next run, (tried singing along to my music) and found I needed to reign it in and make myself go slower - it’s been the best piece of advice I’ve had. I found I enjoyed the next two runs (enjoyed running 😉 something I never thought would happen). Good luck!
Week 6 Run 1. Why was that so horrible???
Week 6 Run 1 Complete !!!!! (Early)
Run 1 of week 6.....why did I find it so hard?
Week 6 run 1 - interesting
