Week 6; Day 1 went well, but what about coming bad weather?

[Dontlikerunning]

Review of my Garmin trace shows a clear increase of speed during running sections - well, it shows more parts of the run sections show as red on the trace.This incremental training really does work!

We've snow coming over next rwo weeks, or so they say. Am determined to stick with the dsy about programme but am wary of running in too high wind, in wet snow, and certainly on ice of whatever colour. My fallback intention if things look too dodgy is to use a treadmill at the local gym. Can anyone suggest what settings to set the machine at?

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate]

Really glad you had a good run! You should be really proud of that! I bet you’ve got a massive smile.

One thing to remember about pace-the main aim of c25k is to build up how long you can run for and not how fast you can run. You might notice your pace creeps up over time (always nice!) but usually when you’re increasing your run time, that’s the key thing to focus on rather than also trying to get faster at the same time. You might even slow down as you go further and further. That’s something I’ve learnt long after c25k that I wish I knew at the time! Keep it conversational and you won’t go far wrong!

Have you ever used a treadmill before? If not, I’m sure someone at the gym can show you the basics. I’d aim to replicate what you’d do outdoors. The actual numbers on the machine are totally irrelevant. Use QuickStart (or similar) to get it moving and from there, you’ll be altering your speed up and down to maintain that pace where you’re able to speak out loud in full sentences without gasping. Warm up and down at brisk walking pace. Some people like to use a 1% incline to better simulate outdoor running. That’s up to you. The main thing is to keep it steady and have some great music/podcasts/distractions ready to make up for not being outdoors.

Treadmills are so useful when the weather gets tricky! Hope you enjoy your runs! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[nowster Graduate]

Some figures: 10km/hour (6min/km) is fast for a beginner. It equates to doing 5km in 30 min.

A brisk walk would probably be about 6km/hour (10min/km).

These will give you some figures to get your head around. You'll probably want to use speeds much slower than that. (eg. 7km/hour for jogging).

Also, you probably don't want to incline the treadmill to start with.

A MissUnderstanding says, ask the gym staff to show you the controls. Running on a treadmill is a different skill to running on a surface that doesn't move.

When I'm doing a short run (eg. 20 minutes) I'll naturally start faster than a much longer run (eg. 2 hours). My sprinting speed is nearly twice as fast as my Half Marathon speed.

I'll braving the weather. I haven't yet run on a treadmill. I have walked on one.

[Dontlikerunning Graduate in reply to nowster]

Thanks, I agree, a 30min 5k and 60 min10k would be amazing times for a true beginner, although age and prior fitness levels could impact that.

I would view finishing 5k in Week 9 exercise time ie 40 mins, including warm up/cool down walks, would be good. Anything sub 40 mins an excellent outcome.

I'll wait and see .... In the meantime it's interesting to see Garmin colours are starting to show longer periods in the Red and Orange zones. This incremental approach really does work.