I’ll be 75 in December and I’ve just completed couch25k. 😀. Who knew I could run for 30 minutes, well I can now. Not sure what to do now though. After 30 minutes I’ve just ran 3.5 k and would like to do the park run. Should I just keep adding say, 5 mins 3 times a week until I can run 5 k ? I’m not a fast runner and am happy just plodding along at my speed . I would appreciate some advice. Thank you .
Jennifer.
Well done you! You can do Parkrun whenever you feel like it. You don't have to run the whole 5k, many people don't. I'm very slow but just do it for my own joy and satisfaction. Do some consolidation runs now and take it easy. Just be proud of what you have achieved so far.
🍏Congratulations!!! 🙌 Incredible effort. You will be on a high for days after completing this!! I will add a link to consolidation which is your next step! Don’t forget to claim your shiny new badge too!
healthunlocked.com/couchto5...
Can I also flag up the Graduates’ chat thread?
There’s one running here and there’ll be a new one tomorrow. Lots of post-graduation tips and chat there….
Congratulations! First thing? Massive celebrations. Drop a post on this thread here and you might have the honour of being the final graduate of September….
healthunlocked.com/couchto5...
There are loads of options for what to do next. Since you’ve mentioned increasing all three runs by 5 mins a week, I’ll direct you to this thread where the poster did that and struggled. That’s actually quite a big increase. Ideally you want to stay within 10% max each week and it’s often a better plan to only increase one run-that gives a nice pattern of two shorter runs and a longer one each week. There’s lots of great advice on that thread about what to do instead that you might find useful, including some plans for building to 5k if you’d like to do that. It’s a good idea to stay at 30 minutes max for a little while before pushing onwards though to let your body adjust. You can mix up your routes, your paces, try hills, have fun!
healthunlocked.com/couchto5...
Come back with any questions!
Thank you for your advice. That makes sense to me. Slow and steady as they say. I’m loving every minute . Still can’t quite believe I can now call myself a runner at the age of 74 !
I’ve just printed off the plan you directed me too. That looks very doable. Thank you. I will report back to let you know how I’m doing.
Brilliant! Adapt to fit what works for you. Almost every time I’ve done a ready made plan? I’ve added in a few lighter weeks to stop me getting tired or burned out. That’s what the post graduation period can be for-to enjoy running without the pressure of increasing every week. It’s a great opportunity to have some fun!
Can’t wait to hear what you get up to!
Congratulations on completing C25K!
Hi there....and mega congratulations! Fantastic achievement. I'm coming up for my 70th birthday in a couple of weeks and am running almost identically to you, having graduated two months ago. I've been asking myself exactly the same questions...and the community has been fantastically helpful. From my personal experience, I'd recommend a few weeks of consolidation runs while you a) bask in your achievements and b) decide how you want to take it on in future. One mistake I made was to continue with monolithic 30-min runs every other day...without the challenge of the Programme I started getting bored...and my knees starting aching (which had never happened during the Programme.) So, following advice I now mix things up a bit, ring the changes in style, duration and speed (slow...or slower...with occasional short faster bursts)...and I've dropped down to running every third day rather than every second. Knees have stopped complaining. Sometimes I run 40 minutes...other times 20, but one thing I'm not changing (for the foreseeable future anyway) is the slow enjoyable speed - same as you 30 mins 3.5k. Why spoil a good feeling? Good luck .
Well done to you too. Thanks for the advice. After reading my replies I’m definitely going to do some consolation runs and keep enjoying what I’m doing. I’m sure I’ll know when I’m ready to move on to my next goal. I really want to do park run and be able to run all the way round . 😀
Me too! There's a weekly park run in the park opposite my house but I don't want to join until I can run all the way. Probably a silly self-imposed threshold which is a long way off....but something to work towards. You've just reminded me....there's also a less formal run on Sundays....maybe I'll start there and build up!
Congratulations! It's just great when you find your body still obliging you by allowing you to run in your 7th decade or even later. We don't have to start sitting in an armchair, thinking of what was, rather than what still is exciting in life. Obviously, we need to look after our bodies at any age and especially later in life, but the physical and mental rewards are more than worth it. This is good news for younger runners too, the more the older runners keep going, the more the time to stop is pushed further away - pioneering path finding I call it! Best wishes ☺️
congrats! You are a great inspiration for me!
Congratulations on graduating C25K! Now you can really start having fun with your running.
If you liked being guided on what to do when you were using the C25K app you might like trying some guided runs. I highly recommend the Nike Running Club (NRC) app, there are a lot of fans here. It's free, you don't need to buy Nike stuff to use it and there are lots and lots of different runs on there.
You can choose whether you want to run for a specific time or for a distance, as well as intervals, fartleks, speed runs etc for once you feel a bit more confident. The coaches give a ton of good advice and you'll learn a lot about how to enjoy your run and improve your technique.
They don't ask you to run at a given speed (thank goodness), instead asking you to give an effort, like 5/10, 8/10 etc. This is great for someone like me - older, short, female, not particularly athletic and a bit overweight.
When I was starting I really enjoyed the Mindfulness runs (still do). As has been said above, you need to consolidate the progress you have made to date and NRC should stop you getting bored doing the same old thing over and over again.
Good luck and happy running!
I did it! I Graduated! 🎉👩🏻🎓🎉
I actually did it!
10k, I did it!
I did it!!! I can’t quite believe it :)
Did extra tonight. Was it foolish? Should I do not do it again? 
