yes yes yes I’ve got there looking good , feeling Good

[Gentlydoesnt]

I can’t believe it I’ve done it the full course in the 9 weeks span, I even had a fox for company watch me run the last 100 metres and I did my best times so far average pace 6.03 per km. it feels so good to get up and face it was worried last night as my skins were throbbing but that’s all in the past now. It felt very emotional completing the course and I’m so glad I stuck to it and didn’t drop a single step throughout or shirk a run even in some terrible weather conditions.

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate]

I had a bit of a worry 15 mins in my right foot started to feel lighter than my left foot and it knocked me out of my rhythm a little and doubt started to creep in but I kept believing that I had done this twice before and it was my time so just go for it and I got there and feel great for it.

Total distance 5km in 30.13.

Splits

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate]

it feels great completing this through all the bad weather, rain for a lot of it storms etc , doubts in my mind that I could do it but I got there and did it. And that’s fine by me I’d like to thank all the good folks on here for pushing me on Richard / Mummy Bowles / Baggie thank you for inspiring me to do this and I have . Good luck to everyone else on this journey and thanks to Steve Cram for the commentary on the app it really is a great help and pushes you on when you may be feeling doubt.

[mummybowles Graduate]

You've absolutely smashed it, very well done ! You've stuck at it through some cold, dark, rainy, even snowy days. And to manage 5k in 30 minutes is a real achievement !! Keep up the great work with some consolidation runs and then onwards and upwards to 10k maybe ? Will enjoy seeing you progress further. Huge congratulations !!

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to mummybowles]

Thank you MB you really Inspired me to do it and I’m grateful for every piece of advice!.

And a Happy Christmas.

[mummybowles Graduate in reply to Gentlydoesnt]

Thank you. Happy Christmas !

[Annieapple Administrator Graduate]

🍏⭐️🤩🙌🥳 You have done it!!!!

Super congratulations 🥳

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to Annieapple]

thank you so much for been a great support I appreciate that very much

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate]

here’s the fox I saw it’s amazing what you see at such early hours it’s a different world at 5am

Small fox

[nowster Graduate]

I've never had a fox but I have had deer and plenty of grey squirrels.

That's a good pace too. Ever thought of adding a few hills into your runs? Round here the flattest route I can do has about 30m of elevation.

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to nowster]

Thanks for that I may consider doing something different now , I didn’t feel as good as on some of the others I’ve done but I thought last one try to get to 5 in 30 or below , if my foot hadn’t started to play up I’d probably of made it !!. But I’m happy with what I have managed thus far. Never had a feeling of one leg been more heavy than the other and I was thinking about that from 15 to 20 mins. It was oh no don’t say something is going to give out. I do suffer with sciatica a lot and had that last evening and was a bit worried in case it affected this run. Anyways that’s all in the past now!.

[Cmoi Graduate in reply to nowster]

Thanks for a positive mention of hills nowster .

Funnily enough Strava suggests my flattest route option, a 1.25k circuit, is also 30m elevation. Next flattest option is 1.85k and 40m. They're dog walks rather than runs though.

[nowster Graduate in reply to Cmoi]

I miscalculated this afternoon's long run and had to finish on a slope. My five minute warm up walk had 32m of climb and the final km was doing a big chunk of that hill a second time, 23m worth.

Why the miscalculation? It was bitterly cold, I'd been rained on, and I didn't want a long cool down walk as I knew I'd get chilled (in a bad way) if it lasted more than a few minutes. So I changed the route to move the finish point of the run closer to home. Except I overshot...

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to nowster]

some interesting pointers there

[nowster Graduate in reply to Gentlydoesnt]

It's reet hilly in the foothills of the Pennines. 😉

It was a 15km slow run. I had some time this afternoon as I'm off work.

It started with a five minute warm up walk up a hill. I still do the warm up walk from C25K, even though that was a few years ago now. The first section of running after that is the last of the hill. There's then a long gentle slope down to the motorway roundabout, then a flat bit, then down again to meet a clay path which climbs slowly up to the next town. There I got on the canal towpath, with long flat sections and the occasional downhill lock.

After getting soaked approaching one of the possible exits from the towpath, I took it and made a meandering route which took me closer to home quicker than the originally planned route would have. That way I could finish at about 13km if necessary. I didn't take the short cut but added on an extra loop. However that loop wasn't quite long enough...

I was taking it slow, with an average pace of 7'16"/km. In contrast yesterday I did a short run of 2 miles where my average pace was 5'40"/km.

Long slow runs seem to wake up the mitochondria more than short intense ones do, but it's good practice to do a mixture of run types. The advice often put about is that about three quarters of your runs should be done at an easy pace.

(Usual warning: don't do runs on consecutive days until you've been running regularly for at least six months. Rest days are essential.)

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to nowster]

Maybe I can come and have a day out trying this terrain with you one day anyone else fancy it !!

[nowster Graduate in reply to Gentlydoesnt]

There are many parkruns in this area, some more challenging than others.

[Baggieboy61 Graduate]

Congratulations.

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to Baggieboy61]

Thanks your posts have really helped me to complete this , very inspiring cheers and all the best

[Tremby Graduate]

Congratulations! I read the title in Steve's accent 😂. Very well done, much faster than I was (most people are....)

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate]

that made me smile , thanks . When he said 60 seconds left give it your best if you’ve got it , but if you haven’t it doesn’t make a difference !!. Or something similar !!. He was the main reason I kept up to it and I’m glad he was with me!.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate]

Congratulations to you Gentlydoesit on graduating from C25K, did you know that only 10% of graduates complete run 3 of week 9 sub 30 minutes, you were just outside that but nevertheless you should be very proud of yourself, onwards and upwards to 10K but remember to run several 30 minute consolidation runs before you do that. ✔️🏃🏾

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to AlMorr]

Thanks I didn’t know that, I think anyone running sub 30 mins for 5k is doing a great job especially a newbie. It’s still an ambition to get to the less than 30 min point and I’m not far off. When you talk to friends who then tell you that their best times are sub 20 mins then you think well I’m definitely never going to be able to run that quick at my point in life . But all the best to you and enjoy the Christmas and New Year.

[nowster Graduate in reply to Gentlydoesnt]

I got to do 5km in 30 minutes in my W9R3 graduation run (I think I was a couple of seconds over). However, in pushing to do so I gave myself a double ankle sprain (both sides of same ankle), was out of action for a month, having to start C25K from scratch again when I was recovered.

A few months later I tried again and somehow hurt my knee, causing it to swell up. That took a week to heal.

After that I didn't bother chasing the speeds at all. I did however do run/walk and run/jog intervals as part of my mix of runs through the week.

About four months later, when finishing a longer run, my watch went "Oh by the way, you did a PB for 5km today." which came as a surprise as I didn't think I'd pushed hard at all.

So the trick seems to be: mix up the types of runs and don't push yourself hard for any particular goal. If you're doing the right sort of mix you may find yourself reaching that goal anyway.

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to nowster]

That’s interesting. Having the Nike app on at the same time as the C2k app I didn’t have a clue how fast I was going on the final run. To be honest I went out and thought just get the run completed no heroics, no drama the goal is to get the last run done. I also was surprised that I wasn’t far off 13 seconds isn’t much at all but I doubt I’ll be chasing anything just enjoy what I can .

[drl212 Graduate]

Congratulations! What a wonderful Christmas present for you and for us!!

Well done and reward yourself...

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to drl212]

Thank you and have a good Christmas

[00marks Graduate]

Congratulations on completing C25K!

[Gentlydoesnt Graduate in reply to 00marks]

Thanks very much all the best for the season