C2... marathons!

[yemingxia]

I graduated from C25K a month ago, and am setting myself mini goals to keep motivated. I would like to know:

* after graduating, how long, approx, did it take you to do 5K in 30 min?

* how long, approx, did it take you from 5K to do 10K?

* how long, approx, did it take you to do half a marathon?

I try to run 3 times a week, am 36 and, thanks to WW and running, normal weight.

I would like to sign up for events, but you often need to sign up a very long time in advance, and I have no idea, realistically, how long it takes to reach the above milestones.

Thanks!!

[Greg_M Graduate]

Every one is different I guess but mine went something like this

5k - I was doing this in my c25k

10k - maybe two months later

10 miles - maybe a year?

Half Marathon- about there now unofficially (16 months?)

I am quite conservative though and could probably have gone quicker.

Marathon - maybe next Autumn.

[bonnie68 Graduate]

5k- a few weeks after graduation now running in under 30 minutes!

I do 7/8k runs now ( 6 weeks after graduation) in a long slow run every week to improve distance and usually 2x 30-40 minutes a week fartlek/speedy tempo stuff.

I am doing a 5k race in June & 10k in September..then, who knows!?!Why not sign up for a few 5k's soon and maybe a 10k in few months after that, and just enjoy the first steps so to speak!! good luck!! do report back with progress!!

[juicydee Graduate]

I'm currently training for a 10k that will be 2 months post C25K graduation and it's looking do-able (I've got up to 7k so far without problems). Speed is another issue and I'm still over 40 mins for 5k - but that IS an improvement on what it was! I plan to start doing parkruns to motivate myself to get a bit faster.

I've also signed up for a half-marathon in September which friends who've had similar journeys have said is feasible. I worked out how reasonable the timescales were by checking out online training programmes (eg The Running Bug or Cool Running websites) for the different distances, and then added a bit of leeway for illness or other unexpected interruptions. So that would be about 10 months from couch to half marathon in my case - although of course I've not actually done it yet!!

I would add that there's nothing like being signed up for a race for motivating you to keep going in your training!

All the very best and well done on all your achievements so far!

[AmandaW Graduate]

Hi,

for me its 5k during the C25K

10K will come (injury and illness dependant) 6 weeks post C25K (I'm working on a 10k plan now)

Looking at various plans it seems to be perfectly possible to get from 5kish to half marathon in around 3 months - maybe six to be safe, but the 13 and 16 week plans assume normally that you can run for 10-20 mins at the beginning - heck, some take you from couch to half marathon in 16 weeks!

There are beginner marathon plans issued by different organisations that suggest that its possible to go from beginner to marathon in about 6 months. The thing is that I suppose there's a massive difference between 'getting around' the distance and actually running it - Arg from TOWIE trained for 6 weeks (??!!!!)

I'm hoping to be marathon ready next spring

[yemingxia]

THANK YOU to all of you! I recently got injured and all this is quite recomforting. I could still manage to run a half marathon next winter!

Thanks a lot!