Including warm up in distance covered? - Couch to 5K

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Including warm up in distance covered?

8 Replies

Do I include warm up and cool down in distance covered or just the time ran for example one day I ran 2.09 km in 25mins but the total distance after five mins walk was 2.37km in 30mins(on treadmill)

I feel a cheat if I say have done say 3.20km but have walked for 10mins - am I being silly?

8 Replies
sfb350 profile image
sfb350Graduate

I always compared the warm up and cool down but I think the main thing is to be consistent. I still have walk breaks in my 10k races so I don't think it's cheating to include the walking time !

KANdoit profile image
KANdoit

Including the warm up & cool down will result in a lower average speed/pace over the distance.

I would leave them out of your stats gathering to stop you cheating on/rushing them in order to get a better time.

On the other hand you do cover the distance so why not acknowledge it?

This fence I'm sitting on is very comfortable ...why dont you just keep a record of both sets of stats

Karen

in reply toKANdoit

Thanks

You are right in that I have covered the distance so from now on I will acknowledge this regardless of whether I have run the entire way, or walked/run. May have to include a hill session at the gym as where i live has obvious hills and not so obvious ones which I find exhausting.

Saruma profile image
SarumaGraduate

I always included the warm up and cool down when I was completing the programme. Now I have graduated, I don't start timing until I start running, as I want to accurately track my actual running time/distance.

swanscot profile image
swanscotGraduate

Do you include it for what? It depends on what you wish to do with your stats? For the purposes of recording runs with my Garmin, I switch my watch on to pick up satellites, but don't start it recording my run until after my warm up walk. Then I record my ~5 mins slow jog, the main run (whether that is intervals, hills or tempo run), then the five minutes cool down slow jog. I switch it off to before starting to walk. Sometimes I record the walk home--which can be to 20 mins--as a separate activity simply because I using my Garmin account to record my cross-training (walking and cycling) too.

thinnerandfitter profile image
thinnerandfitterGraduate

I do the same as Swanscot - I switch it on and (hopefully) it has picked up the satellite before the 5 min walk is up. If not I keep walking and saying words like grrrrrr :-)

Then I start the timer as I start running, so I get an accurate pace reading for the first km (I aim at 7 min per km and if I included the warm-up walk the first km would appear slower). I stop the timer when I stop running and start walking home (always about 5-10 mins so not worth making it an extra activity). Only exception is if I think I might start running again (ie it's a walking break for a couple of minutes) - then I'll keep the timer going so as not to mess up the map.

jenniej profile image
jenniejGraduate

I do the same as Swanscot & Thinnerandfitter (and the same grrring until I get the satellite connection). That way I know what my run pace is and can adjust my speed up or down if I think I'm going too slow/fast. I tend to start too fast which I wouldnt pick up so well if the walk was included.

Its also helpful to exclude them if you want to analyse your splits. If you included your walk it would distort the stats and make your first and last split a lot slower.

SBG356 profile image
SBG356Graduate

I only record my running to get acurate stats for pace and speed. As jennie says they would be distorted if warm up and cool down walks were included.

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