Graduates...how far were you running on graduation?

[imnorunner]

Hi, just out of interest. I think I'll be doing about 3.5k when I graduate. Just wondering how many people actually achieve 5k by the end

[greenlegs Graduate]

Slow and steady - 3.1k in 30 minutes.

I actually ran for 40 minutes total, and covered 4.15k. Overtaken by a walker.

I'm really quite curious to know how many people do actually get to 5k in the 30 minutes by the end of week 9. Maybe it's more than I think!

[OlsBean]

I'll let you know in about an hour as I am just about to start W9R1.

In theory though I run at about 6mph which if I've got the Math correct, is 3 miles in 30 minutes and 3 miles = 5k.

[bexblonde Graduate]

I did 5k, because my final run was the Race for Life which was 5k. It did take me 36 minutes though.

[Rollertoaster Graduate]

I ran 4.3K on w9 r1 and 2. For run 3 I really wanted to graduate doing 5K (for no particular reason really but to tick boxes), so I added an extra 5 mins onto the last run, doing 5K in 35 mins. It wasn't until 2 and a bit months later I was able to do 5K in 30 mins.

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to Rollertoaster]

I have beat myself up about wanting that too but at this stage I just do not have the ability so I have settled for 30 mins breathing comfortably. Congrats though

[notbad Graduate]

I did cover the 5k in 30 in my graduation week (should add my starting fitness before c25k was fairly good, lots of walking) but not quite on my graduation run. I was however running as fast as I could and stopped at 30 (there was no way I could have kept that pace up!). I had to learn to slow my pace in order to run further for longer.

[k6daisy Graduate]

Currently at 4.12k in 31 mins! Still a lot to do and I don't think I will get to 30 mins. At least that seems a long way off for me - Karen

[CouchtoKiltLegs Graduate]

I managed 4.88km on all 3 runs in week 9. Maddeningly close and no idea how I managed to get exactly the same time in different conditions. One thing I should say though is that times and speed will vary a lot depending on your age, sex, and good old genetics. Close to the end of the run I started to wonder about distance and speed and after notching up 4.88km in W9R1 I was determined to get 5k in 30 minutes that week. I had torrential rain on graduation day and was completely soaked through. I sprinted the entire last minute and needed that just to match my previous pace in pleasant conditions. It is nice to have a goal of 5k in 30 minutes but I suspect most of us don't manage that in the 9 weeks. It didn't bother me at all that I didn;t manage it in the end. If anyone did they are welcome to come along and give me a push over the last km so I can also manage it?

[Thejogger Graduate in reply to CouchtoKiltLegs]

I only got to 4.6 so short still but probably get a bit faster as I continue so well done your doing great

[Margoxx Graduate]

My final run in week 9 I was determined to run 5k which I knew would take me way over the 30mins mark. It actually took 41 mins, I was so elated because at 30 mins I felt quite good. Now going to work on reducing the time.. Any ideas on how to do this would be greatly appreciated

[BettyJane Graduate]

My graduation run was at a Parkrun with a time of 29.42. I'm amazed that at the age of 49 I can run 5k in under 30 mins. I'm only 5ft4, with short legs so all in all I'm pretty pleased with my speed.

[Yesletsgo Graduate in reply to BettyJane]

That's fantastic! I'm the same height/short legs but 16 years older and can't get anywhere near 5k in 30 minutes so appreciate the effort your run must have taken 😁

[ancientrunner Graduate]

I wasn't at 5k by the end - am now but it takes nearer 40mins. Sometimes feel the podcasts should start saying 30mins or 5k at an earlier point. Running for 30 mins is great and the distance will come later.

[Anniemurph Graduate in reply to ancientrunner]

Great idea, AR - i do think that the implication is that everyone will be running 5k in 30 minutes after 9 weeks. If only...

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to Anniemurph]

I have been beating myself up about this over the last 3 or 4 days and doubt I am the only one

[Anniemurph Graduate in reply to astrozombie]

No, don't ever worry. The thing is, Couch to 30 minutes isn't as catchy!

The programme builds your legs and your determination. At the end of it you can run for 30 minutes. 5k comes later - and it will if that's what you want to do. Not everyone wants to get to that distance, and that's fine. As long as you enjoy your running, what does it matter what distance you do? Or what pace you run at? If you are running regularly, whether outside or on a treadmill, you are doing yourself some good, and you are a runner. Have fun!

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to Anniemurph]

You are quite right my original goal was to run to work which was approx 30 mins away, not there now but besides the point. I suppose for myself I am ecstatic with 30 mins but for graduation here it felt like I should be closer to 3.1 miles like everybody else. I have since read more threads and now know my distance is average. Will I take that? In a heart beat. I am a runner seems strange to hear but thank you.

[ancientrunner Graduate in reply to Anniemurph]

Goodness Annie - 5 years on and makes you realise we have achieved something in all that time even if it's not the 30min 5k!!!

[Anniemurph Graduate in reply to ancientrunner]

I know! Isn't it great when posts like this make you realise that we had worries then and yet we are still plodding on? We have just swapped our old worries for different ones

I will never achieve a 30-min 5k but I don't care. 5 years on and I am still running - woohoo! Happy New Year all, and may there be many more years of running in us all

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to ancientrunner]

Cool I like this as I am 2.5 miles in 30 today

[ancientrunner Graduate in reply to astrozombie]

That sounds good to me. Five years on only ever done under 30 once - and that was adrenaline fuelled. Not come within a minute of it since.

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to ancientrunner]

Impressive

[Anniemurph Graduate]

I think mine was about 3.5k in 30 minutes, so not far and definitely not fast! If it helps to know, though, I'm now up to 5k in around 36 minutes

[RainbowC Graduate]

At graduation I was running around 2.8 miles on the treadmill or 2.6 miles outside. I'm not sure how that translates to km, but know that 3.1 miles is 5k, so I wasn't there. I'm still not at that pace outdoors, to be honest, although I'm gradually getting closer.

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to RainbowC]

About 4.2 same as me approx I am 4.1 in outside conditions which I think is pretty damn good 😊

[dottiemay Graduate]

I did 4.68k in 32:03 and if I remember correctly, it nearly killed me!! I did a different route than normal and hadn't known about all the inclines and short but steep slopes. I was disappointed that I just couldn't finish the 5k and maybe if I'd checked the distance before I stopped I might have been able to struggle on. But then a few weeks later I ran 6.49!

My best 5k time so far is 31:45 so I'm not going to be hitting the 5k/30min any time soon but it doesn't bother me. (It would be a brilliant achievement though!) I'm focusing on distance as I know I'm not a fast runner. As long as I can do a respectable time, I'm happy!

[k6daisy Graduate in reply to dottiemay]

Totally agree with your approach Dottie. If I can run 30 -35 mins three times a week that will keep me happy for now. I hope to be able to do one long run soon but I've just graduated so Im not reaching for new goals just yet. Excellent times you are doing

[astrozombie Graduate in reply to dottiemay]

I did a different route for my final run too with a bridge going over a railway line at the turnaround point. I did not know the road runs out at this point so I ran over it, took about 10 strides and had to loop round and run over it the other way. I noticed it on google maps and I have driven over it but just didn't look like an issue. When running it was more of an issue than I anticipated but the only stretch for 4 miles where I could run for 1.9 miles on pavement. It is the countryside here and not running down roads without any pavements as I know what the drivers are like

[GoogleMe Graduate]

Definitely wasn't 5k by graduation. That came a few weeks later... and took an hour. The fastest I've ever run a 5k is 50 minutes. I'm doing Runkeepers Run for Fat Loss so it will be interesting to see how far I go when that works up to 50 and 60 minute runs shortly. 40 minutes still wasn't seeing me over 4.5k though.

[tubontherun]

My first run, excluding the walking bits, on Week 9 was 3.6k. I'm due to do R2 tonight or tomorrow, but suspect I'll be a while hitting 5k in 30 minutes.

[boudicca Graduate]

3.5k for me too. Today I ran 4k but it took about 37 minutes ... I've mapped a 5k route and getting round it is my next target; the target after that is to do it in 30 minutes!

[greenlegs Graduate]

Fascinating! More numbers for me to play with!

After I'd put my figures on here, I did wonder whether it would turn out to be counter-productive, and demoralising, but no, it's really interesting. Thank you to everyone who has shared their graduation triumphs - we all ran for 30 minutes, irrespective of how far we covered, and I suspect none of us really believed we'd ever do that, when we were in week 1!

To summarise (and we need to remember that this is a tiny, unrepresentative sample, and we haven't said ages, gender, fitness levels, genes etc, which all have a huge influence - and maybe faster and/or slower people might have been less inclined to share their figures):

17 people

*Only 1* reached 5k in 30 minutes in their graduation run! (Less than 6%.) One more did get to 5k in graduation week, but not for the grad run and was running all out at a pace that couldn't be sustained longer than 30 min.

11/17 did 3.5 to 4.5k in week 9.

About half of the total graduates don't get to 4k by the end of week 9. (That would have been an encouraging thought earlier on!) Average distance was 4k.

Those who were slower do get to 5k, but it may take a lot longer than 30 minutes, and it might not be until a few weeks later. Maybe the title of c25k encourages us to push ourselves to run for longer than our bodies are really ready for?

Maybe the most significant point is that whatever distance people managed in week 9, for many of us it was only by really pushing ourselves - possibly leading to an expectation that we should continue to push ourselves on just as hard post graduation? I know I felt that, (even when I was saying the opposite! ) and it's taken me several weeks to really take on board that, as notbad says, "I had to learn to slow my pace in order to run further for longer."

[Rollertoaster Graduate in reply to greenlegs]

I LOVE that you've summarised and analysed all the responses! Brilliant!

[greenlegs Graduate in reply to Rollertoaster]

I just couldn't help myself! This was something I've been really curious about for ages.

I wonder whether maths geek types are more likely to carry on running? I get at least as much satisfaction from the numbers as from the runs!

[lexis_001 in reply to greenlegs]

ditto

[CouchCarrot Graduate in reply to greenlegs]

greenlegs, This was one reason I was really curious to figure out how fast I was running when I did 20 mins last week. if you are right, I will complete my graduation and continue on!

[imnorunner Graduate]

Thank you everyone for replying. I keep telling myself not to worry too much about speed and hitting the 5k mark by graduation and it does help to see that the majority of people do something close to 5k or take longer than 30 minutes to do it.

I can't run fast! I'm thinking maybe I can run slowly for a long time though

Thank you!

[shinjin Graduate]

Hi, I do not want to mess up greenlegs' numbers, but I did over 5k in 30 mins and have now done it 4 more times since. Tonight's run though I really took it easy and did 5.38 in 40 mins.

Of the above the first 5 were on a treadmill,tonight's was out and about in Germany, not sure if that is the key factor or not? Before I ran comparisons os my runs inside and out with HR monitoring, GPS distance vs treadmill distance etc. I found the two broadly the same, but would be interested if this is the key difference.

[greenlegs Graduate]

The numbers are only a tiny sample anyway. You're one of the (very fortunate!) exceptions to the "rule" that most people don't get that close to 5k (or even 4k for half of us).

It seems quite likely that it's a bit less physically challenging to do a longer distance on a treadmill, without wind, dogs, puddles, uneven paving, snow, ice etc etc. Doesn't mean it's easier mentally though! I'm pretty sure I'd hate it.

[walney Graduate]

My graduation run was a Parkrun which i completed in 24:30. I was managing about 6km in 30 minutes in W9R1 and 2.

As people have said people come to this programme at various stages in their lives and it's testament to the programme that we all find it some how works.

I may have run further than others in the end but I can truly say that I did find the first few weeks tough, even running for a minute. I repeared at least ine week due to injury and took my time.

[sgeorge5 Graduate]

I managed to do 5k inside 30 minutes when graduating. I was 53 when I started the program and had not done any sport for about 26 years. Even though I was grossly overweight when I started I have walked a lot possibly that helped. I have been running for a year now and today I did 5k in under 28 minutes.

I have never tried to go quicker and do not expect to get much faster. In fact I expect to get slower but I don't care it's just great to get out there.

[Dora_the_explorer]

My first 5K was completed in 34 mins, and 3 weeks later, it still takes about 34 mins to get my 5K, but I am now pacing myself for longer runs (40+ mins), so if I was just aiming for a 5K I would hope to be a little faster.

My running "partner", managed his first 5K during the 28 minute run and has fairly consistently reached that since (sickening). He does loops in order to double back to meet me.

Still, everyone's different, we both have good runs and bad runs, and I enjoy the chase of trying to catch him up.

[achydunlin]

Have to say I've never managed 5k in 30 minutes - it takes me about 45-50 minutes! At first I thought I was a failure, but as a 40 something with asthma, I'm quite proud of myself that I can run. I've also found I like cycling and swimming now I've got a bit fitter. My average mileage is about 3.5 k. I have to admit though I still get bored after about 20 minutes of continual running...!!

[Hidden]

In 30 minutes:

4.93km on my graduation run...

5.03km on my first post grad run

4.67km this morning

Sometimes I decide to do 5K in whatever time it takes, sometimes I decide to just head out for 30 minutes and care nought for the distance... depends on my mood...

On Monday I start B210K so I'm going to ignore distance for the next 4-5 weeks!

Happy running everyone! We're all fitter than we've been for a long time and everyone has their own pace but this is an interesting set of numbers.

[astrozombie Graduate]

2.5 miles in 30 minutes today and that is the best I can do. Today was my best run apart from the pouring rain but my old PT teacher would just say it was character building. Also I have done a lot of soul searching about guilt at not hitting 3.1k but decided running for 30 mins was always my initial goal and I have achieved that. Slow and steady is my philosophy as it is my only option

The day before yesterday I ran 40 mins to make up for running very daintily on snow but no idea how much ground I covered as I was running and sliding up and around side streets whereas today I found a nice long 1.9 mile stretch before turnaround but no zig zagging and running across the overpass just a long flat stretch except towards the end of the 1.9 miles where there is a humpy railway bridge, which I ran over twice, then ran 0.6 miles and at that point it was 10.30am bang on.

[Terimanning25 Graduate]

Just over 4.5km at graduation... takes me about 34-35 minutes to do 5km

[astrozombie Graduate]

After reading all of the above I am a smidgen over average. Would I have taken that at the start of week 1. Of course I would