high five!

[ju-ju-]

week 6, run 3...I DID IT!! I never thought I would.I did swear a bit ( sorry Laura). I did nearly collapse at one point ( no joke), but I just kept on running. I persuaded my 11 year old leon to join me. He loved it, so we are off to get him some proper shoes and a treat. I felt so encouraged by all the amazing posts I have read here, so thankyou everybody. Looking forward to week 7 ( I think?!!).

[OlsBean]

Congratulations,way to go, 25 minutes of running is a massive milestone!

[ju-ju- Graduate in reply to OlsBean]

Thankyou!!! I hope I can keep it up and get quicker. I did 3.7K, but to get to 5k in 30 mins I'm going to have to step it up a gear!!

[Stefliser Graduate in reply to ju-ju-]

First of all, well done and a massive congratulations on finishing week 6! You are now officially a runner!

But don't worry too much about finishing the 5K in 30 minutes - if you did manage it you'd be one of a very small minority of us. Just focus on getting round - there's plenty of time to work on speed later.

It's easy to get too cocky at this point and end up pushing yourself too far and 'failing' a run.

It's tempting to look ahead to weeks 7 - 9 as easy after the mahoosive progress you've made in 5 and 6. And they are doable, but they aren't easy. You body needs to get used to running non-stop for nearly half an hour, and it won't get used to that overnight. And the psychological challenge gets tougher here too.

In other words, well done!! Just don't set yourself up to 'fail' by setting unrealistic goals which very very few of us have achieved (I graduated nearly 4 weeks ago, and I've been out 3 times a week since then, and 36 minutes is still my best 5K time, but they are coming down! )

[greenlegs Graduate in reply to Stefliser]

Stefliser's advice is very wise. I think we all expect to get faster in the last few weeks, and maybe we do a teeny bit - but the increase in distance and stamina takes a lot of effort (and the impact of repeating unfamiliar effort is often underestimated too) - increasing pace as well is probably not too realistic.

A little while ago someone asked what distance people covered in their week 9 runs - only something like 1 in 10 managed to do 5k in the 30 minutes (and one of those only did it in one of their runs) - almost half of us ran less than 4k. But we are all runners!

Focus on going at a comfortable pace - and enjoying your new skill!

[AuntieAli Graduate]

high five!!!

very well done!! what a great milestone.

im no where near you yet, but dont beat yourself up about running in 30 mins yet else you'll never appreciate the good progress youve made if you over do it (if you know what I mean).

best of luck for your next runs, take it easy and you'll do it im sure.

ali

[LMS2110 Graduate]

Many congratulations, well done you..... a real runner! That'll be my next run - looking forward to the weekend. All the best for completing C25K in the few weeks ahead. Linda x

[Landesman Graduate]

Fantastic. That particular run, I think, is really a great step forward (so to speak) and consolidates all the work and interval training done before. It's the start of continuous long runs and, as Stefliser says, it's not easy, but it is more and more do-able.

I'm with you about wanting to speed up but I'd suggest leaving the 'sprints' to the end so you can be sure of finishing the run. When I check my splits over the last three runs they are remarkably consistent for the bulk of the run and I know that going faster than this pace really takes it out of me. Running faster for the last minute or so is OK but would be a killer earlier (for me anyway).

[petal51 Graduate]

Fantastic!

I think I'm in the minority, but I still don't know if I'm doing 5k in 30 mins. To just complete c25k is a huge achievement in its own right and I still have the post-grad glow!

[ju-ju- Graduate]

what wonderful comments and fantastic advice, thankou so much everyone