Couch to 5K Running Program (C25K)

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Endurance Not Increasing Week-to-Week

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jennahaines108
jennahaines108 Posts: 58 Member
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Does anyone have trouble going from week to week? Sometimes, I feel like when I progress to the next week, my endurance hasn't increased and I just to push that much harder to complete the next week. Advice?

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  • Just_Ceci
    Just_Ceci Posts: 5,926 Member
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    As your expected running time increases, you might need to slow your pace down.

    C25k is really mind over matter- it is your mind realizing what your body can do!
  • jkeyes87
    jkeyes87 Posts: 26
    edited February 2015
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    I agree with Ceci about pace. Personally I'm a slow runner (I've only broken a sub-10min mile twice in my life) so at the end of C25K I wasn't running 3 mi in 30 min. But I could run 5K non-stop and eventually worked my way up to 10K.

    Also last time I completed C25K, I had to add an extra running day per week because I needed one more workout to get used to it before bumping it up a notch the next week.
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
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    I agree with the advice about pacing. You may be running too fast. Learning to run is all about trial and error to find what works for you. Don't let you mind tell you that you can't do it, because you can. Then slow down and try again.
    I'm also a slow runner and still can't run 5K in 30 minutes. I may never be able to but that's okay. If we enjoy the running, the pace shouldn't be an issue.
    Keep trying.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    jennahaines108 wrote: »
    ...I just to push that much harder to complete the next week....

    Running doesn't get any easier, you can just run for longer...

    Trite, but essentially if your speed remains the same you can train yourself to keep going. If you slow down, you should be able to run for longer, and similarly if you speed up you're unlikely to keep going for the same amount of time.
  • loratliff
    loratliff Posts: 283 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    jennahaines108 wrote: »
    ...I just to push that much harder to complete the next week....

    Running doesn't get any easier, you can just run for longer...

    Trite, but essentially if your speed remains the same you can train yourself to keep going. If you slow down, you should be able to run for longer, and similarly if you speed up you're unlikely to keep going for the same amount of time.

    Yup. If you complete the next week, your endurance *is* getting better even without you realizing. It's not supposed to be easy. :smile:
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    edited February 2015
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    loratliff wrote: »
    Yup. If you complete the next week, your endurance *is* getting better even without you realizing. It's not supposed to be easy. :smile:

    Just under two years ago the eighth sixty second interval wasn't easy. A couple of weeks ago 21.1Km wasn't easy either, but the first sixty seconds was, and the sixty seconds after that, repeat for 120 periods of sixty seconds each.
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    I seriously thought I was going to die during week 1 running intervals. And I never thought I seriously could be one of those who run. But when I focussed on only one session at a time, it became doable. When I finished the running interval on W5D3 I burst into tears right then and there. I had never done anything like it before. Just take it one day at a time. Trust the process.

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