Life after C25K

pippywillow

I'll be graduating form C25K in just a couple weeks (I'm on week 7 now). I'm really starting to love running and I'm looking forward to doing my own thing. I just had a few questions.

How quickly should I increase my distance? I must be running slowly because I know I won't be doing an actual 5k by the end of this (more like 2 miles probably). But I need to be able to do an actual 5k by august.

Do I still need to do a 5 minute warm up walk, or can I shorten it?

What stretches do you do before you run?

courtneymal17

I've been done with C25K for over a year. I've struggled with this a bit, but I've mostly kept just signing up for races to give me goals. I know there's a bridge to 10K program if you're hoping to build up to that distance, and also half marathon training programs. It all depends on what you want to do. I'm a super super slow runner and it takes me 40-45 mins for a 5k, so I just try to increase my time running (I still have yet to run the entirety 5K during a race) I've mainly focused on increasing speed, and sometimes I'll still do 5 min run/3 min walk intervals, even in races, but Ive found it allows me to run faster for those 5 mins and thereby do the race itself quicker. It all depends what works for you! Take the time to kind of discover for yourself!

as for warm ups? Its all about what works for you here too. I'd say at least a 5 min warm up, but I've found I need more...whatever you do make sure you warm up enough so you're not hurting yourself!