C25K rest days?

mg_2013

Hi all looking for a bit of advice. Started C25K last week and have followed best I can. Due to family commitments I am only running Mon/Wed/Fri which means I have 2 rest days between Friday and Monday. I am going to start the week 1 again.

My question is it states to allow a rest day between runs but I would like to add either JM 30dayShred or Yoga Meltdown to help with my fitness levels. Is this advisable? If so would I do it on the rest days?

I have completed the 30day Shred in the past.

Any help would be appreciated.

mamahannick

I am doing Couch 2 5k on Mon-Wed-Fri as well, and Tue-Thu-Sat I supplement with Jillian Michaels DVD's (30 Day Shred and Killer Abs). I have found it makes me even stronger on my run days.

mg_2013

Hi mamahannick, do you mind me asking were you fit before you started C25K? I don't want to cause injury to myself be overdoing it. I am barely running the 60 seconds without feeling like I am about to die of shortness of breath! However my thought is if I do JM as well it will build up my strength.

You say you supplement with JM is that on the rest days or the actual days you run?

mamahannick

Hi mamahannick, do you mind me asking were you fit before you started C25K? I don't want to cause injury to myself be overdoing it. I am barely running the 60 seconds without feeling like I am about to die of shortness of breath! However my thought is if I do JM as well it will build up my strength.

You say you supplement with JM is that on the rest days or the actual days you run?

I was a runner before getting pregnant, then I had my daughter in January 2013 and never really got back into it until now. When I started back I couldn't run long at all without wanting to die either. Now just 4 weeks in I am finding myself not wanting to stop when the running intervals come to an end. Focusing on breathing properly helped a lot. What works for me is breathing in-in-out-out, in rhythm with a foot hitting the ground each time. After a while you won't even have to think about it that much. Keep at it!

I'm sorry--Mon-Wed-Fri are just C25k days, and Tue-Thu-Sat are just Jillian Michaels. I alternate, not doubling up at this point.

mg_2013

Thanks for that. The last time I ran was in school and there's been quite a few years between then and now. :blushing:

Think I will give the JM yoga a go on the Tues/Thurs and take it from there.

Right better get out there and do my run!

Of_Monsters_and_Meat

I think it really depends on your fitness level (as was said) and goals.

If you want to just get though c25k. Then doing other things on rest days isn't going to be the end of the world. I would still recommend at least 1 true rest day a week.

If you are doing C25k because you have a 5k coming up in the near future, I would skip all the other cross training stuff till you get the endurance up. It is a 9 week plan. That's 9 weeks without other stuff to take away from building that baseline distance.

After that have at it. I did C25k 4 years ago. I only worked on that during that time. Now I enjoy lifting heavy 2 times a week. and 3-4 days a week running.

mamahannick

Thanks for that. The last time I ran was in school and there's been quite a few years between then and now. :blushing:

Think I will give the JM yoga a go on the Tues/Thurs and take it from there.

Right better get out there and do my run!

That's a great plan! Consistency is key, you will build up as you keep progressing through the program.

GillianMcK

I have 1 full rest day a week, when I was doing C25K I was running Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, bootcamps on a Sunday, Monday and Wednesday and Friday was my rest day.
I had been doing bootcamps 3 or 4 times a week for about a year prior to starting the C25K.

MeanderingMammal

My question is it states to allow a rest day between runs but I would like to add either JM 30dayShred or Yoga Meltdown to help with my fitness levels. Is this advisable? If so would I do it on the rest days?

I would suggest adding a couple of bodyweight resistance sessions, rather than DVDs. That'll help with injury prevention as well as retention of lean mass.

DrJenO

Any thoughts on only doing two days per week?

The only days I would be able to run (because of work schedule) are Sat-Sun-Tuesday. I really don't want to run two days in a row.

Of_Monsters_and_Meat

Any thoughts on only doing two days per week?

The only days I would be able to run (because of work schedule) are Sat-Sun-Tuesday. I really don't want to run two days in a row.

Run 2 days. Strength/resistance train (as was mentioned above) on the other day.

my schedule for this week:
M - Squats, clean and press.
T - run 4 m.
W - Deadlifts, Bench,
TH - run 7 x 400
F - Rest
Sat - run 3 m.
Sun - run 8 m

MeanderingMammal

Any thoughts on only doing two days per week?

The only days I would be able to run (because of work schedule) are Sat-Sun-Tuesday. I really don't want to run two days in a row.

Opting for two rather than three, for now, is the better bet. Don't feel wedded to the programme, so you might end up feeling the need to repeat sessions to allow for consolidation.

Once you're more experienced then running two days in a row wouldn't be an issue, but initially you're system needs time to adapt.

fwiw I now run 5 days:

Friday - Tempo run up to 60 minutes
Saturday - Long run - 15 to 18km
Sunday - Recovery run or 3-5km plus bodyweight resistance
Monday - Recovery run of up to 60minutes
Tuesday - Interval run of up to 45 minutes - 10 minute warm up, 25 minutes of either 20 second sprint 20 second recovery or 400 metre sprint, 400 metre recovery the 10 minute cool down
Wednesday or Thursday - Bodyweight resistance

rosettafaery

I was thinking of doing a similar thing so this has reassured me.
I've only completed week 1 of C25k so far but was thinking of adding in some strength training (NROL4W) on the alternative days.
Giving me strength training on Mon, Wed, Fri and C25k on Tues, Thurs and Sat as well. Leaving Sunday as a rest day.

kshadows

I did the c25k in the fall....I didn't do anything in between (M-W-F running) because I needed that rest...I was really out of shape.

I quit after week 5 but started back up in January...recently i started skipping the 2 days rest and doing M-W-F-Su-Tu-Th-Sa-M etc and I've noticed my knees hurt more. There's a reason it's only 3 days per week You can do something else on the off days but save at least 1 day a week for complete rest

Eric_DeCastro

I run mon, wed thurs and friday. the only reason I take tuesday off is it's my weight management class so no time to run that day. if I didn't have class I would run tues and just rest sat and sunday.

mg_2013

Thanks all for the advise. Just got back from my run. As I said I was going to start Week 1 again and can already see a difference

Of monsters and meat - My aim really is just to get fit at the moment.

Meanderingmammal – Do you mean squats, push-ups etc.? I have never been too good with exercise without guidance, hence DVD’s, C25K podcasts etc. So if you could suggest any Bodyweight resistance exercise that I could follow that would be great.

Drjeno – the podcast advises 3 times a week with a rest day between each session and I am unable to do weekends. So it works out nicely Mon/Wed/Fri for me. That is only because I am following a conventional week but there is nothing stopping you completing the week over 2 weeks.

MeanderingMammal

Meanderingmammal – Do you mean squats, push-ups etc.? I have never been too good with exercise without guidance, hence DVD’s, C25K podcasts etc. So if you could suggest any Bodyweight resistance exercise that I could follow that would be great.

Personally I'm quite liking You Are Your Own Gym at the moment, but there are others. Convict Conditioning is advocated by several on here, but I've read mixed reviews.

With most of these programmes you need to get past the rhetoric that it's all you're going to need, CV and resistance training are complementary, so once you're past that then they've all got benefit.

One of the big benefits with bodyweight is that there is no need for kit. That means that once you're more experienced you can run out for four or five km, do a session in the park or something, and then run home.

sarahsmile1979

I am starting C25K tonight after work. I would also like to start doing spin class again (haven't done spin in a couple years). Is spin a good idea to do on rest days once or twice a week? I appreciate the feedback.