Graduate or Keep Working the Weeks???

mom2tripsn2

I posted this in the weekly update thread too, but I wanted to make sure it was seen...

Okay soooo....I knocked W5D3 out of the PARK yesterday!! Actually...when the 20 minutes was up, I ran through the 5 mintue cool down too....then 10 minutes longer to the end of my trail...which made my total running time and distance....3 miles in 35 minutes!! Sooo, the question now becomes...do I go "backwards" and do W6D1 or do I just press forward with running the 5K 3 times a week?? That's all I want to do now anyway...it almost seems silly to me to go and do 20 minutes of intervals now....thoughts??

alexandriamarino

That's awesome, congrats on your great workout! I ran a 5k after wk7d3 but i'm still going to finish week 8. And really, after week 5, you are still going to be running 20+ min each session, and even marathon runners run 3-4 mile days every week or so, so it's not really like you're going "backwards." Remember that you should only increase mileage by 10% or so each week (or at least that is what i've heard, feel free to correct me!)

emmaxbon

Slightly different in that I followed the whole program but I graduated on Monday and did the 5K in 38 mins. I'm starting the 10 program this evening and my first day is 2 20 min interval runs with a 3 min walking break.

I'm just gonna keep doing what they tell me, I reckon they know far more than me and its got me this far!

If you read the sticky "you've finished C25K, what now" there is a bit explaining the reason between walking breaks.

Well done BTW, you did great

MeanderingMammal

Remember that you should only increase mileage by 10% or so each week

Pretty much, it helps avoid overuse injuries.

Different types of session have different effects, so while an experienced runner will have short sessions they'll be at a higher intensity. So, as an example, I'll do an hour at 5:45 minutes per km I might do 30 minutes at 5 minutes per km. The former helps endurance the latter exercise efficiency.