Increasing distance

Tanya949

So I've "graduated" the program (I can run 30 min nonstop), but I can't seem to run any longer than this. My hips hurt, my legs get tired though my lungs could keep going. I tried breaking up the running today... 10 min intervals with 1 min walks between, but I had to stop 1 min into the last interval. (this is week 9 day 1 of 10k program actually). How long might I have to do 30 min runs before I can advance? I'm 207 lbs, so I wonder if my weight is holding me back some (sore hips, legs... too much stress?)

pmur

My plan after graduating was to increase 5 mins every week or two until I could do an hour non stop. I tried the 5k-10k plan but could not do it. I felt the walking breaks after 15 mins just didn't work for me. Even now, I can't take walking breaks and start back
I did increase 5 mins but had to slow down a lot to hit 40 mins of running. By then I realised I was doing 3 miles in 35 mins. I just did 40 mins for a couple of more weeks and then started Hal Higdon's 10k plan. That helped me get to the 10k. I chose HH because I didn't have to do walking breaks in them.

HTH.

PaytraB

I can't remember exactly how long it was but it was a few weeks before I had the confidence to be able to increase my time and even then it wasn't for every run. Remember to slow down when increasing your time. Your body isn't ready yet to keep up your pace & increase your time.

Congratulations on being able to run 30 minutes straight! That's terrific.

Get comfortable & confident with running that time. It takes awhile to get to where you can consistently run the 30 minutes. When you're at that point, then increase your time slowly, remembering to slow down the pace. One rule of thumb is to increase your distance no more than 10% with each increment.

It takes time. If you give your body the time to adjust and strengthen, you'll be running for years to come.

Congratulations again!

MeanderingMammal

Personally I spent a month or so consolidating on C25K with a couple of other podcasts that introduced different types of sessions; cadence, tempo and pyramids.

I found that it took some of the pressure away from progression, just running for the enjoyment of it.

they were hard, but as they changed my objectives away from time towards keeping up with the paces it was s refrshing change at the time.

rduhlir

I used this once I got done with C25K. I brought in a 4th day of running, but kept it at only a mile for like 3 or 4 months. It was more of a recovery run day, if anything. I usually paired it up with strength training or some other form of XT.

http://davidhays.net/running/buildingbase.html

That plan focuses on establishing a long run, while also teaching you the difference between easy and recovery runs.

Tanya949

Thanks all for the advice. I don't like the idea of walking breaks either. I run a 8 min km, which is comfortable for me. I'm not sure I could run slower if I wanted to though, it already feels like a snails pace. I will just keep running my 25-30 min I guess and not worry about trying to increase distance. I should be happy with 30 min runs, but just assumed that I could keep progressing at the same pace I have been since I started. I've been running about 7 weeks now, skipped some parts of the c25k because I found it easy to get past the 20 min and quickly increased to 30, which is where I am now.