Week 9 - tadaaaaa - The 5k !!
Options
mostaverage
Posts: 202 Member
Avoiding my own logic of not to push my luck, I took myself down to Strathclyde park, where there is a measured 5k route. Warmed up, pressed play & ....... DID IT!
The time of 32.24 is respectable, a benchmark for me to work to, the comfort level was low, I struggled towards the end but I'm going to rest myself for a day or two and then see if I can do it in sub- 35 minute and feel ok doing it
The time of 32.24 is respectable, a benchmark for me to work to, the comfort level was low, I struggled towards the end but I'm going to rest myself for a day or two and then see if I can do it in sub- 35 minute and feel ok doing it
0
Replies
-
Congratulations! What a heady feeling that must be. So do tell.... did you repeat any weeks? How was the process for you?
I'm nearly done with week 3 and not sure I'll ever make it to the end, though I surely intend to. It just seems such a huge leap from where I am now. I guess that's the point though, right?0 -
Awesome, that time really is good.
Well done you!!
Please tell us on this thread about your c25k journey0 -
Thnx
I heard about the C25K program from a friend on Facebook and I thought it was ideal for me, I have set myself an arbitrary goal of doing a try-athlon before my next birthday, just to set a target. My Wife & I were already swimming regularly so that aspect was taken care of, bicycling was my springboard into weight loss all last summer and 40 mile days were do-able which only left the running aspect that needed work.
I had already been playing football (soccer) for an hour each week and using the treadmill at the gym so I decided to jump into week 3 as my starting point, which I think was about right, challenging enough to be hard work but not so bad that I was crawling home!
The first run I did was outdoors, around a frozen football pitch, early on a Sunday morning ( so there wouldn't be many witnesses) and the walking sections were VERY welcome. At that point I could not picture myself running non stop for 10 minutes, never mind for 3 miles but trusted in the program and kept at it.
The biggest psychological barrier I had was in week 5, day 3 - run for 20 minutes.....NO WALKS! There's no way, c'mon now, I've never, I can't, surely - Yes I can, yes you can! Once I had completed that day I wasn't scared by anything that came after it.
I mixed up gym days with outdoor runs, kept up the swimming and the football and got stronger every week, I also got more and more tired! I guess that's why the program suggests you don't do more than is in the plan and they DO know better than I do. Found that I had to take some extra rest days here and again as I had no energy but I didn't beat myself up about stretching a week out to 8 or 9 days because I was still going to complete this & it's not a race.
I didn't need to repeat any weeks but I will in the future if I need/want to....it all burns calories and adds to fitness!
Things I have learned -
Trust the program! and try not to look too far forward down the weeks, it gets a bit scary at that end and you have a few weeks to get there!
Listen to your body, if you need extra rest days or healing time - take it! This isn't a sprint!
Music - I have found it to be an essential part - as a great philosopher once said "lose yourself in the music"
Fuel - for me, a bowl of porridge an hour or so before I exercise
It's more fun outdoors - the scenery changes, it's cooler in fresh air and you can vary your pace much easier in accordance to what your legs are telling you or what the music is doing. It's also more hazardous, dogs, shoppers, cars, broken pavement all ned to be watched for.
It can be become addictive - I've already started looking at a 10k in September.
Good luck in your journey, keep at it, literally one step at a time.0 -
Hi mostaverage - great job on finishing the program! I've also finished this week. Your story is inspirational - I'm really interested in the bicycle part, as I want to start bicycling. What type of bike do you have? What triathlon distance are you shooting for? I also swim and did some triathlons when I was younger and would love to get back to it. I used to have a univega racing bike, but I'm thinking more along the lines of a comfort bike now like an electra townie.0
-
Thnx Chiltoneator & congrats on hitting the 5k too!
I bought a Marin San Rafael, hybrid bike to get myself back into biking, I used to do a lot of road riding as a youth, then mountain biking in my twenties then couch surfing for 15 or so years. The Marin is a great leisure bike, suspension forks up front and a spring in the seat post for comfort, it's also very heavy so uphills are harder work, but hey that's what my legs & lungs needed!
It would be fine for long runs, I could see 50-60 mile days being possible. I have set myself a target of doing a century ride this summer, so of course I will need to have a lighter, quicker machine (& me) to make this possible & I have my eye on either a dedicated Ribble road bike or a Focus cyclo-cross bike. I will reward myself the new machine when i hit my 5 stone lost goal.
As for the triathlon, it's the novice distance I want to try - 400m pool, 10 mile bike & 3mile run with the run being the element that was missing for me. I've managed a couple of sprint distance triathlons at the gym, which have short distances than the novices so I reckon another month of regular running and I will be strong enough for my first event.
Good luck with your journey & free to add me to your friends list. I'd enjoy hearing about your progress.0 -
HELP!
I have finished the NHS C25k program, but I need help with speed and pacing. The program was designed to run the 5km in 30 minutes. I am running for 30 minutes straight now, but nowhere near 5km!!
I have tried to increase my pace, but then my endurance suffers and I feel like I am not accomplishing my goal.
Any advice?
Christyl0 -
You've done all the interval training so now forget about times, get your playlist on your music player, go at YOUR OWN pace - dont push it. Take however long it takes to do the 5k, whatever time that is. That sets your benchmark time which you can work towards beating on subsequent runs. I've done 3 or 4 now and still haven't got under 30 minutes (by 2 seconds on Sunday, just missed it!)
Once you have the distance and build stamina the speed will come after. Don't beat yourself up over it, you've come a long way and you are still pounding it out! Good work!0 -
@mostaverage .. not sure where you're from but a 5K time of 32.24 is NOT respectable, it's totally awesome!!! Well done!!0
-
Well done .. thats awesome ... i'm starting week 2 tomorrow and great to hear posotive things about it on at the other end. Great job ... see you there one day
0 -
Well thank you gersoco - I don't know if I've beaten my time at all as I have started the B210K programe so I have to keep my pace slow to make sure I complete the intervals.
twoboys2012 - well done on doing the most difficult part of the programe - getting started! Look forward to reading your graduation message in a few weeks !0 -
Congratulations on finishing! Awesome time! I did W5D3 last night...I went a little slower then my usual pace to make sure I got through it...I went 23 min instead of the 20! I was so proud of myself...still am:bigsmile: I love your story, very inspirational! You are right in what you said about W5D3, once you do it, nothing will scare me now! I had myself all nervous, but excited, I knew I had to do it, I knew I could do it! Good luck to you with the 10k:bigsmile:0
-
Yay, I just finished week 9! I'm happy but also eager for more :-P Right now I'm in the same place as iamchristyl - I can run for 30 minutes but that doesn't get me even near 5k. In the next weeks I'm going to try reaching 5k and also to improve my speed.0
-
Well done!! I graduated in December and just did my first official 5K race last Saturday. I'm not sure about bridge to 10K, but I haven't ruled it out. How is that?0
-
Well done!! I graduated in December and just did my first official 5K race last Saturday. I'm not sure about bridge to 10K, but I haven't ruled it out. How is that?
Congrats ! B210K is going well, I'm in middle of week 2 now and can't picture myself being able to do 10k...Yet! I am keeping a blog on MFP, journaling my experiences going from 5 to 10k, please feel free to have a read at it.0 -
B210K is going well, I'm in middle of week 2 now and can't picture myself being able to do 10k...Yet!
I felt exactly the same, I was wiped out by W1D1 of B210K...and it is hard work...but stick with it, don't worry about pace, and you will get there. I found with both C25K and B210K that the speed comes later once you're used to running the distance and maybe a bit more to build stamina.
When I did my first 'official' 5K (parkrun) last October I did it in 30:08, running all the way (half killed me because of the hills). I started B210K around the same time, and by the end of that programme I was probably running 6-6.2 miles in the hour (so not quite there). When I finished B210K I started to extend my long run to give me more strength as I had a couple of 10K races booked in, so now I can run 10 miles.
I've been parkrunning fairly regularly and my latest time is 26:08 on the same course - so that's 4 minutes off my 5K time in 6 months. I ran my last 10K in 54:49. So just running more and longer will help with the speed - but there will be much more experienced runners out there who can advise about speedwork!
Good luck all!
F40 -
Thanks for the encouragement, I know it's going to be tough, the C25K had sections in it that felt like they were going to break me, this will be no different. I just got back in after W2D2 and had the weird experience where I struggled at the start of segment 1 , struggled a bit in segment 2 but blasted through the last segment even managing to do full pace full stride "running". Feel totally awesome right now, with that post-run, post-shower, post-coffee high.
That's awesome work on bringing your time down, I'm hoping to aim for that once I get my distance up. 10k in september I am aiming for a sub 90 minute time, I'm pretty clueless at the moment as to what I will be capable of.0
