C25k Week 5 Day 3 --- Say what?

I found it a bit weird, and to be honest when it jumped back to intervals, I struggled, so I missed that week and jumped up a week and done that 2 weeks running, am on D2 of W8 now, you do get into it honest.

I'm on the same week! I just finished Week 5 Day 2. It actually felt great and I'm excited for the next one. It does seem like a huge jump, though. Other message boards I've read suggest that you take the 20 minute run very slowly. Good luck, you can do it!

I am doing my second run of week 8 tomorrow--28 minutes of non-stop running pleasure. When I hit that first 20 minute run, I didn't think I'd be able to do it. I was terrified. I thought I was gonna quit. I did it and felt great afterwards. Finishing the run in it's entirety is more important than going fast. Just do your runs, speed will come on it's own in time. PACE YOURSELF. Run, but run easy. Try not to look at your timer constantly, just get into an easy stride and take in the scenery. Concentrate on your breathing. Nice and easy, if you start hyperventilating too soon, you'll feel panicky and tire easily. You can do this. If for some reason you can't, just keep repeating this week until you're done. For me, I didn't give myself the option. It hurt, I hated it, I wanted to stop and flop down on the ground but I just kept going and when I was done, I felt amazed and proud of myself in a way I hadn't in a long time. Good luck.

Everyone gets intimidated by W5D3 but you will be ready, I promise


That said for me I thought Week 6 had two 10 minute runs on day 2 but I could be wrong, it's been a bit since I finished week 6.

So yesterday I completed Week 5, Day 1. Which is intervals of walking 3 minutes and running 5 minutes.
This morning I looked ahead and I see:

Week 5 Day 2 - intervals of walking 5 minutes and running 8 minutes.
Week 5 Day 3- Running the entire 20 minutes (not including the warm up/cool down time) :noway:

Say what? Is this for real? That seems like a huge jump. And then going into Week 6, we are going back into running/walking intervals. With Week 6 Day ` having 8 minutes being the longest running interval.
Sooo, is there a glitch in my app??! :laugh:
If not, I'm going to need to do a serious pep talk with myself before hand. And make sure I have plenty of energy that morning.

I didn't even look ahead with Day 3. I headed out and when it popped up, I about fell down in the road :laugh:

To my surprise I ran the whole bloody 20 minutes and felt like a warrior when I was done! I am on W6D2 now and after that 20 minute jaunt, I can do anything.

Good luck :bigsmile:

You can do it! I liken it to a variation on long-distance training.

I started C25k back in June, and a couple of weeks ago started a half marathon training. You run 4 days a week, right? 2 miles, 3 miles, 2 miles, 4 miles. Always extending your last run of the week. So the next week it might be like 2, 3, 2.5, 4.5 or something (there's lots of variations on programs).

C25K essentially also does one "long" run a week for a couple weeks. It seems like it's crazy (and believe me, I remember finishing week 5 in the flipping middle of July in the awful southern heat), but YOU CAN DO IT!

Start it with a mindset of completion. Then rejoice in the fact that W6D1 goes back to intervals

ETA: You run 4 days a week for half training, I realize that C25K is only 3 days/week.

Jog. I mean slowly. Concentrate on your breathing, take your time, and before you know it, that sweet voice will tell you you''re halfway there. Then you know you can finish.

I think I'm the only one with an app that didn't have the 20 minute run until week 6. Then it just adds a couple of minutes to each run. I just did 25 & 28 minutes in brutal heat and wish I had a light day next. I may go off schedule & give myself a light run.

Good luck with your 20!

I'm so greatful for the positive posts on this subject all over the fitnesspal site. I just did day 2 of week 5 and after the last run thought I would die on the 20 minute. I read all the posts saying "go slow and you can do it" or "it was so easy I couldn't believe it" and they are right. I'm 44 and a former athlete but I never ran as an adult for any reason other than during a softball or basketball game and that was about 7 years ago so I have been worried about distance running. Today is the 8 min run, 5 min walk, 8 min run and I just thought I'm going to run it all and see how I feel. If I needed to walk, I would. I ran the entire 21 minutes and when I hit the 2 mile marker on the trail before the cool down walk I was doing the Rocky arm pump in the air. Now I can concentrate on speed by continuing the endurance but I know I've got this! My sister challenged me to run a 5K on the 4th of July in honor of our dad who died from ALS as a result of Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam. He was a runner and this means so much that we will be able to finish this together. Day 1 was the hard day. That was the day I made myself get out of bed at 4:30 am. Now that's no problem.

I am bumping this for motivation when I get to that point!