C25K - Week 4 - question

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funsover
funsover Posts: 39
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, I on week 4 of the C25K program. When I did day 1 a couple days ago, I did my 3 min runs on 5 mph and my 5 min runs on 4 mph. Today I did all four runs on 5 mph, but i had to stop twice during the second 5 min run because I was just beat. Should I run slower and complete the day's workout, or should I stay on week 4 (assuming I can't get through D3 without stopping) and continue on the faster speed?

Thank you for any assistance with this. I was never a runner and the theory behind it is completely new to me.

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  • kuechletwins
    kuechletwins Posts: 88 Member
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    Bump
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
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    Go as slowly as you need to go to finish the workout.

    This program is NOT about speed. It's about increasing your endurance and your confidence.
  • amuhlou
    amuhlou Posts: 693 Member
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    When I was doing C25K I never focused on speed and I still had great results.

    When it gave me time and distance, I always just paid attention to time. It was probably only 4 to 4.5mph but I did what I was able to sustain for the amount of minutes required. If it says run 5 minutes I ran 5 minutes at whatever pace was manageable. Even doing that was difficult--worrying about my speed would have been pretty discouraging at the time.

    Speed will come later!

    My average 5k time on the final week of C25K was 38 minutes, or just about 5mph. It took a lot of work but I'm now able to do a 5K at about a 6mph pace (still working on making it feel a little more comfortable).
  • merguson
    merguson Posts: 281 Member
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    Do what feels comfortable to you. I personally, did week four twice. There have been days that I breeze through and others that were much more challanging. For me I repeated a workout till I felt I completed it successfully, till I felt good about it. I'm currently on week 7 day 1 and I was able to add 5 minutes to my jog today. Felt great! I don't think the program is written in stone, do what feels good for you. :flowerforyou:
  • LinsdayMV
    LinsdayMV Posts: 16 Member
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    Hey Linds - I slow down as much as I have to to be sure I can finish my jogs, and use the walks to recover. My understanding is that speed work comes into play after you have built a solid running fitness foundation, and there are a lot of training techniques you can eventually employ when you get to that place (hills, intervals, speed work, etc.).

    Also, I say repeat a week if you want to feel stronger before moving into week 5. You have at least 3 grace weeks before the actual race to extend your program a bit, so I wouldn't worry about falling behind becuase you are really taking yourself into uncharted territory every time you step out your door or onto your treadmill, so you are only building your success no matter what week you are in! I am so proud of you/us for caring about ourselves enough to try to be more healthy people!

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