C25K we are in it for the park run (6)

Ha ha comeagain i studiously avoid hills ........unless they're in my favour of course.

I'm just going to use Runkeeper now. I can carry on running for 30 mins but gradually try and speed up a little until I get to 5k. I think I'm in about 4.35k now, but a little bit of that is a warm up walk - not quite 5 mins though.

I've read somewhere that the ideal increase is about 10% a week to avoid injury, so, by my (uneducated) rationale, if I run about 3 mins of it at a slightly faster pace, that'll do......
We'll see....
Going to deffo try a parkrun in about 3 weeks (not before as too many other commitments).
Have a good weekend everyone.

Well done ellen!

natty short "fast" runs are indeed meant to be good for your running, as are doing hill runs apparently.

Now given im surrounded by hills and cannot get much further than 20mins running i would dispute that

Ive resorted to 10min runs/1min walk stage again. But have also mapped a 5k route to walk/jog each time im out. Basically i end up doing the programme then walking the rest as quickly as i can. Managed the 5k in 43mins tonight which is 4 mins faster than last time plus involved FOUR hills of various lengths & gradients. Went opposite direction this time and its worse

Well done ellen. What's the plan now? Increasing distance?

I've just been out for a quick 5/20/5 with mate as she is going out and couldn't fit anything longer in. I was expecting it to feel comfortable but I think we really hammered it subconsciously thinking, 'oh well, it's only 20 mins' . I certainly felt it at the end. I suppose it is good to do short fast ones anyway from a fitness point of view, rather than just long plods.

Ellen how far off the 5k are you? Running for 30 mins is amazing!! I'm struggling to imagine being able to run for 3 without stopping!!

Oh, by the way, for those undecided about phone carrying apparatus, I got a running belt and it's really good. No bouncing like a bum bag, and it lies flat so you can fit it under clothes if you want.

This is it.

Brilliant ellen! Are you going to carry on with another app, or just try to get faster at the c25k?

2nd 30 min run today. I guess I'm finished c25k! (Still nowhere near 5k though). Managed it better today even though I havnt run since Sunday.

Good news for me is that a new parkrun is starting in the next few weeks in a really nearby town! Only 10 mins away. Definitely no excuses now. Will register I think.

8/1 done again. Felt good

Oops!

So I ran today w2r3 and managed to get completely lost in a city I've always lived in and ended finishing my run 2.8 miles from home!! So then had to walk all the way home!! My legs kill now!!!

I walk fairly quick anyway so I guess that probably helps. I'm impressed I am actually enjoying it and feel motivated to get just a little further each time.

I'm not looking at times at all, Strawberri, I'm simply focussing on running for the right amount of minutes. I'm definitely nowhere near 2.5 miles, you must go much faster than me.

Loads of you are doing so well I've been out again this morning, so w2r2 didn't get quiet as far as usual - did 2.5 miles but.im usually close to 3 so looking forward to running again tomorrow. Does anyone have a ideal time for 5k? I'm trying to do it to improve my general fitness (and hopefully loose some weight)

It was tough but I was so pleased with myself for doing it! I did it without my run buddy too.

You can def do it! I'm going to do 25 minutes at the end of week 6. Although dd and I are going to do full parkrun this week so it'll be longer. We usually do junior but we can't make it on the Sunday so we've decided to go for it. If we walk a bit so be it, we'll have a time to beat won't we!

Did you plodders past W5 find the jump to 8 mins then 20 mins tough? I can't imagine it, it sounds impossible!

Excellent! Going to tackle w6r1 this evening when it's cooler. Dd swimming tonight so will do it then I think

W5R1 this morning. Hard going but did it. I find sometimes running really really slowly is harder than just running really slowly, IYSWIM, it's harder to pick my feet up somehow.

Oh well done natty!

I seem to have hit a mental wall with jogging. Managed to jog about 20mins then had to stop. Tried to restart but was just getting too warm for me and i couldnt pick my feet up any faster. So just walked the rest of way home. On plus side i covered 5km and my walking pace was not much slower than jogging.

Think im going to go back to jogging 10min/walk 1min week but repeat it 3 times instead of two to try build up that way. (Hope it works as have 4 weeks til a 10k that i to run more than i walk).

Now for some much deserved food before doing some gardening

Hope you all have a nice day

Awesome Natty! I knew you'd do it. I did junior parkrun with my dd this morning. 2km in 13.15, she did her first in 14.33 two weeks ago so a pb! She's very competitive, swimmer so loves to pb!

Starting week 6 tomorrow

Well done Natty

Well done natty it's such an achievement! I did w9R1 - 30 mins, although I didn't bother with the app and just used Runkeeper to tell me when I'd done the time.

I left it till 5:30 ish so it cooled down a little, but I'd been out in the sun all day at an athletics meet (not me! DD11 is a runner) so was overhot and ended up feeling sick.

Have a good week everyone.

WE DID IT

So relieved! We took a different route and slowed it right down and we DID IT. Yessssss! Going to repeat it a few more times to really cement it before moving on. I think the new route and the slower pace definitely helped. I really enjoyed it too for the first time in a while. We ended up doing a huge loop that amounted to 10k in total, so we got a really good cool down too. I feel like I'm set up for the day now. Fab.

How is everyone else getting on?

I like early morning runs, I try to go out before 7am because it’s so much cooler and there’s less traffic so less hassle crossing roads.

Natty I’m really impressed by your 6km total, you must be really motoring it so no wonder you were tired out! Good luck on Sunday.

I can tell my fitness levels have increased through this. I ran for the bus the other morning. Wearing heels and carrying laptop bag and hand bag! I would never have attempted it before.

Brody is right, I'm happy to be getting off the sofa and out exercising