C25K

Can I ask, is the program designed to get us running 5k in 30 mins, or just 30 mins? I assumed the latter and that the 5k in the name was a misnomer, but my friend insists we’re supposed to be working on speeding up so as to do 5k in the time. I’m currently on 7.2 and doing about 3.5k in 25 mins, so am clearly nowhere near 5k in 30 and it’s making me feel a bit disheartened!

Well done Avon and Miranda!

I’ve finished c25km and did my first park run this weekend too! Loved it

Avon , my Park Run is in south west London. I suspect I will be one of the ones at the back.

I managed 4K in my week 9 Run 1 this morning. I am aiming at completing the 5k within 40 minutes - assuming I can run that long. The last 10 minutes this morning were really hard.

Thank you 😊 am slightly wondering if it was a one off - will have to see how my week 7 run 3 goes ans whether I can still run

Miranda wow that’s fab - you look great too!
Cat perfect timing then - imagine if we’re doing the same Parkrun

Thank you Miranda for reporting back. avon I am due to do a Park Run on 23rd June but I have only just completed week 8 of the programme.

Thanks Avon and Pink!

I completed w1r2 today. Work and the heat got in way but i went out first thing this morning. Was ok. Pleased with myself for doing it though

Had an email and I was 214th out of 316. And the 82nd female

I did the park run DH came and watched as is coughing a lot at the moment and DS was a lazy lump and stayed in bed.

I did it in 30 min 28 seconds had my week 7 run 2 on and just kept running after 25 min. There were some fast people there but plenty slower than me too. Here’s some of DHs pictures of me

Last C25K run done . 4K in 30 mins. So pleased. Plan now is to try and increase distance covered ready for 23 June Parkrun. Well done all of us

Hi all,

if any of you are doing park runs this Saturday, please report back.

I completed Week 8 today. I still can't quite believe I can run for nearly half an hour.

Did week 7 run 1 today. Felt glad I'd done it but didn’t feel like it at the time .

Have said to DS I might try a park run at the weekend. He last did one nearly a year ago and was just under 24 minutes then (and I’m sure is generally faster by now at 14.5) but it might be the last match of the NBA basketball finals at 2am on Saturday morning so he may or may not join me.

Have done them before but this is a new course here since January that we haven’t tried yet.

Walking in the walking buts of the program if fine, it's what you are supposed to do. But walking, say, 3 minutes into a 5 minute run would be considered not completing the run.

It's OK to take your pace down if needed, but keep on running. It's much better to start far slower than you think you need and then as the run progresses increase your pace if you have more to give (or don't, and just keep a consistent slower pace, which is fine too).

The single most important thing in C25K is to complete each bit of every run. Pace and speed is of no consequence to succeeding. A slow is jog is fine.

...is that cheating??

This is your journey you fitness, no one else's. So nothing is "cheating". If you can't manage a run, repeat it. Or go back a week. Everyone has bad runs and bad days. Just pick yourself up and try again.

If you couldn't finish a run then you were going too fast. Slow down and relax when running.

Thank you fate If I'm stopping during a run for a short while (walking rather than stopping altogether), is that cheating??

Dancergirl, if you read around the various forums on C25K (including here on MN), you'll see a regular theme expressing exactly what you've said.

It's quite usual to really struggle with Week 6, many people do. Indeed while most would say Week 5 is the best week in terms of the feeling of achievement (better even than Week 9), Week 6 usually wins the vote for worst/hardest week.

Trust the program though. Honestly, just move finish every run and move on. As I said in my post above, they key in Week 6 is to not get over-confident. Drop your pace significantly.

Finishing is much more important than speed.

And consisting pace is better than fast jog / slow jog. Find a pace you can maintain, it doesn't matter how slow it is, just that you can maintain it to the end.

Running in this heat is torture. I'm not made for 23 degrees. The dog nearly passed out. Not going till 10 tonight so should be better.

After redoing one of the Week 5 runs, I did W6R1 today thinking it would be easier as it was back to 5 or 8 min runs rather than a continuous 20.

After a good start, I now feel I'm not doing very well and I don't know what to do

I couldn't even manage a 5 or 8 min run without slowing down to a walk for a few seconds every so often. Maybe I'm just lazy I don't know. And I get so hot especially my face.

Feeling a bit of a failure today and don't know how to proceed.

I did 6.3 this morning and I felt like Mo Farah 😆 (never mind that Mo was probably faster than me when he was 18mo!).

I had a little cry upon finishing W5R3, I remember thr euphoria so clearly. Well done, it's a fantastic feeling that will stay with you.

What you need to watch now.... don't go out too fast on the W6R1 run. It's all too easy to think "I can do this now" and completely outpace yourself then run out of steam before you finish. Go slow and steady.

I did week 5 day 3! Not going to lie, between 15 and 19 minutes I was having to mentally yell at myself to keep going but oh my god the satisfaction when I finished. I felt so proud I was almost crying during the final minute :)

Pebblespony if I was you I’d just give it a go beating in mind you may need to stop if you’re coughing.
I did W9R2 on the road today. I’m so pleased - I was in my own, no DS to keep me going and I managed 4K in the 30 mins so I’m delighted. I took a selfie at the end sticking my tongue out and giving the middle finger to the voice that had me wavering at the start . Not doing Parkrun this Saturday now as DS is away and he wants to do it together. He’s helped me a lot so we’ll aim for 23 June (even though he’s a 19:30 runner for 5k...)
Today was the first time I REALLY felt “yes, you can definitely do this”!

@dancergirl I'd be inclined to do W5R2 again in your circumstances but that's just me.

Advice please. How long after bronchitis should I wait till going back running? I'm pretty much over it, just the dry, irritating cough towards the end that can linger for ages. Any experience?

Hello fellow runners, well done to everyone and welcome to the newbies

I've had a bit of a gap as we were away for half term. So I repeated W5R2 when I got back which I found quite hard.

Today I did W5R3 - massive jump! Running for 20 minutes?? I couldn't do it I tried to run as much as I can but changed to walking when it got difficult.

What shall I do now? Go back to W5R2? Or carry on? Help please!

I'm a graduate!!! 🏃‍♀️
Did my final run this morning and I'm so pleased!!!
Those of you that feel like it's impossible it really isn't, I'm planning on doing 5k for a couple of weeks then I'm going to slowly increase to 10k