C25K Graduates - what did you do next?

[OTheHugeWerewolef]

A few of us on the C25K Beginners thread are starting to wonder what we're going to aim for next, after finishing the C25K.

If you've done the C25K and are still running, still enjoying setting new goals and pushing yourself, what did you do next? Did you work on improving speed? Work towards a 10K? Do a few races? Are there any moving-on-from-beginners training plans you'd recommend?

TIA

I went straight into a 10k training plan and got an injury because I over did it which is completely my fault. So whatever you do don't make the mistake I did.

My advice would be to enter a race of some description and use that as a goal

hi Pinkglow - sorry to hear about your injury; that sucks! what training prog were you using? I'm thinking of bridge to 10k but there seem to be a few apps. Anyone else got any good tips!

I decided that I did not want to run further than 5 km but wanted to improve my time. I have gone from a 34 min 5 km to a 28.5 min one. I did this through introducing runs where I did speed intervals as well as some hill training.

Wiifitmama how did you go about planning your interval training? Did you follow a training programme for it or just start introducing some speed intervals as you went along?

I finished Couch to 5k in August last year, and have continued to run 2 or 3 times a week, usually about 20-25 minutes. I get up extra early in the morning to do it.

I have absolutely no wish to run further or faster, but I'm chuffed to bits that I've kept it going, even in the depths of winter, when I was restricted to running up the main road because of the dark.

Occasionally my motivation wavers, or I miss a couple of weeks because of illness/holiday, but then I often dig out my Couch to 5K downloads and repeat some of the later weeks, and it gets me back into it again.

I finished C25k in Sept and loosely followed the Bridge to 10k programme for the next few weeks. I found it quite easy to gradually increase duration, and ran 10k in just under an hour a few weeks ago. Was thrilled!! Did my first 10k race last weekend (Greenwich mo running). Was surprised it wasn't too difficult to increase from 5 to 10k, and am now completely addicted and have signed upnfor the BUPA 10k in May.