C25K - at the end but nowhere near 5K

[Appervine]

I did the final run in week 8 today and decided to track my distance using Strava. I was gutted to discover I'd only done 3.4k! Has anyone else found the same? Did you just keep increasing your time till you got there or should I be working on increasing the pace instead once I'm a bit more comfortable with running for half an hour? Advice from proper runners would be great. Thank you!

I went back to week one and through the programme again, I found I could run faster on the intervals, and stretch out more as I ran which helped with the distance. There is also a C25K graduates (with the NHS podcast) that works on speed or stamina.

Ah interesting. I hadn't thought of going back to to the beginning.
I did think of the graduates programme but wasn't sure if I had to actually be doing the full 5k beforehand.

That's a good idea to start from the beginning again. I completed c25k 18 months or so ago and I still haven't managed to cover the 5 k in less than 34 mins. It's hard to increase speed in my experience. I am a bit of a slacker though and don't tend to push myself! Well done for your progress so far though. I think you need to increase to 4 runs a week and try to include one fastish run and maybe some hills?

I still use the C25k+ tracks. They're time based so distance doesn't matter. There's 3, speed which is shorter and introduces intervals of faster running and recovery, and stepping stone and stamina which increase the time and again work on pace by running to the beat.

If there's hills nearby, developing your strength on them improves your speed on the flat.

You'll get faster, don't worry! I've only recently managed to do 5k in less than 30 mins and I'm doing the great north run next week. Just keep running, you've done brilliantly- no need to start again!

Don't worry about speed just being able to run constantly for half an hour takes alot of doing from scratch!
You can still take walk breaks if needed ??