C25K encouragement continued

[Jibberoo]

Hi everyone

I've started this thread as I couldn't add any more posts to the other one. Hopefully you all find this thread!!

Hope everyone had enjoyed their day - so bored at home right now I'm glad I have the run to look forward to. Waited till it got dark and I headed out with my new running buddy - my 11yo ds. Yes he ran ahead of me and stopped a few times so I could catch up, but we ran 4.46km in 33mins and I'm so proud of both of us! (And little dog of course who's my faithful running buddy). It was a bit drizzly tonight which was actually quite nice as it wasn't that cold so the rain cooled me off a bit.

I've been thinking of how I can improve my stride length and I wonder if I can use my rest days to do W1r1 and try to do it with much longer strides? Seeing my son running I realise how inefficient my stride is. If I can only learn to open my stride I could run much further in the same time. If I can walk tomorrow I might try that to see if I can.

Hope everyone is enjoying their runs today!

The M&S bra has changed it’s name. It’s now called Extra high impact serious sports. It’s the same bra. I’d recommend it.

onedropbeat I started the C25K last April, I ran a 10K for charity (independently) a couple of weeks ago. I’m 51 and hadn’t run prior to the C25K.

@Onedropbeat I started C25K at the end of August and ran my first 10K on 2nd January.
Today I finished C210K (yes I know that's a bit arse about face but wanted to achieve it ).
I'm starting half marathon training now , I'm 45 and didn't think I could run before August !

I'm not fast by the way but I'm running and happy enough with that

I know I’m not going to run 5k in 30 mins. My age and height prevent that

What do you mean about height? Are you really tall, Dobby? I know the fastest runners are generally (very!) short, but that's not to say that if you're tall you should rule out being faster altogether- in fact if you look at it another way, you could think you have an advantage, with longer legs!

@fellrunner85

I know I’m not going to run 5k in 30 mins. My age and height prevent that

What do you mean about height? Are you really tall, Dobby? I know the fastest runners are generally (very!) short, but that's not to say that if you're tall you should rule out being faster altogether- in fact if you look at it another way, you could think you have an advantage, with longer legs!

I'd like to know what you mean by age? I'm in my 50s. Does it mean I'll never do a 5k in under 30 minutes? I would be over the moon if I could do it in 35.

Should be IN 30 minutes. Not under 30 minutes!
That would take a miracle!

@DobbyTheHouseElk

The M&S bra has changed it’s name. It’s now called Extra high impact serious sports. It’s the same bra. I’d recommend it.

I think i might have that one! Is it grey/black with yellow piping?

I'm in my 50s. Does it mean I'll never do a 5k in under 30 minutes?
Definitely, definitely not. I train with a woman in her late 50s who runs 5k at a similar speed to me (so 20mins) and another in her mid 60s who runs 23/24 mins. Obviously 5k in 30 mins is not quite as easy if you're older, but it's very doable.

To put it into context stat-wise, using age grading:

A 35 year old woman running a 5k in 30 mins bang on gets an age-graded score of 49.4.

To get that same age-graded score, a woman of 40 would have to run 5k in 31 mins.
A woman of 50 would have to run 5k in 33 mins 39 secs
And a woman of 60 would be aiming for 37:45.

So, very roughly, over 5k a woman of 50 could expect to be around 3 mins slower than a woman of 35 if they were of "equal" fitness and putting in the same effort.

(Somewhat depressingly though, the time "gains" of being older only really start kicking in above 50 - so don't play with the age grading calculator expecting it to show that an 18 yrar old should be much faster than a 35 year old as it's not the case. There's a matter of seconds in difference between those aged 18, 25 and 35 over 5k!)

Half of our local races (especially not road ones) are won outright by an over 40... Similar on some fell races.

My main speed limiting factor is that when I'm sad, frustrated or bored I eat too much junk. I'm overweight rather than obese (just) but know being slimmer would gain me speed at the same level of training. Running, especially speed sessions, does tend to make me less grumpy and less obsessed by chocolate...

So, very roughly, over 5k a woman of 50 could expect to be around 3 mins slower than a woman of 35 if they were of "equal" fitness and putting in the same effort.

I'm not sure I agree with this, there's an element of natural ability too.

if you are interested look up the times in the age ranking of local public races. not sure if park run publish those as well.
that can give you an idea about time differences between age group and sexes.

Thanks to whoever mentioned wiggle and sports bras. I'd never thought to look there. A pain that you can't filter by size, but managed to find a shock absorber in the right size for £17 which is much easier to stomach than the prices on Bravissimo!

I'm not sure I agree with this, there's an element of natural ability too

Of course there is. At an individual level, myriad factors come into play, from genetic advantage through to how much weight people are carrying, what they eat, what course the 5k is run on... even if they're wearing Vaporflys

All the stats are saying is that, on a population level, your average 50 year old can expect to be roughly 3 minutes slower over 5k than your average 35-year-old.

not sure if park run publish those as well

Yes, they do. So, taking a parkrun near me as an example, the last one before lockdown was won by a guy in the 30-34 age cat, in 17:17. That gives him an age grade of 75.

First woman, also in the 30-34 age cat, finished in 19:37, and also had an age grade of 75.

So really, their performances were pretty bang-on equivalent, despite the woman being 2mins 20 secs behind the bloke.

But...if you sort the results by age grade, the "winner" was a woman in the 45-49 age cat who ran 21:00, with an age grade of 78.

🤣 I just misread that as a woman won with a time of 21.00 aged 78

That WOULD be amazing, @cavagirl! But the reality is almost as amazing - the current Parkrun age-graded record holder is a 99-year-old who ran it in 38 mins

I ran 5k this morning! It was great running weather sunny but quite chilly. Gave myself a flat-ish route and did it in 29.31, pretty pleased with that as its mid way between my first ever 5k and my fastest ever 5k. Mostly I was just enjoying being out there 😊

In the discussion whether over 50s can still get faster ... I ran 5k in 29m40sec this week. My route wasn't flat. This was on road rather than trail though. It takes me a bit longer on trail runs, particularly when the surfaces haven't fully recovered yet. I also can't quite keep up the same pace over 10k yet, but hopefully soon.

I wasn't running for speed so I expect I could knock a bit more off this.

Started c2to5k Nov. Am 53.

Most important thing for me now is staying relatively injury free. Having to take a break after injury is the thing I fear most (she says whilst ignoring the niggling adductor muscles...)

Newbie to this thread but after advice.

I just did wk6 R3 and it was the first time I couldn't do it without stopping. On wk5 run 3 I ran 20 mins without stopping and really surprised myself. But this time I ran 12 mins, had to walk for 2 and then ran 11 mins. I feel a bit deflated. Should I do the run again before going to week 7?

there is no shame in repeating a run penguin
next time try to go slower instead of walking if you feel it's too much.

Thanks @redcandlelight although sometimes I think if I went any slower I would be walking anyway!

I'm going to try it again after a day off as I'll just be annoyed at myself if I don't complete it. Can't let Jo Whiley down - she doesn't need any more stress in her life at the moment

I'd probably do the run again in that scenario, @Exhaustedpenguin. I'm just ahead of you, having finished Week 7 Run 1 yesterday. I run at a really slow pace and I find this really helps. If I have more energy towards the end of the run, I figure I can always speed up at that point, and actually, that's what I did yesterday.

Of course, running slowly does mean that I'm very unlikely to get to 5k by the end of week 9, but I'm ok with that. Running for half an hour without stopping will still be a massive achievement!

Hang on in there!

I managed to run for 30 mins this morning! W9 r1. I was slower than my last 28 min run and it felt like bloody hard work but that's OK. The main thing is that I did it.
According to my phone, I ran 4.5km so I'm still a way off running 5k but I'm getting there...

Wow, well done @WhereAreWeNow. 4.5km in 30 mins sounds like quite a good pace to me - not far to go at all before you can do 5k in half an hour!