Do you work on distance or speed first?

[PurpleThistle7]

Just found this board! I just finished the c25k programme this week - in the sense of getting to 30 mins of jogging. Which is nowhere near 5k for me - I’m insanely slow. And it’s crazy hard. I’m going to spend a few weeks just repeating until I feel less like I’m dying but then wondering if you’d try to run longer at the same pace or try to get faster? Or will it one thing just happen naturally?

welcome. There are specific threads. You might want to duplicate your question on the exercise thread. Might get more focused responses

www.mumsnet.com/talk/exercise

No idea how I managed that - I thought I had posted there! Reported my own post, sorry everyone.

I’d focus on one, personally I’d go and run 5k and see how long it takes, a 30 min 5k is fairly quick for a new runner.

Once you’ve got a 5k time I’d work on that, but you get faster by running faster…
so two or three runs a week, one easy shuffle, one long run (which at this stage might be 5k and that’s fine!) and one run with intervals (a good start is 10x 30 seconds hard, 6x 1 min hard, some short hill sprints, that sort of thing. Dont overcomplicate it to start with, the super long sessions with heaps of paces are for people who’ve been running a long time who have a lot of gears, it takes a lot of time to get there!)

It depends on your goals. Personally I hate short distances and have no interest in improving my 5k time. I'd much rather run/walk a 10k. I live semi rurally and don't enjoy running at all until I can get out in to the countryside.

As above, but I’d start with 4 to 6 x 30s hard and 2 or 3 x 1 min intervals and build up.

There are loads of free programs on the internet you can use, or use something like garmin coach (free), the Runna app (paid for) or get Chat GPT to write a program for you. It is worth getting some target paces to work at for the different types of sessions.

Congratulations! A bit of both. I try to do a 5K reasonably fast (parkrun), and interval session (running club) and a longer, slower run each week. It helps with motivation if I am signed up for a race. There are 5 to 10k running plans available.

I'd work on both. Get the 5k feeling OK under your belt, then maybe do one day a week of intervals - sprint as hard as you can to a lamp post or whatever, then recover jog (try not to walk) till you feel ready to go again, and repeat. Sprint intervals are very good for women (see Dr Stacy Sims on this).

And also do one longer run, which can include walking, stopping to catch your breath. I used to run for about an hour (including warm up & cool down) up & down hills in my hilly town, with walking or verrrry slow running when I needed it. I just wanted to be out there (currently not running much because of an unrelated injury).

If you really don't know how to choose then maybe work on both, and why not.

For me, I think about this too often. It was a decision I made as a teenager.

As a teenager, I reckoned (could see the obvious that) I had zero native aptitude & would never be good at : skill, speed or strength. So that left stamina, I thought stamina was the most feasible fitness thing for me to work on and possibly ever improve at.

Now 45 yrs later. I have a LOT more stamina than unfit women my age. Compared to naturally athletic + also fit women my age I'm still pitiful lousy (at skill, strength, stamina, speed), but that's not a problem, because I improved hugely For Me. Which is an amazing achievement to me. With all the decades of exertion I have maintained or maybe even developed to have a little more skill than I had when young. And I have lost less Speed & strength than I would have otherwise. Am pleased I made a good choice for me.

No interest in speed. I do the Jeff Galloway method of run / walk and I do between 10-20km when I do a long run. Currently injured though.

Stamina first.
You might enjoy going further for the sake of it.
It's relatively easy to increase as you did to get to 5k.
If you want speed long term, if 5k feels relatively easy because you're now used to running further, it's easier to add speed/ intensity to the 5k distance because it's no longer your maximum.
Longer, slower runs are good for your aerobic system and becoming more efficient. This helps you recover during shorter interval runs when you mix faster and slower paces.

A lot of newer runners tend to have a single run pace and it takes time to develop easier gentle paces, and faster paces.