Question about what to do after C25K....

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Question about what to do after C25K....

ready*to*run

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 6

Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:01 am

I recently completed the C25K program, and I need to know what to do next! I thought of looking for a 10k program - but I think my goal is to actually run a faster 5k first. I found one program on the Runner's World website - and it says it is for someone who can run 30 minutes. However, week one of that program starts with running 20 minutes. I'm afraid I will lose the endurance I have built up if I do that. (But I am a newbie - and I am just guessing!) Does anyone know of a program that makes a smooth transition from the C25K program? I wish Hal Higdon would come up with a C25K part two!

MaconMoves

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 3

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 6:08 am

ready*to*run wrote:
I recently completed the C25K program, and I need to know what to do next! I thought of looking for a 10k program - but I think my goal is to actually run a faster 5k first. I found one program on the Runner's World website - and it says it is for someone who can run 30 minutes. However, week one of that program starts with running 20 minutes. I'm afraid I will lose the endurance I have built up if I do that. (But I am a newbie - and I am just guessing!)

Does anyone know of a program that makes a smooth transition from the C25K program? I wish Hal Higdon would come up with a C25K part two!

My suggestion is keep the last week of the C25K program, just do faster pace on 2 of the days, and increase distance on one day. For instance, on Tuesday run easy 1 mile, push hard one mile and cool down one mile. Thursday push fairly hard for 3 miles. Sunday run 4 miles real easy. Keep at 4 until it's no effort, then up it to 5. Your goal can be to run a 5K faster and] to run a 10K. Keep at it.
Scott

OldManRunner
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
Rochester, NY
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 262

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:19 am

Umm, what's C25K?

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 10:34 am

I had to do some Googling to learn that C25K is Hal Higdon's "couch to 5K" training program. At first I thought it was some kind of 25 kilometer race in Canadian currency. I couldn't actually find the details of the program online, though. Anyone know where to find them? So did you do your 5K race? How did it go? If you are just starting out, my advice would be to just focus on slowly building up your weekly mileage. I don't think you need to worry about a specific 5K, 10K or other plan. Just run some miles, the more the better. I wouldn't worry about running them fast yet, either. A nice gradual buildup in your weekly mileage will do wonders for your endurance and aerobic abilities. Over time, physical adaptations will happen in your body, such as the development of new/bigger capillaries to carry blood, and more/bigger mitochondria in your muscle cells to create energy. All the other stuff about intervals, tempo runs, etc. can wait until you've built up a nice mileage base on a steady diet of easy pace runs. Roughly how many miles are you running each week right now? Try lengthening your existing runs a mile at a time, so that you increase your weekly mileage something like 5% to 10% each week. Or if you prefer, keep your runs the same length, but run an extra day per week.

ready*to*run

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 6

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:26 pm

Here is a link to the C25K plan. It actually stands for Couch to 5K - It is made for people who are not physically active. (so that suited me perfectly!) http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml I'm sure most of you are way more advanced than this - but you might pass it on to someone who is interested in started a running plan. It helped me a lot because I didn't know where to start! I feel like I'm more successful when I have some kind of plan to follow whether it's a running exercise or even a diet plan. I know it's simple - Move more, eat less.....but I tend to stick to things that are written down. I am currently running about 9 miles a week. (3 miles/3 days) I thought of just adding a fourth day and trying to build up to four miles a day. I did three 5k races three weekends in a row before I finished the program. I had so much fun - and I tried not to worry about how many people were beating me! I walked a little in all three races - so I'm curious to see how I can do without walking at all. 1st 5k 36:14 2nd 5k 33:30 3rd 5k 29:42 What do most people do after they run a few 5k's? Do they try to run longer races - or do they try to get better at the 5k? If I start running longer distances - will it help me run the 5k faster? It seems like it would just train me to run at an even slower pace. Does that make sense? Anyway, any tips would be great!

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:06 pm

Congrats on the races. 3 races on 3 consecutive weekends, and you dropped about 3 minutes off your time each race! That's very impressive! Most people are happy if they can shave a few seconds off their previous 5K best. I'm no expert, but can offer a few suggestions. First, if you are dropping 3 minutes off your 5K time in the space of a week, you still have tremendous room for further improvement. That's great. It's an exciting period for a runner when new PR's come easliy and often. Since your current longest run is pretty short at 3 miles, I'd suggest going for a longer distance once a week, rather than adding more days per week right now. So next week, try running 4 miles one day, and 3 on the others. Then in another week or two, make it 5 miles. And in another week or two, 6 miles. It may sound like a lot, but trust me, if you keep at it and just increase the mileage gradually, it will come with no problem. Just do the runs at an easy pace you can do without needing to stop to walk. You should be moving fairly easily, and should have enough breath to have a conversation with someone running with you. If you're too out of breath to talk, then you're going too fast for an easy training run. Once you get to the point where you can do 3/6/3 for 12 miles per week, then maybe experiment with adding an extra day per week for something like 3/3/6/3. As far as getting faster at 5K vs training for a 10K or longer race, they are not mutually exclusive. For you, I'd focus on longer distance races, like a 10K race. Believe me, it WILL make you faster at the 5K distance too. If you increase you current runs by 1 mile every couple of weeks, then you'll already be running a 10K (6.2 miles) in training in a month or two. So my advice is to work at building up to longer and longer distance runs at a nice easy pace for now. For a beginner, I think there's much more benefit from running 6 miles once a week at an easy pace than 3 miles twice a week at a hard pace. By the way, the calculator in the tools section says you should do your easy pace runs at 11:55/mi right now, based on your most recent 5K time. But use your own feeling as a guide, just keep it at an easy conversational pace, and rack up the miles.

ready*to*run

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 6

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:56 am

Thanks for all of the advice! I will try what you said about the long run once a week. I probably didn't explain my race times very much in my post. It does seem like a huge improvement from week to week - but I walked for 6 minutes in the first race, about 4 minutes in the second race, and maybe 2 minutes in the third race. (so that is how some of the time came off) I haven't tried a race since I started running 3 miles without walking. I need to do that soon! Thanks again for the advice! Karen

OldManRunner
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
Rochester, NY
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 262

Re: Question about what to do after C25K.... Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:32 am

Hey, congratulations on some great race times and improvements. Reducing the amount you walk counts just as much as running faster, if not more! I think Rickshaw's advice is right on the mark - to work on gradually building your distance. If your goal is to bring down that 5k time, longer easy runs are the best way to eliminate those final two minutes of walking. The alternative of training to run faster, but without first building that aerobic base, might help a bit, but you'd have to run each mile 39 seconds faster in order to equal that same 2 minute improvement. It'll be a lot easier, and a lot more comfortable/pleasant to gain those 2 minutes by increasing your endurance through long easy runs than it would be to try to run almost 40 seconds faster per mile. And you get the added benefit of training for a longer period of time each day at a moderate level, which is the best thing for your health, weight, mental outlook, etc. Rob

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