“Hi Kelly,
I wanted to get your advice. I’m in week 4 of couch to 5k, but today I missed the cue and accidentally ran for 9 minutes, 30 seconds without stopping. It felt pretty good, so I repeated that for the second half, after a 2 minute walking break. What should I do next? Should I get back on the program, or build off of this because it went well?
Thanks!
Caroline R”
Here’s my advice:
I don’t know.
Wow, thanks Kelly, that’s really helpful, I’m so glad I read your blog.
No, wait, wait!
Let me explain. My gut feeling is to give yourself a goal range for your runs so that you’re neither sticking the program nor skipping ahead, but listening to your body on each run and allowing for the possibility of either.
The danger of skipping ahead too much despite recent success is that you could feel like you’re backtracking if your next run doesn’t go as well. We all have some days that our runs go great, and some days they don’t go as well, based on weather, our hydration, sleep, and all those other x factors that impact our running. If you take this run as a sign that you’re further ahead rather than as a sign that you had a great run, then you could be disappointed or end up pushing too hard to make progress.
At the same time, why take extra weeks to complete the program if you’re making extra progress and feeling great about it? I don’t believe in holding yourself back and getting frustrated when you feel like you could do more, either!
Here’s my suggestion: look at where you’re supposed to be chronologically in C25k, and make that your goal for your next run. Then, just like you did by accident, keep running if you feel up to it. When you’re ready for a walking break, pretend you ran the suggested amount, and take the suggested walking break accordingly (ie, don’t use it as an excuse to walk longer). Then, do your next running segment as suggested by where you are in C25K, unless you feel like you can go longer. Repeat this strategy until your total amount of miles / running time meets the C25K requirement for that workout.
So if you’re in week 4 of C25k, your modified strategy would look like this:
Jog 1/4 mile (or more if you feel like it!)
Walk 1/8 mile
Jog 1/2 mile (or more if you feel like it)
Walk 1/4 mile
Jog 1/4 mile (or more if you feel like it)
Walk 1/8 mile
Jog 1/2 mile (or LESS if you got your mileage in in previous running segments)
If you feel great, I think it’s ok to run a little more mileage than the program is giving you, but I’d be careful not to increase it by too high a percentage. Listen to your body while you’re running, listen to it the next day, and build a gradual but strong foundation for future running.
CONGRATULATIONS on having a great run, on doing more than the program asked of you, and of sticking with it and making progress and feeling great!
Can’t wait to hear how the rest of the program goes for you!!!
Thanks Kelly! I’ll definitely try this out and see how it goes. Thanks so much for your help!
Good luck and happy running!
My 2 cents would be that you also want to be careful to avoid use injuries from pushing harder than the program. Part of the reason why the program goes as slow as it does is to give your joints and tendons time to strengthen. Tendons take longer to strengthen than the softer muscle tissue.
I ended up having to take a couple weeks out of my c25k program because I hurt one of my knees from pushing myself too much. It’s really easy to get caught up in the excitement to get through the program as fast as possible, but injuries can set you back even farther. It’s not like I went out for a run and tripped or pulled something, it was just that I put more mileage on my knee than it was ready for and it wasn’t until my next run that I noticed it was not happy. I say, good for you, but don’t try to get too ambitious too quickly!
That’s an excellent point!
That’s one of the reasons I suggested stopping at the mileage recommended by that week in the C25K program. I think the walking breaks can be reduced earlier than the mileage can be increased because one of the main challenges of reducing the walking breaks is getting your VO2 capacity up. Once your aerobic capacity is telling you that you don’t need a walking break as soon as C25k is allowing you one, you might be ok to jog longer, but if you add mileage to your run too quickly (or if you’re running faster too quickly) then you’re more likely to risk injury.
This could also be more my personal experience, since the reason for my walking breaks during C25k was always that I needed to catch my breath more than that my legs were tired.
Listening to your body during and after is key, and I agree that the program is great for building a gradual foundation!