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Oosh! Lengthy post is lengthy but some interesting food for thought there.
I was doing 3x 30 mins a week but have dropped back to a 1 or 2 a week after being on hols so I reckon I'll start with getting back into the habit of three runs a week for a couple of weeks. Deffo need to get to grips with pacing myself. I get frustrated if I feel I'm running slowly but then push myself too early and I've found with all exercise (cycling, swimming, whateves) that it seems to take me longer than most people to warm up but once I am warmed up/in that sweet spot I can go longer than other people of similar fitness levels...
I've taken against park runs because I've got a dislike of mass sports activities but I really should give it a go before I dismiss it outright.
Also ver good approach to running to work with the walk 1st and last miles. Thanks!
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pootsmanuva
@Greenbank
First off, well done on the couch to 5k.
Here's my glob of conflicting advice from a complete amateur.
Both really as they're kind of the same, but it's a rule of thumb so it doesn't have to be that strictly adhered to.
Don't go from one 5k run a week to five 5k runs a week as that will just invite an overuse injury.
Similarly don't go from five 5k runs a week to doing one 25k run and expect to get away with it.
It depends on what you do at the moment, if you do three 5k runs a week then adding a fourth may not be a problem, but don't add a fifth until you've done 3 or 4 weeks of four runs a week.
I progressed sort of slowly with my running, adding ~10% distance a week (in km) from week 3:-
Wk 1: 1.6, 3.2
Wk 2: 3.2, 5
Wk 3: 5, 5
Wk 4: 5, 5
Wk 5: 5, 5
Wk 6: 5, 5, 6
Wk 7: 6, 6, 6
My justification for 20% jumps from 5k to 6k in a week was that I'm also playing 5-a-side twice a week which is typically ~4k running each night (in an hour, it's very stop/start) so the total week increase was under 10% (5+5+6+4+4 = 24km to 6+6+6+4+4 = 26km). I just don't count the 5-a-side as pure running. So whilst an individual run went up by more than 10% I didn't push my weekly total up too fast.
It carried on:-
Wk 8: 6, 6, 6
Wk 9: 6, 7, 7
Wk 10: 7, 7, 7
Wk 11: 7, 7, 7, 5 (parkrun)
Wk 12: 8, 8, 7.5
Wk 13: 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 5
Wk 14: 10, 6, 10, 5
I also built up to my full commute in (11.5km) by doing:-
Wk 12: 7.5km run, Boris Bike the remaining 4k
Wk 13: 8.5km run, Boris Bike the remaining 3k
Wk 14: 10km run, walked the last mile
Wk 15: 11.5km run the whole way in
If you don't have the Boris Bike option then for an 8km (5 mile) commute you can walk the first mile to warm up, run 5k, then walk the last mile as a cool down. As you build up you can run more of it (run more of the 'warm up' walking until it's all running and then move on to running the 'cool down' walking) - post run stretching and cool down is still important though.
When I was up to doing my 11.5km commute in regularly I built up extending it:-
Wk n: 11.5km commute in
Wk n+1: 15km commute in
Wk n+2: 18km commute in
Wk n+3: 21.1km commute in (half marathon)
This was on the back of ~30km a week running, so adding 3km to one run was within the vague 10% magic limit.
Now I try and do one HM commute in once a month (did May and June, failed to do it in July), with the other weeks the 'normal' 11.5km commute in.
A typical (there's hardly a typical week) week for me is now:-
Mon: 10km (sometimes 4km 5-a-side)
Tue: 4km (5-a-side)
Wed: 6km (short and faster)
Thu: 12km commute in, 4km (5-a-side)
Fri: rest (well, rest from running, 1h swim and 3h cycling)
Sat: 5km Parkrun
Sun: rest
My Parkrun is about to become a lot slower as my 5yo daughter wants to run it each week and so I may try and add a 11.5km run home on a Tuesday depending on what time my 5-a-side game is.
(Managed to edit one bit out somehow). If you don't already do them then Parkrun (free timed weekly 5k runs) are an excellent way of continuing running throughout the year and keeps you motivated. No pressure, nice friendly atmosphere and gets you up and out for 9am on a Saturday.
The 10% a week increase may not seem much, but it quickly gets you up from 5k to 8km:-
Wk 0: 5km
Wk 1: 5.5km
Wk 2: 6.05km
Wk 3: 7.32km
Wk 4: 8km
It's just about setting off that little bit more slowly and adding that little bit more distance/time. The more times you do the distance the better you'll get at pacing yourself and knowing whether you can push that little bit harder from the start.
Even at a steady 10% a week increase you can quickly build on just one 8km run a week to much greater total weekly distances. After 25 weeks of 10% increase in weekly distance you can go from 8km to 86km - enough to cover commuting in and home 5 days a week and a 5km parkrun on a Saturday. You'd be used to being tired by this point though! I wouldn't recommend something as simple as this though, by the time you get to 30km or 40km a week you need to think about some more structured training including speed/strength/interval work, shorter faster runs, along with easier weeks every 4 weeks or so (periodisation and adaptation), etc.