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What happens after five kilometres

The week-nine problem, and three sensible directions out of it.

The most common time to stop running is the week after finishing a beginner plan. The structure disappears, the goal is gone, and a rainy Tuesday wins. So decide now, while you’re still in week seven.

Direction one: hold

Three easy 5Ks a week, indefinitely. This is a genuinely good answer and the one most people should choose. It keeps the fitness, keeps the habit, and asks nothing new of your tendons. Find your variety in routes rather than intensity.

Direction two: longer

Extend one of the three runs by about ten percent a week until it reaches eight to ten kilometres, and leave the other two at 5K. This is the on-ramp to a 10K, and it’s mostly an exercise in patience.

Direction three: faster

Keep the volume, and turn roughly one session in five into something quicker - six repeats of one minute hard with two minutes easy between them. Only take this direction if the last eight weeks were pain-free and you actually enjoy the hard bits.

DirectionThe changePick it if
HoldThree easy 5Ks a week, indefinitelyYou want the habit, not a project
LongerOne run grows 10% a week, to 8-10 kmA 10K sounds appealing
FasterOne session in five becomes intervalsThe eight weeks were pain-free

What all three have in common

They keep three sessions a week on the calendar. The specific work matters far less than the fact that Tuesday is still a running day. Habit first, adaptation second, ambition third.

You didn’t spend eight weeks building the ability to run 5K. You spent eight weeks building the person who runs three times a week. Protect that, not the distance.

Can I combine longer and faster?

Eventually, and not in the same month. Add distance first for six to eight weeks, let it settle, then add the one quicker session. Both at once is the most reliable way to spend October injured.

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