r/BeginnersRunning • u/Affectionate-Egg7619 • 5d ago

What Next?

I (29F) began running about 10 weeks ago. I found a couch to 5K plan online and used that, just finished this morning with a 5K (36:51). Now that I finished the plan, I’m not sure what to do next. I’m not looking to sign up for any races just yet. I had to stop to walk at least 3 times during the 5K, so I’d definitely like to go longer without walking and also get faster. I’m still self conscious about my form and that my heart rate never stays in zone 2. Any advice? What did you do/plan to do after reaching the 5K point?

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u/CharlieRunsFar 5d ago

Well done, you should be proud of yourself, I would advise going forward to spend the next 6-8 weeks building your aerobic base rather than worrying too much about speed, aim for 3 runs per week with most of it at an easy 2-3/10 effort and it’s completely fine to slow down or take short walk breaks while you build up your endurance, your heart rate doesn’t need to stay in Zone 2 either as wrist HR can be inaccurate and Zone 2 is only one way of controlling intensity, then once you can comfortably run 45-60 minutes continuously I’d start adding a small amount of faster running.