B210K: Progress Stalled

I've been working up to the 10k length, but this little knee concern has me wondering if I should be pursuing this at a slower pace. The program (by the way, the iphone app is soooo worth the miniscule price of the program) calls for this:

Week 1
Run 10 min/walk 1 min Repeat x 4.

Week 2
Run 15 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.

Week 3
Run 17 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.

Week 4
Run 18 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.

Week 5
Day 1: Run 22 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.
Day 2: Run 25 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.
Day 3: Run 30 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.

Week 6
Run 60 min.

Right now, I'm on week 4. I know that people do this program successfully, but I'm also curious if the increase every week is viable for me. I can do it from a heart/lung and muscle perspective, but I don't think my bones are strong enough for the endurance quite yet. I suppose if I was running a year or two already, that would be a moot concern. Then again, I do need to drop some more weight which would probably alleviate additional bone stress....gotta plan that diet soon!

So, I'm reconsidering....I wanted to get into a short run/long run weekly schedule anyways in order to gear up for the half marathons that I want to do next year (the same developers have the Hal Higdon's Novice Half Marathon app that I've already purchased and he pretty much adheres to a similar schedule so the transition would be smoother). So, I was considering this type of schedule:

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 5K run
Wednesday: Cross-Train (20 minutes) or 2 mile run
Thursday: 5K run
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: Cross-Train (30-50 minutes)
Sunday: Long Run (which would be Week 4, Day 3 or Week 5, Day 1 for me)

So, this Friday, I will attempt Week 4, Day 2 (again...I tried it Sunday remember but didn't want to risk knee injury) and if all goes well, I may attempt Week 4, Day 3 this Sunday. Now, I have 6-7 more workouts to finish the 10k program, so the above would take me 6-7 more weeks. That would put me on/around 14 miles/week over the next several weeks before increasing my mileage any more. I would hope to increase the mid-week runs to 4/3/4/6 or increase the long run to 3/2/3/7. I think the former makes more sense...but I suppose thats getting a little head of where I am right now...either way, I will eventually get to 4/3/4/7, right? Lets just finish the program first!

While I would have liked to finish the 10k distance sooner and definitely way ahead of my first 5k distance, I do like the idea of trying to increase my speed on the shorter 2-3.1 mile distances. I really have no idea how fast I can run for that distance as I've continued to increase my endurance and have pretty much been stagnant at 10:45-11:15 min/mile pace. It would be nice to gain some comfort in knowing that I can run 2 miles in 20 minutes, you know? Then, I could work on some simple speed work drills to increase the 5k distance while slowly increasing endurance over the next 7 weeks. And, that would give me more opportunity to play with my new garmin thats arriving this week! While I love the app and feel the need for music on the longer runs, I would like to go without music on the shorter runs. I don't think I need the constant reinforcement for rhythm and mood enhancer that the music provides...at least I would like to see if I don't!