Zombies, Run C25K?

emilycat214

I have never been a runner. Ever. When I started at the gym, 2.5 mph on the treadmill felt like "brisk" walking to me, and I was dismayed to discover that MFP considered it "leisurely". In the month+ since then, I've gotten to the point where I can do 3 mph on the treadmill for most of my 30 minute session.

Today I pushed the 4 mph button and ran jogged. For 30 seconds. Three times. I feel absurdly proud of myself.

My sister has recommended the Zombies Run C25K app. I have two questions:
1) Is it suitable for a beginner on a treadmill?
2) I've been using the regular Zombies Run app on the treadmill--does the C25K have spoilers for the plotline? I haven't finished Season 1 yet.

Cindyinpg

It's suitable for all fitness levels and it has its own storyline that you follow as you complete missions, nothing to do with The Walking Dead's story. Wish the Walking Dead would put out a fitness app. That'd be cool.

emilycat214

Cindyinpg wrote: »

It's suitable for all fitness levels and it has its own storyline that you follow as you complete missions, nothing to do with The Walking Dead's story. Wish the Walking Dead would put out a fitness app. That'd be cool.

I don't watch The Walking Dead. I'm talking about the plot of Zombies Run app, which is set in Abel Township, but is separate from the C25K app.

Cindyinpg

emilycat214 wrote: »

Cindyinpg wrote: »

It's suitable for all fitness levels and it has its own storyline that you follow as you complete missions, nothing to do with The Walking Dead's story. Wish the Walking Dead would put out a fitness app. That'd be cool.

I don't watch The Walking Dead. I'm talking about the plot of Zombies Run app, which is set in Abel Township, but is separate from the C25K app.

Oh. OK. Lol. I wouldn't know then. Sorry, I have Walking Dead on the brain today.
I have both apps but have only used the main one. Zombies Run.

emilycat214

Cindyinpg wrote: »

emilycat214 wrote: »

Cindyinpg wrote: »

It's suitable for all fitness levels and it has its own storyline that you follow as you complete missions, nothing to do with The Walking Dead's story. Wish the Walking Dead would put out a fitness app. That'd be cool.

I don't watch The Walking Dead. I'm talking about the plot of Zombies Run app, which is set in Abel Township, but is separate from the C25K app.

Oh. OK. Lol. I wouldn't know then. Sorry, I have Walking Dead on the brain today.
I have both apps but have only used the main one. Zombies Run.

Okay. Thanks for answering my first question.

autumnblade75

I don't recall any spoilers. I used it on the treadmill, and it worked out pretty well. There are other exercises in a few of the sessions that would call for stopping the treadmill to do, but I think I just ran through them. Or walked. I didn't follow all that strictly.

My phone doesn't do a good job with handling the accellerometer, and you can't use GPS on a treadmill - steady pace works pretty well for me, now that I can run for over an hour solid, but probably isn't a great option for the C25K app. You can always edit the distance of your run/walk after the session ends, though, for a record. If you have ZR synced with RunKeeper and RunKeeper synced with MFP, it will sync before you can edit the distance, so you'll have to edit the exercise entry on MFP, too - I prefer to set my pace as slower than what I expect to achieve, because it's always more rewarding to change the MFP to show a higher calorie burn.

I'm considering untying from the RunKeeper tether, though - I have a FitBit, as well, and it seems to provide the better numbers, without all the hassle.

emilycat214

@autumnblade75 Thanks for the reply. I probably won't bother keeping special records. I have an exercise on MFP called "treadmill, variable speed". I just enter my time and whatever the treadmill console says is calories burned. I don't so much want to become a runner as I want to be able to run. If that makes sense.

I have purchased the app--$1.99 is reasonable for an experiment--and will see how it works for me. Unfortunately, that may not be tomorrow. I have the day off, but there's supposed to be snow and sleet and hazardous road conditions. The zombies can wait until Tuesday.

charlotteX92X

There are definitely no spoilers for the main games plot. Zombies 5k is set very early on in season 1, like between mission one and two so you won't get any spoilers. And it is designed for beginners so no problems there either. You get a little more background information about some of the characters but there's not really much story involved.
I hope you enjoy the 5k app, it's how I got started running.

autumnblade75

I never really expected to become a runner, either. I just thought that 2 miles in 20 minutes (I heard on the radio that police officers were expected to pass a physical test with that standard - not that I wanted to be a cop, either) sounded not-that-hard. It was tougher than I thought, and somewhere along the way of chasing that minor-sounding goal, I started to like running.

Take the treadmill's number with a grain of salt - they don't all use the same formula to calculate calories burned, and it may not be accurate.

Remember to slow down if you can't complete a run segment, yes, even if you're running at the same speed as your walk segments, so long as you're using the running gait, it counts. Speed will come later. And enjoy! You might become a runner, anyway.

emilycat214

charlotteX92X wrote: »

There are definitely no spoilers for the main games plot. Zombies 5k is set very early on in season 1, like between mission one and two so you won't get any spoilers. And it is designed for beginners so no problems there either. You get a little more background information about some of the characters but there's not really much story involved.
I hope you enjoy the 5k app, it's how I got started running.

Thanks! I opened the app, and discovered that the optional first mission is a repeat of the first (introductory) mission from the regular app. So I'll skip that and go straight to the first training mission.

emilycat214

autumnblade75 wrote: »

Take the treadmill's number with a grain of salt - they don't all use the same formula to calculate calories burned, and it may not be accurate.

I rarely eat back all my calories, but the estimates can't be too far off, since I am losing weight.

autumnblade75 wrote: »

Remember to slow down if you can't complete a run segment, yes, even if you're running at the same speed as your walk segments, so long as you're using the running gait, it counts. Speed will come later. And enjoy! You might become a runner, anyway.

Thanks for the advice! I guess I'll see what happens.