Couch to 5K (week 1)

annecolorgreen

oh my word, I did not look ahead to the 20 min run. can I do it? I'm not as confident as you are! Day 1 this week was tough (tonight) but 20 min seems like a big jump!

Do you know what speed you are running? I forgot to take my Nike sensor tonight, so I may have tried to run too fast. I made it though. The temps are cooler here, too, so that did help quite a bit.

~~anne

(good luck with the college thing--my 2nd youngest starts college next week but it's local)

Max_Power

I did W5D1 yesterday and I didn't think it was too bad either. The temperatures were a little cooler, which helped. I not sure how the rest of this week will go. I'm taking my youngest two children to college early tomorrow morning and won't be home until Friday evening. I have clothes in the car for tonight after work, but not sure if that's going to happen. A meeting at 6 and then a funeral visitation I really should go to, especially since I cannot make the funeral tomorrow. I'm still going to get this in though. It is so nice having the podcasts so I can just take them with me and run anywhere.

Max and Lori, I too am nervous about the 20-minute run, but we can do it! Thanks so much for all of you posting and keeping me motivated.

Just get up an hour before everyone else, and use your run as a way to explore the campus! If you don't run there, just make it up when you get back home. Nothing wrong with delaying a run a day or two, just don't let it throw you way off track!

Max_Power

Anne-

I had no idea how fast/far I was running when following the interval times, but the last two times I ran around a track at a nearby middle school. It surrounds a football field so should be about 1/4 mile around, and I think I went about 1.5 laps (3/8 of a mile) during the average 5-minute interval. C25K plan calls for 1/2 mile, but I said from the start that I was more concerned with time than distance, at least starting out. I do know that my pace has definitely picked up since the beginning, I hope when I'm on W9D3 I am running the full 3 miles they call for.


On that note- I know I've mentioned before how much of a difference it makes for me to use a podcast with voice prompts as opposed to watching the clock myself. I just let my mind wander and the run goes by quicker. I've also noticed it seems quicker/easier running on the track instead of a route through my neighborhood or on the bike path through the woods. As boring as a track may seem, I think it also helps me lose track (no pun intended) of where I'm at/what I'm doing and just run. When I was running the same route through the neighborhood I would start to notice landmarks and think things like "oh no, I made it to THAT signpost up ahead at the 3-minute interval yesterday, I must be running slower today..." I'm sure it's different for everybody, that's just what's working for me.

Sorry for rambling...

annecolorgreen

no, that's interesting. I'll have to give the track a try. I used the track to calibrate my sensor but it was SO freakin' hot--the heat just poured off the black track. I calibrated and got the heck out! I'm surprised just because I prefer running outside over the treadmill (and I've had to resort to that a few times this summer).

which podcast do you use? I'm pretty tech illiterate and will have to get my husband to help me I'm sure.

Thanks for the ideas!

Anne

goal30Lori

Hey guys! I'm at work right now, started back tonight after a year of mat leave. I work till 11pm and I don't get home until midnight, and then hopefully asleep by 12:30am. I'm really hoping to get up in the morning to run that big 20 minute run! If not, it will happen after the kids are in bed, but some weeks I will be working more often than not, so those mornings are going to be the only time I'll have! I'm scared that going back to work is going to derail my running and weight loss goals, but I am determined to keep at it!!

Max_Power

Anne-

I use the Ullrey podcast right now. http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/podcasts/podcasts.html The music is kind of bland, but it probably works for a broad group of users that way. Usually I just kind of tune it out and listen for the voice prompts, but today (first day of W5) I actually enjoyed the music. Maybe because I was just in such a good mood from running. Some people here have mentioned using podcasts from DJ Beatsmith, I'm sure they're linked somewhere around here.

There are also apps for both Android and I-phone that will run in the background and call out your intervals while you listen to your own music. I am on a waiting list for a Droid at Best Buy, so as soon as I get it I will probably try it out and report back.


Lori- Good luck on W5D3! Let us know how it goes!

sundinsgurl

wohooo! Completed run #3 for week 4!! Onto Week 5 :):)

goal30Lori

I did it, I did it, I DID IT!!!!! And - you know what??? It felt friggen fantastic!! So fantastic that I didn't even stop at the 20 minute mark, I went a few minutes longer!!! It was like, about 12 minutes in, my lungs opened up, my legs loosened up, I found the groove and I just went!! I felt like I could have run FOREVER!!! For the first time, I KNOW that I will run every step of that 5K in October!!!

So - for those of you just about to head out for that 20 minute run, embrace it, let it take over, and you will fly through it!!!

I am on top of the world right now!!!

dothompson

I finished week 2 and then we took a 4 day vacation, although I took my shoes, & inteneded to start week 3, I ended up taking a week off. I'm back on tomorrow, however I'm not sure if I should repeat week 2 or start week 3.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Max_Power

Lori- Wow, great job! That is very encouraging to hear. I did the 8-minute runs this morning, and it also went well, at least from an endurance standpoint. I've had a little lower back pain creeping up these last few days, and I'm not sure if it's from my running or not. It wasn't really bad, but it was enough to make me constantly aware of how much time I had left which definitely makes the run a little harder. Hopefully if I take it easy these next couple days it will get better, I am really looking forward to the 20-minute run on Saturday. Thanks for the update, and great job again!

Dot- if I remember right, I didn't feel like it was a huge jump from week 2 to 3 so you might be ok. Personally I'm not sure if I would've gone on after a week off, but I was in pretty bad shape to begin with so I really needed the gradual increases. Week 3 and Week 2 both start with 90-second jogs, so if you try week 3 and just can't make it when you get to the 3 minute interval, it would probably be fairly easy to go back to all 90-second intervals of week 2. Or, maybe you could just do one day of week 2 and then start week 3 on Saturday or whenever your next day would be?

dothompson

Thanks, I'm going to go for week 3. What's the worst thing that can happen, I'll be back at week 2, works for me.

I'll let you know how it goes.

sundinsgurl

FInished #1 for Week 5 - did much better with no clock watching today! My final 5 mins I made it to 4.5 mins than glanced down I am ready to take on the 8 mins next run

Max_Power

Week 5 Day 3 = DONE! Unlike Lori, I did NOT keep running for a few extra minutes after the 20 minutes but I still felt great. I had about a 20 minute walk to get home, which was a nice extra cool down. Lori- thanks for the tips on back pain, I will keep it in mind if it starts up again, but for now it seems to be gone.

The Ullrey podcast made it kind of tough to keep from thinking about how much time I had left because it uses the same podcast for all 3 days, so he kept announcing the 5-minute and 8-minute intervals. Sundinsgurl- good job on avoiding the clock-watching and doing W5D1! In my opinion D2 was as easy as D1, and of course D3 was a little tougher but I'm sure you can do it!

ronmichel

I just completed week 1 and will be starting week 2 Sunday morning, not sure how long my knees will hold out, but I will go until they start bothering me again.....

ljc1057

I'm back. The short story is I finished W5D3 (skipping W5D2). I ran for 21.5 minutes, which was only 1.5 miles. I run so slow!

I took my two youngest children to college the past three days and didn't have time to do anything. Then this morning I couldn't find my iPod. Had it yesterday while driving back. Headphones are in my purse. It's a mystery. So, I just looked at my watch when I started and ran the 1.5 mile trail and then walked back. It really wasn't that bad, especially without music :noway: , but I'm worried because I run so slow. I may change from the C25K plan for the last couple of weeks. My first 5K is Sept. 18. I may just try and increase the distance and time. Not sure.

Hi Ron and welcome!

YEA Max, Lori, and Sundinsgurl!!

How's it going Dot?

goal30Lori

Max - way to go! I agree, when they were announcing the times for the other days I kept thinking, okay, so two 5 min runs plus 2 3 min walks... I kept trying to add up in my head how long I had been running for, LOL! I also did a longer cool down that day and enjoyed that too! I hope your back pain is gone for good!!

ljc- good for you! I don't think I could ever do it without music, I need the beat to match my steps to, LOL! I also run about a 15 minute mile... I'm thinking it will take me 35-40minutes to finish my 5k, but I have till Oct 3 so hopefully I will eventually increase my pace.

Hi Ron! Welcome - I hope your knees don't bother you!

As for me - did W6D1 today, and it was HARD! I'm not sure if it was because it went back to intervals, or because I hadn't eaten anything yet... We also have a bunch of smoke in the air from forest fires, so I'm sure that didn't help, but let's just say that if every day was like today I would have given up by now!! Looking forward to the 10 minute runs next time.

Max_Power

Ron- My knees bothered me at first too, then I got a new pair of shoes a couple weeks ago, which seemed to help. Everyone says you should run on dirt or grass instead of concrete or asphalt, but the paths and track near me are concrete and asphalt, and are so convenient. I'm hesitant to run on the grass beside the path because of the slight unevenness/lumpiness, I'm afraid of stepping in a hole or on a bump and turning an ankle. I've had ankle problems in the past. The new shoes really helped a lot though. Welcome to MFP/this C25K group!

ljc- good job on sticking with it, I know life's interruptions happen, it's great to hear you pushed right on through! Not surprising you could skip W5D2, it seemed just as easy as D1 to me. But you also ran extra on D3? Are you and Lori trying to make me look bad? j/k haha! There's just something about the 3rd day for me, I've always been out of gas at the end.

Now that I'm running on the track, I am going to start paying a little more attention to my distance. All of the distances on the program are 1/4 mile increments so it would be easy enough to completely ignore the time and just go for distance. I think I'll do the timed intervals this week and pay attention to how far off pace I am and then decide. I would really like to actually be at 3 miles on the last day of the program, as opposed to just 30 minutes.

annecolorgreen

I tried to use our track earlier this week and the "black" was tooooooo hot still. I'll try later this fall. I failed week 5 and will repeat next week. I didn't manage the 8 min. runs. Saturday, I DID do a 1- mile 13+ minute run though!!!! I had limited time and just wanted to see what I could do and then be done (my mom's wedding reception ). I walked 90 minutes tonight with a friend and am have ice on my knee.

meokk

Just popping int o say I'm still here. I got sick all of last week so I missed out on all my sessions.
Back to good health now but can;t run this week until probably Thursday. Looking forward to it but hope I won;t have to be too sore afterwards as punishment for not running for about 10 days.

Everybody is doing so well - great job !!!!!

goal30Lori

Hi All!

Just did W6D2 - it was much better than D1! I finally made it to a 5k distance as well, though I had to add in an extra 5 min run to do it!!

Hope all is well with everyone else!

carfam07

Hi, I have been walking for about 3 weeks to build my endurance up some. I think I will try to do the nine week couch to 5K plan and hopefully be prepared for a local race in late November. Good luck!

jojo0512

I'm on week 3 of the Couch to 5K; I haven't had any difficulties with it and it's pretty hot where I Live (I prefer to jog after work) best of luck with program; keep me posted how you do.
I am actually shooting for a 5K mid october to see how I do.

carfam07

Completed day 1 of the nine week plan. Boy! I was really huffing and puffing by the end of my 20 minutes, but I did it!! Yeah!!!

AnnieeR

Just did W6D2 - it was much better than D1! I finally made it to a 5k distance as well, though I had to add in an extra 5 min run to do it!!

Hi guys. Can I wade into your thread? I've been doing C25K for around 8 or 9 weeks now - I started out repeating some days but then realised that it was purely a psychological thing so I decided no more repeating and have forced myself to move on. I'm on W7D2 next and feeling pretty good about it. But I'm a bit discouraged (but very impressed with goal30Lori!!) that I'm not getting particularly close to 5K....

How fast do you all run/jog? I'm in the UK so the treadmill reads 7.5 KPH, but my trusty converter puts that at 4.66 MPH. I honestly don't think my legs will go any faster at the moment (as it is, I have to practically crawl up the stairs when I get home, LOL), but in order to truly get to 5K I think I'm going to have to speed it up a bit!!

goal30Lori

Just did W6D2 - it was much better than D1! I finally made it to a 5k distance as well, though I had to add in an extra 5 min run to do it!!

Hi guys. Can I wade into your thread? I've been doing C25K for around 8 or 9 weeks now - I started out repeating some days but then realised that it was purely a psychological thing so I decided no more repeating and have forced myself to move on. I'm on W7D2 next and feeling pretty good about it. But I'm a bit discouraged (but very impressed with goal30Lori!!) that I'm not getting particularly close to 5K....

How fast do you all run/jog? I'm in the UK so the treadmill reads 7.5 KPH, but my trusty converter puts that at 4.66 MPH. I honestly don't think my legs will go any faster at the moment (as it is, I have to practically crawl up the stairs when I get home, LOL), but in order to truly get to 5K I think I'm going to have to speed it up a bit!!

Hi Anniee, and welcome!!! I use a Nike Sensor, so you can take a peek at my graph to see my speed. My 5k distance included warm up and cool down too. I went 5.47k in 48 minutes, averaging 8.47kph. (I'm in Canada so I'm in KMS too!) I think that it will take me 35-40 minutes to actually run all 5k.

link to run:
http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_CA/plus/?sitesrc=fbk_ab_plus#//runs/detail/1683384460/1749204896/all/allRuns/

Max_Power

W6D1 this morning. Physically I did just fine, endurance and lung capacity were good and I think my pace is picking up a bit... still didn't really measure my distance on the track though. For some reason I had a hard time focusing on it though, and not in a good way like when my mind wanders and the run just flies by. Not sure why, kind of a weird week at work I guess that might have been bothering me. I haven't had the best eating habits the last couple of days either- good breakfast and lunch with healthy snacks, then started with a healthy reasonably portioned dinner... then for some reason after that I was just craving carbs and ate a bunch of crackers or something. Not really the end of the world, but that's been bothering me a bit. At least I got my run in, hopefully I'll finish the week strong.

Welcome to all the new runners!

annecolorgreen

Oh I hope to have a good run tonight!!! The weather has cooled a tad but had a knee "thing" when I was walking Sunday night (it was "popping"??). I stretched and iced it and then it was better yesterday when I did hot yoga.

Annie--I really don't believe that you have to run faster. A friend of mine has done a couple of half marathons and just finished a triathalon...I know with her runs, she still does an interval 2min/1min. She's doing it and that's what is important!!!

Also, about repeats and stepping back a bit, while we don't want to do it, sometimes we have to. (like if you are sick and miss a week, you can't just jump in where you left off) A friend of mine is training for the Chicago marathon in October and was supposed to do a 23 mile run yesterday (by her schedule) and she just couldn't do it. She had so much calf pain that she stopped (she did try to stretch it out, but couldn't). If she hadn't stopped, she may have permanently hurt herself and set herself back more. It's always best to go with your best instincts.

Doing great everyone!!!

sundinsgurl

I had to take Monday off because I hurt my foot at soccer.. its feeling better for the most part. Weird enough it hurts more to walk on it than it does to run. I finished Week #5 Day 2 - managed the 8 minutes no problem Changed the display so that it didnt show the time so I had nothing to glance down at - just checked it after 2 full songs and first time it was right on 8 mins.. the 2nd one it was 1.5 mins away. Nervous for the 20 minute run all at once Friday!!

ljc1057

I'm so inspired by all of you! I did a mini walk/run on Monday night, but can't count it as a C25K day. I've been ready to go the last two days after work, but I'm about to drop. I coach a swim team and we started practice yesterday. It means 2 hours of standing/walking after school and I'm just not used to it. I'm not giving up though. If I don't get out til Saturday, I will then.

annecolorgreen

That standing/walking HAS to be tough! I "shopped" for my grandbabies today at a big semi-annual warehouse sale and waited in line for an hour holding an armful of baby clothes--TWICE--and my feet, ankles, knees, back, and shoulders are killing me tonight! The good news is that, with exercise and weight loss, these things we do to ourselves get easier! I know my walking/running is definitely easier after losing 70+ pounds! (but so is standing!) a day at a time...