C25K Calories?

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Hello everyone,

I've seen some threads on here about Couch to 5K, but haven't found the answer to my question yet. This may be totally dumb, but how do you enter your exercise log for Couch to 5K?

For example, I'm in week 1, so I alternate 60 seconds of jogging/running with 90 seconds of walking. Do I just add up my total time for each and make two separate entries, one for the walking and one for the jogging? I want to try and be as accurate as possible =) Any help is greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • dochert2
    dochert2 Posts: 2 Member
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    And also: If I do log them as separate entries, I still wouldn't know how to enter the jogging one because I don't know how fast I'm jogging. I go pretty slow so I would probably guess 5 mph, but I wouldn't know for sure. Again, any help is welcome help =)
  • LazyHairyBear
    LazyHairyBear Posts: 35 Member
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    The best thing I can recommend is getting yourself a Heart Rate Monitor.

    Another thing I can recommend is using a walk/run tracker on your smart phone. I use a free app called Endomondo, it records your route and uploads it to their website, from their you can get more details about the speeds you did and the distance you covered as well as showing the route on google maps. Ideal to see how you are improving.
  • Jesi0725
    Jesi0725 Posts: 92 Member
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    The best thing I can recommend is getting yourself a Heart Rate Monitor.

    Another thing I can recommend is using a walk/run tracker on your smart phone. I use a free app called Endomondo, it records your route and uploads it to their website, from their you can get more details about the speeds you did and the distance you covered as well as showing the route on google maps. Ideal to see how you are improving.

    Agreed! I use a HRM to calculate my calories burned, and RunKeeper to figure out the distance. As far as logging it in MFP, I created my own exercise and called it C25k, and I just update it with the minutes and calories each time I run.
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
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    I use my smart phone with gps and go with that.

    You could say your moving at about 6mph. and just average it up. It won't be really accurate, but it might get you in the ball park till your ready to upgrade.

    Its all about just upgrading, yourself, your tech, getting more accurate.
  • juggalotus
    juggalotus Posts: 227
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    Get a HRM like everyone else says. I'm doing C25K as well and I just go by how many calories my HRM says I burned :) Much easier!
  • Tandis729
    Tandis729 Posts: 6 Member
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    Before I purchased my HRM, I would enter the times in separately.

    As for the jogging, I have yet to make 5 mph jogging, and had to use a brisk walk (somewhere around 4 mph) to show my running times. Once a week, I would take my car GPS with me (tuck it in my pocket after it found the satellite) to give me an idea of my distance and mph.

    Now I have a HRM and an iPod touch, so it's a lot easier :)
  • mommamisty823
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    I use a HRM
  • ashlinmarie
    ashlinmarie Posts: 1,263 Member
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    I use a HRM as well. Polar FT4 does what I need it to and was $80 so if you can invest in it, I would highly recommend it. Before I got that, I would log separately. I added up what my walking and running was and put it in as two different exercises. With the HRM, I created my own exercise for C25K training and manually put in my calorie burn. I could do a gps tracker, but I usually pre-map my runs on mapmyrun.com so I know the distance I went and such. If you put in the time it took you, it will give you your average speed.
  • monkeynumber100
    monkeynumber100 Posts: 134 Member
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    Yep...get a HRM. I have a Polar FT7 and love it, but get the FT4 and save $20-$30 - there isn't much difference for most users. The MFP calorie estimators are not at all accurate I have found. They seem to way over estimate calories burned - for me anyway.