C25K--Am I not pushing myself enough?

JonathonMars
JonathonMars Posts: 358 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I see people posting about running and it sounds like they are on the verge of dying afterwards. The first couple times I ran last week, I was pretty sore, but then I decided to walk about a mile or two before I started actually doing the jogging intervals and haven't experienced pain. I also was reading something that said that many people start too fast and if you can't talk from being so out of breath, you are going too fast--so I tried to slow down a bit on the jogging portions.

Replies

  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I really struggled with the first week and had to repeat it. But since then I am not struggling much at all. I was wondering last night (Day 1 of Week 3) if maybe I ought to skip week 3 and move on to week 4, or if maybe I should just try to jog faster.
  • Merithyn
    Merithyn Posts: 284 Member
    You may have also been in better shape starting than some of the others you've heard from. When I started the C25k, I had already been walking a ton for a few months before that, so when I moved on to running intervals, it wasn't that hard at all. I'm starting it all over again now that my foot is out of the boot (broke it four weeks ago), and it's much harder than it was the first time around. I've had to slow down a bit and limit the inclines, something that I didn't have to do last time.

    I will say that the warm-up/warm-down portions of the C25k are an essential part of it for me. I barely feel any burn by the time I'm done with my warm-downs and stretching.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    Sounds like you've got it right first time! I'm a firm believer in going dead slow until you've got the distance under your belt then introducing speed-work.

    Do you feel like you want to push yourself harder? If you run outside, you're perfectly placed to see if you can got just a bit faster on one of your intervals mid-run once you're properly warmed up - you can always drop back if you get out of breath quickly. Likewise, you might find you can go fairly quickly on the shorter intervals but drop back once they get longer.
  • JonathonMars
    JonathonMars Posts: 358 Member
    It's not necessarily that I want to push myself harder. It's just I'm not sure how to figure out the amount of effort required for the results I want.
  • kacarter1017
    kacarter1017 Posts: 651 Member
    I agree with Berry H. You could try increasing your speed a bit and see what happens. If it proves to be too much, slow it back down. When I started running I was about a 12 minute miler. I ran about 10 minute miles in my 1/2 marathon- and that is as fast as I seem to be able to go for any distance. I've tried to go faster many times, and I just can't do it. It's also not important enough to me to do interval training to try to pick it up any more. I've also heard that we all have an intrinsic running speed. With a lot of work, we can go faster, but it won't be our natural speed. It can be that it takes some work to get to the intrinsic speed that is hiding in untrained muscles, but it's there. Do what feels right for you. Remember, you're out running (no matter the speed) when most people are planted on their couch!
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    It's not necessarily that I want to push myself harder. It's just I'm not sure how to figure out the amount of effort required for the results I want.
    What results do you want, then?
  • emtrem
    emtrem Posts: 22 Member
    Hello, I am in week 6 of C25K, and did myself a mischief trying to do more than I should, despite people telling me not to. I too found it really easy, never got out of breath, started running on the rest days, adding on an extra ten minutes here and there, and doing interval sprints to speed up weight loss. But I ended up getting pain in my legs (shin splints), which stopped me running for a week while they healed. I was lucky, because it can take a lot longer.

    A physiotherapist told me that the rest days are there for a reason, to allow our bodies to adapt to the new level of exercise, and therefore to prevent injury.

    Don't be tempted to do what I did, and do more despite feeling that you can; Your body will thank you for it in the end. I am the most impatient person in the world, but am going to stick to it rigidly, that week not running was awful.

    I am now in week 6 and still not finding it too taxing, but so grateful for no pain that I don't mind.

    Good luck. xx
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    I'm in Week 7 of C25K, and I've never had any pain.. and I tend to push myself pretty hard.

    The point of the program is that you go slow enough so that you can complete the intervals and not be winded or in pain.

    When I did week one, I ran pretty fast because 60 seconds was nothing to me. Week 2 was a bit of the same.. 90 seconds seemed really easy. Then I got into week 3 and beyond and I realized that I needed to slow down a lot.. other wise I would never finish!
  • JonathonMars
    JonathonMars Posts: 358 Member
    First, my main goal is to lose my other 28 pounds. I think I am probably going to have to be super strict and work out really, really hard to get there, where most people wouldn't really require that much effort.

    I wouldn't say my pain is shin splits or anything like that--just muscle pain, from muscles being worked that NEVER are. I am a sedentary person, but I probably weigh less than a lot of sedentary people do--so I'm not sure how hard I should be pushing myself. I guess it does seems wise that maybe if I push myself because I feel I can it may end up being bad. I don't know.

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