Beginning runner using C25k

Program: C25k Week 8 Day 3
Date: 12/04/2014
Start time: 5:24 pm

Goals:
• Complete run portions of program
• Increase my pace

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 46:08 (1st out of the 24 I have done)
Ave Pace: 14:53
Change from last attempt: -05:43
Change from W1D1 (Oct 7, 58:58): -12:50
Change from fastest time (W7D3, Nov 24: 48:10): -02:02, New record!!!

This day was one 28-minute jog.

Work has been a little hectic lately and I haven’t been able to respond to people’s comments, so let me do that first.

shmulyeng wrote: »

Oh, and while you definitely are a "runner", you didn't earn the right to call yourself a "cold weather runner". I'm running these days in 35° weather and I'm told that this isn't called cold yet (NY City).

I also noticed you mentioned you use MapMyRun. I use MapMyRun as well as Strava. Strava is much more accurate in terms of mileage. Also consider investing in a decent running watch. I bough the Garmin Forerunner 310xt on ebay for about $100 with the HRM strap. I find it very useful.

As far as the weather thing goes, I agree with that to a point, I used to live in Washington and I didn’t go outside for most of the year. However, it is all what you are used to, I live in AZ now and when it gets in the low 50’s, I feel the cold. At the same time, When I started running in September, I had to wait until 8pm or so before I would go run, and it would still be in the high 90’s.

For MapMyFitness, what I did was map out a course before hand and I run the same one every time. The mileage is calculated as per the map and sometimes it may be off by a few feet, I always end up at the same place when I hit 3.1 miles. Eventually I may deviate from this, but to be honest, I like the route, it takes me all through and around my neighborhood and I am actually getting to be enough of a fixture that people smile encouragingly at me and wave, pretty cool.

parsonsk64 wrote: »

Glad you are enjoying the C25K program. I used one with the RunDouble app if you ever want to try a different program. As to hands-free running, I love my RunningBuddy - a kind of pouch you wear tucked into the waistband of your shorts or pants. It doesn't bounce or flop around. It is held together magnetically and it comes in many sizes to accommodate Mp3s, different phones, etc. It can hold a bit of cash, your keys. I have a Samsung Note II phone which is huge, and I use that for my music during my runs. The RunningBuddy pouch can totally handle the size and the weight and I run without feeling like I'm carrying anything. and nothing strapped to my arms either! Check it out! They have their own website but I notice they are also for sale on Amazon.

I looked at the RunningBuddy, looks good, I am going to order one. I looked at the RunDouble program, will talk about that in the run write up more.

LazyButHealthy wrote: »

Last night I was a bit tired as I've been cycling to/from work for a few days, so I got up this morning for a run before work.

I was pretty nervous as it's W4D1 so leaping from 90 seconds and 3 minutes jog alternatives to 3 mins and 5 mins.
And I did it!!

I was VERY slow, and I didn't give a damn. The slow tortoise and all that... I didn't falter during the 5 mins - just focused on the radio I was listening to until the app told me to start walking.

I'm so chuffed!
Plus, first time, possibly ever, that I've done anything before work.

That is awesome! Keep up the good work. I am not a morning person and it is always hard for me to exercise in the morning.

In my opinion (take that as you will) these first weeks in C25k are important for your confidence and will. Every time I hit a new week and was able to complete the run portion it gave me such confidence and gave me a boost to my willpower for the next time I ran. I would always say to myself, “I ran 90 seconds last week, all I am doing is running 90 seconds more, I can do this!”

Ok, on to my write up.

So, I never mentioned this, but ever since W7D1 I have ‘run’ the entire 5k. On that day it took me 53:10 and my average pace was 17:08 (hence why I put run in quotation marks). What this means to me is that I have reached a crossroads in my pursuit of my running goal. I have the ability to run at a turtle’s pace for a 5k and I am hugely unsatisfied with that. So I tried to increase my pace through 4 more runs (W7D2 - W8D2) and while I was able to get my fastest pace at 48:10, I also got my 2nd slowest at 56:37.

parsonsk64 recommended RunDouble for a change of pace so I decided to look at it. Well that app has a program to help increase your pace. So, last night I keyed it up and went for it.

A few notes about what I did before I went for the run. My daughter had a holiday pageant at her school, so I went home early and did a few chores. My plan had been to put on my running clothes, walk to her school, then does my warm-up from her school to my 5k starting line. Well, I was behind schedulte, so I had to run to her school, which was actually a good warm-up. I still did an additional warm-up to my starting line.

To be honest, doing the W1D1 of the 5k improver felt like doing W1D1 of C25k. I was dripping buckets of sweat and for the first time in weeks my breathing was labored. I want to go over my split times here real quick.

•1 mile split    [o] Slowest       [•] 15:13    [o] Fastest       [•] 14:55 •½ mile split    [o] Slowest       [•] 15:14    [o] Fastest       [•] 14:48 •1/10th mile split    [o] Slowest       [•] 18:05 (at the 0.5 mile mark)    [o] Fastest       [•] 11:14 (at the 0.2 mile mark)

I like the program and the way it works, it is based on distance, not time. It has you run 0.19 miles then walk briskly for 0.06 miles. While this is very much like the C25k program, the change from time to distance is significant I think. For the run portions I would open up and try to go at a much faster pace, but not a sprint. To be honest, I wasn’t able to keep that pace up for the full .19 miles and would have to slow back down in order to maintain the run.

As for results on this one day try, I got my fastest time to date, actually blew away my prior fastest time by 2:02! This Saturday I am going to be out of town again, but my goal is to try the treadmill for the first time, curious to see how that goes.

For the future, I think I am going to use the RunDouble 5k improver.

Goal Achievement:

• Complete run portions of program
  o Completed all the run portions.

• Increase my pace
  o Beat my fastest by 2:02! We will see how this goes in the future, but I am really encouraged by this jump in time.

PudgyPanda91 wrote: »

I've actually read your entire experience with C25K and it's incredibly inspiring! I find the same thing with trying to find people in the same boat as me. I can barely run 60 seconds without feeling like dying, and no one I know really understands that.

I've tried C25K about a million times, but I always fall off the wagon... Usually because I feel like I can't do it. I think that I always try to go too fast. I convince myself I'm not actually running unless I'm basically sprinting, which is silly and doesn't work.

Anyways, I've loved following your progress and you've obviously done really well! It's inspired me to get going on it again.

Thank you! This is the reason I started this post. When I first started looking for information on running, I couldn’t find anything that spoke to me and my situation. Posters would tell new runners to try running for 10 minutes to see how you felt and I couldn’t go 30 seconds let alone 10 minutes.

Now that I have been at this for 9 weeks, I know that when I originally started my pace was probably around a 9-10 min/mile and I couldn’t maintain that for more than 10 seconds! What worked for me is that I slowed way down. I have done my 5k now 24 times. I have had 1 run in the 19 min/mile, 1 run in the 18 min/mile, 8 in the 17 min/mile, 8 in the 16 min/mile, 5 in the 15 min/mile, and 1 in the 14 min/mile.

This last weekend I was in a hotel and I tried a treadmill for the first time. It was awful. It was stuffy and just looking out the window was very boring. I am counting it as a run, but I am not going to track it as part of my series. Don’t think I will be using a treadmill again.

I am going for a run tonight and am starting a new program. I am to the point now where I can run a 5k start to finish, just at a snail’s pace. What I am going to do now for the next several weeks is the RunDouble 5k Improver 2. I don’t know if anyone will be interested in this, but I think it is a great continuation of the original C25k program. One of the worries I had was that by slowing way down, my pace would always be slow, and there may be others out there who have the same concern. So I will track my journey to increase my pace now.

LazyButHealthy wrote: »

Just back from W5 D2, which is 8 mins x 2.

I went very slowly, but at the end of the first set of 8 mins i felt like I could go much longer.
So after the walk, I did a run of 10 mins instead of 8. And I could have gone further I think! This is coming from a obese woman who has smoked for 15 years.
I feel great.

Knowing how I felt at the end of 10 minutes, I feel much more confident heading in to W5 D3.

Slow and steady!

Congratulations! I felt the same way you did after doing the 8-minute runs but still had massive trepidation about the 20-minute run. But, like I said I built it up in my head and it really wasn't all that bad. When I finished it I was sure I could have kept going, like you said, slow and steady.

LazyButHealthy wrote: »

I did it!!!

22mins - 2.5 km (i kept running as I wanted the 2.5km)

WAHOO!!!


It's less than the recommended 2 miles/3.2km, so I'll need to work on speeding up a little bit.

Congratulations! Also, I would be more than happy with that pace! If I did my math right that comes out to about 14:12 min/mile, so good job!