NSV C25k - Today I ran a 5k

Today I ran a 5k without stopping. I’m slow, it took me 42 minutes, but I finished without any breaks.

I started MFP the first part of January and the C25k program about a week later. My starting weight was 240 and my current is at 225.

I downloaded the free version of C25k Lite onto my Droid phone and because of the cold weather, I started on a treadmill. The 9 week program was easy to follow and starts off with very easy jogging\walking intervals that get progressively get longer each week. In the beginning, I think the thing that helped me the most was that when I was watching the interval timer, it distracted my brain just enough that I didn’t have to think about the running so much. I knew that I only had to run for one more minute or just another 30 seconds. That made the running intervals feel achievable.

The program itself is only to be done 3 days per week, but I would go back and redo some of the easier days on my ‘off days’ to reach my daily exercise goals.

Week 5 Day 3 is when this thing gets serious, it starts with a 5 minute walking warm up, then jog for 20 minutes. I never thought I’d be able to do that, but when the time came, I was ready. I actually surprised myself.
Week 7 and 8 were really tough for me because I transitioned from the treadmill to running outside. I didn’t think about it before hand, but running outside is way harder than on a treadmill.

So, here it is, the end of Week 9, I did my 5k, outside, no stopping, and I feel great!