Couch To 5K discussion thread (discussion of other programs welcome too!)

The_Morrigan

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Good luck with your exams! I ran regularly though my final year in college and my masters year, and I can honestly say it helped to keep me sane. If you can even get out for a few walks while you're studying it will be very helpful.

"Mens sana in corpore sano"

Yeah I know everyone is telling me to get some air - but I'm content with sitting on my balcony for brekkie or lunch rather than getting out for a walk.
Mostly cos it will require me to get dressed lol

littlehedgehog

GM - Congrats Epic post!
8 minutes will be no bother to you

vic20

grandmaster wrote: »

W5D1 Complete

Words fail me, they really do.
<huge snip>

I don't think they did

Well done GM!
Great post.
"If you're going fast enough to slow down you're going too fast." That's my mantra. I've just finished W7 today but in the 5 min. warm up walk & 25 min. jog I only covered a fraction over 2 miles / 3.3K so I'll have a lot of work to do to cover 5K in 30 minutes but that'll come in time.

G-Money

Cheers, I really enjoyed it today and I'm still feeling good.

I just want to go out and do it again now. After today I feel like I could do the 20 minute jog without too much hassle.

PS: how do you track how far you've went?

littlehedgehog

I generally just use google maps, and land marks from where I start and stop. So 5 minutes, .5 of a mile is 6mph

I know there's apps which track your run. The newest version of 'get running' said that it can now work in tandem with one of those run tracking apps - don't remember which one though!

vic20

The trail I usually use has conflicting signs so it's either 3K or 3.5K. I took my car satnav, changed the settings to pedestrian, stuck it in my pocket & went on my way. It tells me that it's 3.3K so that's the distance I'm working on. As long as I A/ get around it and B/ get around it a little faster the next time I'm happy.

Lidl had a nice shiny running watch recently with GPS and other bells & whistles but I don't see the point at this stage of spending money on gadgets. Talk to me again in a year or two

G-Money

vic20 wrote: »

Lidl had a nice shiny running watch recently with GPS and other bells & whistles but I don't see the point at this stage of spending money on gadgets. Talk to me again in a year or two

Speak for yourself, I'm tempted to buy a Garmin 305

vic20

grandmaster wrote: »

Speak for yourself, I'm tempted to buy a Garmin 305

lol! yeah I know what you mean. One would certainly be nice to have & play with but it's not going to make me run any faster. Each to his/her own!
Cheers.

metamorphosis

guys - mapmyrun.com is invaluable to mapping out routes you run and if you cycle - mapmyride.com.

Stench Blossoms

I've an Android phone and I use RunKeeper. Although I haven't really been using it much.

Week 3 this week. I'm trying to plan out my runs for this week. Can't run on Wednesday so think I'll probably do my runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

vic20

ULstudent wrote: »

guys - mapmyrun.com is invaluable to mapping out routes you run and if you cycle - mapmyride.com.

Thanks for that, I'll file it away for future reference. Nothing of any use to me as I much prefer trail to road running but my wife has found a few routes that'll keep her amused

T-Square

I've an Android phone and use CardioTrainer

It uses the GPS and tracks where you have run, and how fast.

I did notice that if I run to the tempo I cover the right distance each time.
I was thinking to myself, that if I could not run at that tempo, I'd hold myself back and repeat the week. I've finished week 4 now. Still getting cramps in my calf muscles...

menoscemo

vic20 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I'll file it away for future reference. Nothing of any use to me as I much prefer trail to road running but my wife has found a few routes that'll keep her amused

You can still measure the trail runs by choosing satellite view, instead of map view

Basq

W3D1 Complete

The 3 minute jogs were quite the step up alright. Struggled through them but it was more a case of sore leg muscles (I'm a stickler for not stretching enough) than beingnphysically tired or out of breath.

Then I made the mistake of weighing myself on Wii Fit when I got home - up 2.6kg from 10 days ago. Is it possible this is muscle as I'm fairly tall and slender?

Ah well.. will stick at it anyhow!

T-Square

Do you guys start to stretch before you start playing the track?

G-Money

T-Square wrote: »

Do you guys start to stretch before you start playing the track?

I stretch at home in my room and then finish getting changed and head straight out for the warm-up walk.

T-Square

I don't do any warm up. STarting to notice the consequences of that now.

G-Money

T-Square wrote: »

I don't do any warm up. STarting to notice the consequences of that now.

Tut tut, you're supposed to do a 5 minute brisk warm-up walk at the start and then a 5 min cool-down walk at the end. The park where I do my workout is just over 5 minutes from my place so I just start the 5 minute warm-up as I'm walking there and by the time I get there, I can start the workout proper.

littlehedgehog

I change, spend about 5 minutes stretching, and walk out the door. And the same stretches after.. I forgot to stretch before going out one day, and I did notice it!

Did w5d2 again today. I'm actually scared of the 20 minutes. What I'm gonna do is do w5d2 again Wednesday and Friday, and then get a good night sleep Saturday.. I think, psychologically, I'm not able for 20 min after work. However, if I manage it at the weekend, then I'll be able to do it during the week.

That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

newbie!

I'm on week6 and did my first 25minute run today. I really didnt like the music in week 6 so I just keep going back to the week5 music. I've had to do week5 for 2weeks and i reckon I'll need to the 25min run for 2weeks as well...anything more than 25mins is a bridge too far at the moment. With the 5min warmup and cool-down, Im doing 5k in 35mins. Is anyone else struggling on the 25mins?

snoozysusie

Did W6D1 today...it was nice to have a couple of walks today after my first 20 min run last Friday in W5D3!!! I'd never imagined that I would be able to run for a whole 20 mins, i'm well pleased with myself:) Have recruited a friend to run along with me and this is working out really well...it's great to have a running buddy. Just hope the weather is better on Wednesday for D2, got soaked this morning.

Mental_Legend

After nearly 2 weeks off C25K due to holidays and jetlag, I went back to it on Friday for W6D3: 25 minute run. Fears that I wouldn't even make it half way were soon realised as I forced myself to stop running after 5 minutes because of blisters on my feet. I felt pretty down, and considered leaving the program. I tried again today and to my surprise did it! I didn't know whether to laugh at my achievement or cry due to pain! All of a sudden, week 7 and the rest of the C25k program doesn't look so scary. Fitness may be rewarding but it sure is a bitch to obtain. :pac:

vic20

T-Square wrote: »

Do you guys start to stretch before you start playing the track?

I stretch very gently before I start the 5 min. warmup walk but do most of my stretching after my jog when everything is warm & loose.

G-Money

W5D2 Complete

So today I headed out on Week 5, Day 2 as I was fairly confident I could complete the 8 minute jogs and I surprised myself by doing just that. Week 5, Day 1 went fairly well as you could all tell by my ranting and raving over it. I went into the 8 minute jogs today feeling fairly sure that I could complete them and they weren't too bad either.

Today consisted of:

5 minute brisk warm-up walk
8 minute jog
5 minute walk
8 minute jog
5 minute cool-down walk

I took it easy enough on the first 8 minute jog, so much so that when the audio prompt went off to indicate the walk, I was barely out of breath. I got about half way through the 5 minute walk and I was thinking "enough already, I'm ready to jog again" but I held off and did the full 5 minute walk anyway

The second 8 minute jog started and I took it easy enough but with a few minutes to go I picked the pace up again. The left knee cap was feeling a bit sore at times but all in all, it was fairly tame so I don't think there's any issues there.

As I say, even my "speedy" pace is pretty slow. I was looking at my shadow on the ground as I was jogging and it's not pretty but f*** it, it will just get thinner so who cares.

I was tempted to skip the workout today. I looked outside about 2pm and it was fairly heavy rain and I didn't really fancy heading out in it. I was also feeling a bit tired or a tiny bit rundown during the day but by the time I left the office I felt fine again. I got home and it was windy, but dry so I headed out with a new app on my iPhone to track my distance and stuff. I'm not sure how accurate it is but it was worth a punt I thought.

Not a whole lot else to report really. I feel very ready and capable of doing the 20 minute jogs now and a week ago I was the 180 degree opposite of that. I think those few extra days on Week 4 and starting week 5 have pushed me through some sort of barrier. I did the first 8 minute jog today thinking I could easily have kept going for 10 minutes, or longer.

Stench Blossoms

Completed W3D1 and the worse thing ever happened.

Just as I was finished I got stung by a wasp.

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THE PAIN!

G-Money

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Completed W3D1 and the worse thing ever happened.

Just as I was finished I got stung by a wasp.

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THE PAIN!

Ouch.

A wasp entered my apartment on Sunday, I'm not sure where from as the windows were open but not very wide open. It eventually seemed to disappear into my kitchen and I was like a police search unit trying to find it - there was no way I was going to tolerate it staying in my apartment.

A few minutes later I looked around and seen it on the window. Seeing it didn't have the curteousy to leave of it's own volition I got a rolled up newspaper and whacked it hard. It feel down through the open window onto the balcony where it lay dead.

Scary fact time - I got up the next day and it was gone!

Stench Blossoms

The basterd that stung me is still on my bedroom floor where I beat it to death with my runner.

About W3D1 - I didn't think I was going to be able to finished the second 3min jog but I pushed through it, stitch and all. Felt great afterwards, until I got stung.

vic20

I'm starting to get worried :eek:
I bought my first running magazine today. Spotted a copy of Runner's World on the shelf, picked it up just to have a quick look at it and ended up buying it.
Have I passed some point of no return that I didn't know about?

hatful

vic20 wrote: »

I'm starting to get worried :eek:
I bought my first running magazine today. Spotted a copy of Runner's World on the shelf, picked it up just to have a quick look at it and ended up buying it.
Have I passed some point of no return that I didn't know about?

They have you now. It's a slippery slope from here on out. Next thing you know you'll be doing the 10k, then triathalons, then marathons, then fell running, then joining the army

Started back on Monday and went back to Week 3, I could make it just about, it was to be expected after being off for about 5 weeks, legs aren't hurting as much as they did the first time round. I hope to be back to week 7 in a months time.

ommnyom

Did the w7d2 yesterday, I thought it would start getting easier, but about 15 minutes in I really had to psych myself into keeping going as well as slow right down for a couple of minutes. This is the third time I've done the 25min, and had thought that the jump to 28 would be easy! Now I'm getting a bit worried about it and am considering repeating week 7.. I'm not sure if I should just bear it out and push through, especially as I'm not injured or in pain when jogging, it just feels like my legs have turned to lead towards the end. What do you think? Get this c25k monster over and done with by pushing on or taking it easy and repeating week 7 again?