ShellyLee - glad to hear W6D3 went well... I have to do it today and am not looking forward to it. The 20-minute run in W5 was no problem, so I don't know why I'm worried about today's 25 minute run.

jjtonic - good luck in your run tomorrow! That is so exciting!

Angie - heyyy I'm glad to hear that slowing down helped. You know, its better to have to go a little more slowly than to give up on the program from frustration or pain! I bet you have a pretty easy time of W5. It's nice only having 3 intervals of running

Well, today I have to run W6D3 and I really don't feel like it. So far I haven't thought up an excuse good enough not to, though. I will check back in later ... please yell at me if I try to give you some excuse... haha! I need you guys to keep me accountable!

Week 9 Day 3 - DONE!!!!!!!!

I did it! I finished C25k! I didn't think I'd ever get here, but I DID!!!!

hey everone,
sorry i didn't post that much this week...been very busy...thank God it's friday!
i did w3d3 today plus walked/jogged for 45 minutes and burned 500 calories...walked for about 4 miles...boy am i tired...

Everyone have a great weekend!

Whew! Well, I did it. And unlike ShellyLee, I did not find W6D3 to be a breeze. But it was bareable and I'm glad it's over!! 25 minutes of jogging took me 7 times around the track, so I don't know how fast that is... not fast at all i guess... *shrug*

Falhaone - good job getting out there and doing W3D3 and all the additional exercise. I would be beat!

jlbay - CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You finished it!!

Mangoaddict - welcome to the group, and good luck with your mission! You will find it challenging, but do-able. Slow and steady are the key!

Does anyone else have fluctuating ability with this running? I did W6D3 on Thursday night and it was pretty doable. Today I decided to do W7D1 which is another 25 minute run since I only really did two runs last week. I took a minute walk at 12 minutes... I actually mapped out my "run" portion today at my 2.25 miles. I ended up having to walk 30 seconds early (so again walking where I shouldn't).. mainly because my "run" ended at a major road where I have to wait for a crosswalk. So even with the walk I still got 2.25 miles. I will say I usually run at night and GENERALLY it's about an hour after I eat dinner and today I went at about noon before lunch.
I'm not really sure what I'm asking.. maybe I'm just complaining . But does anyone else experience this kind of up/down ability. And any suggestions?

Yes! Definitely! I think it is pretty normal. Not sure why, but if I had to guess: hydration, calories consumed, mental exhaustion/stress, sleep levels, hormones, and a dozen other things could explain why some otherwise identical runs feel better than others. I think as beginners we are probably more susceptible to feeling these changes, too. I had one run that was AWFUL because I went out first thing in the am before I drank any water. I realized later I was dehydrated. Live and learn!

Week one..DONE! Loving this new challenge! :D
What have you all noticed going from different weeks? Is it a noticeable change from one week to the next, or does it feel much the same? The only thing I'm trying to figure out, is how to breathe. It's cold here, much like every where else, but how to you breathe so your throat doesn't hurt? Am I doing it all wrong?
Hope everyone is having a successful time with their running. Keep it up everyone! :D

Congratulations! I knew you could do it!

You are not doing anything wrong - cold air just hurts after a while. You can try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Your nose warms the air better, but be warned! It takes some getting used to and it might not feel natural at first. If that doesn't suit, you could wind a scarf around your mouth and nose (they make special running scarves that are tubes that go over your head and you can pull them up around your face, if you like). Good luck!

Hey everyone! I am starting the Couch25k tomorrow and hoping I can pretty please belatedly join in this group? I have started it a couple of times but made excuses and given up.

I think this time round I need to make sure I am accountable so that I don't talk myself into giving up again.

Wish me luck!

i've had a busy weekend and didn't get on here!!

Friday I finished w4 for the 2nd time. I could not believe it but i finished the last interval with a smile on my face!!!!!!!! As i was going through the intervals i wasn't dying and i kept thinking oh my god is it clicking for me like i've read about on the board??!!?!? Don't get me wrong it was still a challenge but i got through it!! On to week 5 tomorrow... I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!!

Thanks Jlbay. I'll have to get me one of those! :D
Congrats to everyone! You're all doing awesome!! :D

Amaline - welcome to the thread and congratulations on starting this journey. It is challenging and fun!

Angie - good job pushing through that difficult week! I'll bet you find W5 to be much easier and you'll be trying to remember what was so hard about running 5 and 3 minute intervals.

I started W7 today and it went really well. W7 is 25 minutes of running with no breaks. I went into it thinking, "if I need to, I will take a break and walk this first day." But I didn't need to at all! Now, granted, my pace was really slow. I don't know how slow because I was running in a neighborhood instead of the usual track. Wednesday I'll be on the track, so I will see what my speed is there. But anyhow, it was easy peasy.

Good job everyone and keep up the good work!

YAY! So I did W1D1 last night (even though I thought of plenty of excuses not to) and it wasn't so bad! Definitley a challenge but I could do it.

I can't wait to be able to run 5k!

Good luck everyone!

Awesome job Shinybonnie! You're such inspiration! Love reading your updates and progress. :)
Amaline-congrats on starting!! You'll be running a 5k in no time.

I did w2d1 today and actually got 3 other ladies to join me. Can I just say....AWESOME! There was one point where it started lightly snowing, and I have to admit, there was something very relaxing to be out in that.

Great job everyone! Keep it up! :D

Shinybonnie and Angie1215 - good to see that running is finally 'clicking' for you! Isn't it a great feeling??

Yesterday I ran my first post-C25k run! I've decided to go with the "Gateway to 8k" running plan. So, for all of you just getting started - I repeated the first three weeks - but now I'm running beyond the C25k. PLUS, my scale is steadily moving down. It can be done. Good luck.

jlbay - good for you! Have you found podcasts to go with the Gateway to 8k plan?

I ran twice over the weekend - I'm working on increasing speed, so I decided to be a C2 5k re-tread and started back on interval training with week 3. The faster speed does, in fact, kick my butt :-) However, I'd like to get my 5k time down to 34 minutes - so from what I've read, interval training is key.

I've not been so good with food the past few days (went to an out of town wedding) so I'll have to get back on track with journaling my food. Even with that I got into a pair of pants today I haven't worn in years!

Finished C25K for the second time last Saturday. Taking the week off and will be starting it again next week. This time I will be doing 4.6 mph and 4.8 mph. Keep up the good work everyone!!

awesome, awesome, awesome!! You guys are doing great!!

So I had planned to do W7D2 yesterday.. got ready.. walked out the door.. and it was raining. I'm totally NOT dedicated enough to running to do it in the rain. Now it's supposed to rain the next three days, so I decide I'll just go to my mom's condo gym and just do it on the treadmill. OMG IT SUCKED! I totally dislike the treadmill. I think I ran about 15 minutes out of 40. I had trouble figuring out my breathing and never could get it right, even with the tv distraction in front of me I was miserable. Anyway I'm totally sticking to the outdoors from here on out.

Ok, so I'm thinking about what to do next now that I've finished c2 5k. I don't want to just run longer time for a couple of reasons - 1) still way overweight, don't want to overtax the knees; 2) Although I've enjoyed c2 5k, the idea of running an hour or a half-marathon doesn't sound like fun to me. So I've been looking at some running plans, and they just don't grab me.

I came across something that unexpectedly did catch my attention...

http://www.triathlons.net/Atlanta/

400 meters swimming in water shallow enough to stand in, 12 miles on a bike, 3.2 miles running

The event is next June - and only people who've never done a triathalon before can enter.

I found a training program designed basically like C2 5k - but it's several months long. It starts you from nothing through biking, then swimming, then running over a 7 month period. It starts with biking to minimize the stress on joints particularly for overweight folks. It also includes a wt training program, and is designed to be done 3x/wk.

If I decide to do it, I'll share the training program & see if I can get some of you c2 5k'ers to train along with me.

So last week I said I was starting the CP 2 5K Program - I've come close to completing it before, but never did - and I did W1D1. But that's all I did last week.

So today I did W1D2, but I wanted to push it a little...so after I was done with D2 I ran 5 minutes straight! Woohoo! I'm hoping that means it is going to be easier this time around.

completed W5D1 yesterday and it was not bad at all!! I think i'm just so happy that week4 is behind me lol. I was looking ahead at D2 and D3 of W5 and it's going to be challenging!

Bonnie-I forgot to ask you if you ever tried Nicoles podcasts? I remember reading that the techno one was boring for you. Nicoles has music with words, just not sure if it's the type of music you would like. http://gonicoleyourself.blogspot.com/2008/06/couch-to-5k-podcast-page.html

ShellyLee-you make me wonder if I should try to run outside. I've only been doing it on the treadmill.

ksnyder-just stick with it, i promise it gets better!!!! you can do it!!

where has toots been??

I'm on week 7 and have done everyday up until today outside. Some people think it's easier to run on a treadmill.. and I used to do a little running on them when I had a gym membership. But I now definitely prefer running outdoors, which is gonna make it difficult when I start the half marathon training and it's raining for days on end . I would imagine transitioning from doing all your running on a treadmill to going outdoors might be just as hard as it was for me trying to go indoors. I KNEW I wasn't breathing correctly, but I honestly could not make myself breathe the same on the treadmill as I do outdoors.
Maybe if I'd done some switching back and forth all along I'd be able to do both easily... who knows?!

Ohhhh it's been a long time since I've been in here.

I kind of got off track (ha! No pun intended. ) but tomorrow I am starting back again tomorrow! I am not sure which week I'll be starting back at, but I'll give it my best.

I haven't read through all the postsI missed, but I hope everyone's progressing and loving it!