I completed W6 earlier today. It was kind of hard. I started out slowly because I had a pretty long day and I was quite tired. I picked up the pace about halfway-through. So, I did better than I expected, but it was still a little hard. Now I'm kind of terrified for all the long runs from now on!

Emmieooo, welcome! I was also pretty terrified before W5D3. But it will feel so great once you manage to complete it, just wait and see!

Cookc04, welcome back! I hope you're better now.

CutieCourt, it's so great that you have people doing this with you! All I ever get when I tell anyone is moar lecturing about my knees and about how fat I am. Bleh. But it is such a great programm, isn't it? I am so glad to have found it!

Hi to everyone new to C25K (or the thread).

tinycities, how are things going for you? Once I finish the program, I think I'm going to go back through it to work on speed.

I'm actually not finished with week 8. TOM started early and it was like I gained 15 pounds overnight. The bloating was so bad that walking was difficult, so running was definitely out. I started week 8 over again this week. Completed D1 on Monday and did D2 today.

Hey all! :)

I just completed W7D2 this morning, and feel pretty good about it! As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I had a week off in between Week 6 and Week 7 due to some knee pain I was starting to have. In that week off, I bought a new pair of running shoes that should help me over-pronate less when I run!

This week I have been "breaking in" the running shoes. They fit well, but the first time I wore them (on Monday, when I did W7D1), I did get some blisters. I stupidly put on really thin cotton socks, and I had some rubbing in the heel, which is quite narrow on this style of shoe. I would usually run again on the Wednesday, but since my blisters were still a bit tender, I decided to wait until today (Thursday) to do W7D2. I wore thicker socks this time, and even though my blisters were still slightly there, the trainers were much less sore, even though in the five-minute cool down walk I felt slightly rubby/uncomfortable where the blisters had been. I hate breaking in shoes!

I have to say, I'm so amazed at how much more "manageable" the runs seem to be. This morning was my third 25-minute run, and it really wasn't bad at all. At no point did I think "gosh, I can't make it", and instead it was fine - I didn't even really need to psych myself up for it! I think one of the wonderful things about this programme is that you can really trust it. It's designed so well and I honestly don't feel it's pushed me to do things that I've really struggled to do. And now the end is in sight, I feel even more confident that I'll be able to get to it, provided there are no further problems with the knee! It is still feeling ever-so-slightly unusual, but the pain has gone and I think these new shoes are doing the trick!

Emmieooo - Welcome to the thread! I guess you will have already done the 20 minute run for W5D3 - how did you find it? Really hope you managed to do it and are feeling good!

Marniadec - Congratulations on completing Week 6! It's really nice to have someone on the thread who is about the same stage as me in the programme! I totally know how you feel about just having the long runs from now on. Initially I was quite perturbed about the long runs, but I think I actually prefer them. For me, the worst run of the programme was W6D2 (the two 10-minute runs with the 3-minute walk in between), and I actually find it easier to just keep running. I've done my third 25-minute run now and it's amazing how much better you get at it! And I'm so pleased to hear that your knees are better :) I do also totally sympathise about challenges with juggling the programme and fitting it in. With the knee/blister issue that I described above, I think I will probably end up being a bit more lax with what days I run on. Up until the end of Week 6, I ran every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, without fail, but since the knee pain I had, and the blisters from breaking in my new shoes, I've been finding that I've needed to take it easy. The way I see it is that if your schedule slides a bit (for instance, if it actually takes you say, 8-10 days to fit in a "week" of the programme), it doesn't matter - so long as you stick to it :)

CutieCourt - Congratulations on completing the first week, and I'm delighted that you are also enjoying the programme as much as I am! :) I agree with Marniadec, it is great to have support and people to run with, for me just coming on this thread makes the experience so much more fun, to hear how other people are finding things!

pink sparkle - Hello! I'm doing really well, thank you! How are you feeling about being so close to the end? It must be exciting! I think I'm also going to try to do some work on speed when I've finished, since I do run (well, jog!) very slowly indeed! Sorry to hear that you feel bloated and uncomfortable at the moment... it's so annoying being a woman sometimes!

tinycities, I'm excited to be so close to completing it! I love it when I'm at the gym and someone gets on the treadmill next to me and I outrun them. :o It's hard to believe that when I started the program I could only run for almost five minutes. Now I'm able to run 29 minutes straight! I hope to complete this week tomorrow. Not sure yet. Today I did strength training (with tons of squats and lunges) and then made the mistake to run afterwards. My butt and thighs are so sore. So hope I can do the run tomorrow. We'll see.

Hey everyone! Still chugging along with c25k even though I haven't posted in a while. Tonight I will do w6d2, and tomorrow d3. My 5k run is getting closer and I'm starting to get nervoussssss!! =/

I was really happy today though. When I first started c25k I weighed 165, then I didn't weigh myself for a month and I weighed 169! I was really frustrated, and since then I'll weigh myself every couple of days, always in the morning just after I wake up. So today I weighed myself and I'm back down to 166! Wooo. I don't really care if I lose weight fast, as long as I'm maintaining and not gaining!!! Even to maintain or lose one pound a week would make me so happy :P.

In any case I can definitely see how I'm getting more fit. I can't believe that I can run for 20 minutes straight now where in the beginning running for a minute and half was a struggle!

tinycities, I was thinking the same about you! When I completed W6, I was hoping you'd update before I'd start W7.:p The thing is that I've been walking for up to 2 hours a day and I do strength exercising and I almost always skip streching the last 2 weeks. So I was tired and sore. And I also forgot my mp3 player at a friend's house and she returned it today. So I dreaded the longer runs, for that reason alone. Today I skipped class and I just stayed at home and relaxed and I streched for, like, half an hour. Then I decided to start W7. I wasn't tired and I could -finally- listen to music, so it was much better. Of course, the fact that I already ran for 25 mins straight 2 days ago, certainly helped. I enjoyed it a lot, I ran pretty fast, I looked at my cellphone a lot less... All in all I couldn't be happier with how I did. I enjoy the longer runs now, too. But one of the things that first drew me to C25K was the fact that you had to walk a little and then run and neither lasted long, because it seemed less boring than walking for an hour straight. I still maintain that and I kind of miss it, but it seems like I have come to love running, which I never saw coming. I thought that I would have given up by now. Oh, and I also hate breaking in new shoes! But I like buying them more!:p

So, November 7th is Elections day in Greece and I'll have to go back to my hometown. Initially I thought that I'd go on Nov 6th and leave Nov 7th. But, anyway, it looks like I'll go back sometime next week and come back -hopefully- on November 7th. The last day that I have class is Monday. So, I'll have all the time in the world for running. If my knees let me run every other day, instead of 3 times a week, I can complete C25K by November 6th and then just run on weekends or whenever I can squeeze a in run. So, fingers crossed! I think I need to start looking into what I'm going to do afterwards...

Hi all,

I am new to C25K and would like to join this thread. Always wanted to be a runner so I figured this was the best way to go about doing it. I started W1 last week and it was fairly easy for me. As such I planned to start W2 today but unfortunately did not get to go out at all this week.

This evening is going to be my first run for the week and my first run for W2. Hopefully it turns out good!

:woohoo: Today I completed week 8 and ran 5K! Ok, so technically the 5-minute warm-up walk was part of my mileage, but I ended up doing 3.18 miles total! After the 28 minute run I just kept going. I did about 48 minutes total (including the warm-up). I feel so good!

I just started C25K today and completed W1D1. It took all the motivation I had in me to get out the door, but once I got running, I was so glad I did it! At the end, I could feel like I had done some exercise but I wasn't tired enough to not go out again. In other words, I felt that I could've done more. So on the last two intervals, I picked up the pace to a leisurely sprint to get more out of it. And boy, was I winded! But I probably could've done a couple intervals more.

Is that normal? I keep telling myself that I should take it slow and stick with the plan but I feel like I can do more. How do I know if I'm starting out in the right level?

Anyone else in this boat?

I had messed up W1D1 and I repeated it and I was fine. So, I had asked the same question and the answer I got was that I should stick with the program and that I would see the results the day after. I think that you should wait to see if you get sore or anything and if you're fine, perhaps you could skip a few days. I would suggest that you pick a day that you think seems manageable, yet a little challenging. I don't see how it would hurt.

I did W7D2. It gets easier and easier!:carrot:

Thanks for the response! I'm not sore at all so I may stick with the length of the program and just do Week 2 twice instead of Week 1 and then Week 2. We'll see.

I hated every second of running yesterday and did get winded and tired, but I think I could've challenged myself more. So I guess Week 2 it is!

That's amazing pink sparkle!! WTG!

After 3 weeks off sick - I've just restarted at W1D1 was much easier this time around.
If I keep at it will be finishing programme at Christmas.
I gave been preaching C25K for about a month now and I seem to have 2 friends who are meant to be starting this week also. HOpefully it will mean we can run together on the weekends.

Hello everyone! :)

I completed W8D1 this morning. My first 28-minute non-stop run, yay! I've been holding back on the temptation to run for longer, because today, I knew I could have carried on for the 30 minutes, but I want to wait until Week 9! When the announcement came up on the podcast saying "you're just going into your final minute", I was actually surprised - I thought I had much more time left to go than that! So it felt really great :)

The other thing that I felt good about is that this morning, I really wanted to get up and run. I usually run first thing in the morning on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but due to a really early work committment on Friday morning, I won't be able to run this coming Friday, and will have to run on Saturday instead. With this in mind, I could have really easily and legitimately shifted my running routine this week ahead a day - running on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday instead, without messing up the schedule at all. But as I lay in bed this morning, I was thinking "nope, no I really do want to run today". Reflecting back on those thoughts now makes me feel so satisfied. I'm so pleased I've been able to stick with this - I've honestly never kept up with any sort of fitness plan as long as I've been doing C25K. :)

I've also been having some more thoughts about what I'm going to do when I complete C25K (which all being well, should be next Friday - eee!).

I've been looking around at various programmes that a lot of C25K people go onto (Bridge to 10K, One Hour Runner, etc), and so far, I've not really found any that seem like things I want to do right now. Although this may well change when I get better at running, my aim isn't really to become a hardcore runner, who can run for hours at a time. My aim isn't to run marathons! I think I'm a person who wants to run for fun, and to achieve a basic, but good level of overall fitness. I'm really happy with what I've got from C25K, which has been spending 30-40 minutes outside, running, three times a week. A lot of the other programmes that people seem to go onto seem more intense and time-consuming (e.g., going for longer runs, integrating various other fitness exercises, etc.), and I don't think that's something I want to do right now.

So... whilst driving into work today, I had the idea of repeating C25K, and instead of just deliberately trying to "work on speed", I thought I would try something a little less deliberate. I think when I finish Week 9, I will repeat the week until I feel pretty comfortable with the half hour runs (I've seen runners talk about "building a base", so I guess in a really crude way, this is analagous to that). Then, I plan on going right back to the start of C25K, but instead of keeping the pace as per the instructions, during the "walk" intervals, I'd be jogging (i.e., going at the comfortable jogging speed I'd been able to sustain for 30 minutes), and during the "jog" intervals, I'd be running (i.e., pushing myself to move slightly faster than the comfortable jogging pace). I don't think I'll consciously try to work on speed, I'll just work on upping the intensity so that the workout is still challenging. To me this seems like a good solution. I'm not having to spend more time or more days exercising than I am comfortable with, I still have the structure of a programme that I enjoy, but at the same time, I'm still improving my fitness and pushing myself. I think it's also kind of fun to still have the intervals, rather than just progressively longer and longer runs, with nothing breaking them up.

I'd be really grateful for anyone's feedback on this, I might post a seperate thread if there aren't any C25K grads lurking on this thread at the moment! What do you think of this idea? Do you think it sounds safe and sensible? Any feedback would be very much appreciated.

pink sparkle - AMAZING! Well done, you must feel absolutely brilliant, such a great achievement :D This might sound like a really dumb question, but how do you calculate the distance of your runs? I've no idea how far I've been running (although I suspect my 30 minute run will be no-where near 5k - I'm too slow!).

Marniadec - Really glad to hear you're doing great in Week 7! I totally agree, it really does feel easier now, doesn't it?! I think it's actually amazing how this programme makes so significant and so noticable an improvement to physical fitness. When I think back to the start of the programme, just a few weeks ago, feeling terrified about running for 5 minutes, and really feeling exhausted once I'd done it, and compare that to how I feel now, it's just amazing! Really glad to hear you haven't had any further problems with your knees too. Oh wow, you live in Greece! Where abouts do you live? I have been on holiday to Greece a couple of times and absolutely loved it. What is the climate like this time of year? Here in the UK it is starting to get really cold (well, cold for the UK, not serious cold, haha!). I'm having to put the central heating on.. brr!

Slim CB - Welcome! How are you finding Week 2 so far? Hope you are enjoying it!

augeremt - Hello! I totally agree with the advice Marniadec gave you, and I think your suggestion of how to progress is really good! Sometimes I find that if you don't feel "pushed" on a particular day, if you realise this before you've finished, I think it's a great idea to just push yourself a little more towards the end. You mentioned you'd done this, and I think that's a good solution!

Cookc04 - I was wondering where you'd got to! Sorry to hear that you have been sick. Definitely good to restart, and also great that you've got people to run with - it makes it really great for motivation if it's not just you alone!

W9D1 complete! I can't believe I'm so close to the end!

jesslaso, thanks! How did W6D3 go?

tinycities, thanks! I run on the treadmill, so that's how I keep track of distance. I think your post-C25K plan sounds good. So good that I might just copy! I'm with you about not wanting to run marathons/run for hours. I just want to be able to run, enjoy it and keep fit. Like you, I'm also amazed that I wake up in the morning wanting to run. On non-C25K days I have to force myself not to "run an extra day". Wow! This program really works!