jesslaso - I totally get what you're saying about the treadmill! With greater knowledge of the treadmill machine, I am sure I could do more to adjust the settings to mirror outside running, but when I was jogging on a treadmill a year ago (and really wasn't that fit), I could do half an hour of constant running, no problem at all. Compared to the outside running I do for C25K, I'm currently in Week 4 and find that the five-minute runs are seriously challenging in comparison, even though I'm not running fast at all.

Like you, I've undoubtedly found running outside more physically fatiguing than my experience of running on a treadmill. I guess with running outside, you have to use energy to propel your body forwards as well as up and down (whereas on the treadmill you just run on the spot and the ground is pulled under your feet for you), and I suppose there are things like wind resistance to factor in too. I'm sure that if you knew what you were doing and really wanted to run indoors for whatever reason, you could make adjustments to your treadmill settings to make it more closely match the experience of being outside, but for me, I have no barriers to running outside, and I prefer the experience so much more!

I have a huge smile on my face right now!! I completed W5D3 again! The pants I wore today are also too big (no money to buy new workout clothes right now) but they didn't require a safety pin lol. I made it through! I'll probably repeat the day again or go back to one of the earlier weeks and practice for speed, and then start W6 next week.

tinycities, I guess I'll say weeks 4 and 5 have been the hardest so far. I repeated both of those weeks multiple times. With week 5, I think it was mostly a mental thing of being afraid of the 20-minute run.

jesslasso, I do mine on a treadmill. I've always read that running is easier on a treadmill. But I ran outside (for the first time) last week and found it easier than the treadmill. Maybe because I wasn't worried about falling off lol.

pink sparkle, I worry about falling off the treadmill too! haha. And yay for completing w5! That's so great!

tinycities, I think I like running outside better too, but it's also nice to have the treadmill for when there is bad weather.

Just completed W4D3 this morning, so Week 4 is done... yay! It has been tiring, but I've been getting through it and I found D3 noticeably easier than D1. I will press on to Week 5 and just see how it goes If I can't manage it then I'll just repeat it, but I think I'd just like to have a go at it and see what happens. Can't believe I'm only a couple of runs away from the 20 minute one - seems like I only started C25K barely any time ago! How time flies...!

pink sparkle - BRILLIANT! Well done That must be such a brilliant feeling. I also have too-big running clothes, but can't really afford any new stuff at the moment, but perhaps I can save up and buy myself something in the not-too-distant future!

jesslaso - I totally agree, running on a treadmill is great when it's not so pleasant outside! Unfortunately I don't have access to one anymore, without coughing up for a gym membership, which is a shame! There used to be a free gym at the apartment block where I lived in, but I've moved now so can't use it anymore - shame! I'm a bit worried about my first run in bad weather, not so much because of getting wet myself, but protecting my iPod!

I got up at 6 am this morning to run. What was I thinking? I have a very busy day ahead, and my only other option would have been to run while my daughter is at preschool. I wanted that time to do other stuff, though, so 6 am it was.

Anyway, I did week 9, day 1 today! I felt ELATED after I finished. I felt like I could keep going (if necessary, lol). I am just amazed at how well the program works. Also, loving the fact that my 7 year old made a comment to me as we were walking to the bus stop this morning, telling me that I'm walking a lot faster these days.

Tomorrow morning two friends and I are doing this really fun challenge -run (or walk) a 5K distance while carrying 5 pounds of groceries in a backpack, and then donate the food to a local food bank. (It's a virtual challenge, not an event to go to, so you're welcome to join in and do it also!)

I'm so excited because (1) it's a nifty idea and (2) these friends were inspired to start C25K because of my success with the program and it's awesome to be doing this with them!

AND I got new running shoes today (finally!). Brooks Ghost. My feet fell in love and insisted that I buy them.

Happy running everybody!

Bacos-Awesome! Both the comment from your child and the fact that you completed W9D1 are great!

Rochester-I love your challenge, and it's so cool that you inspired others to try the program. Enjoy your new shoes too!

I did W7D2 today, I feel very lazy because it's Friday and only my second run of the week! My knee has been bothering me, so I've been trying to do things that are less strenuous. Today went well though, knee didn't hurt and i actually ran 30 minutes instead of 25 (just to see if I could). I can't believe that I only have 7 runs left now!!! Okay, enough for me, now it's time to watch a movie!

Was trawling through 3FC last week and found all these people doing the C25K programme. I've always been a hopeless runner, even when I was younger - I could swim 5km in 2 hours each morning,I had a pulse of 40bpm, but I could run- well about 100m. I'm a bit bored with swimming at the moment - so I thought I'd see if I could handle C25K. Today I did W1D1, and I didn't die, It was a relief that it was over after 20 minutes, but I feel happy now.
I did use one of the podcasts to help me get through it, and I did take the advice not to job like I'm running a race. The park I ran around is popular picnic place and I"m sure all these people were laughing inside at how I would jog slower than I walked, I realise I have to start somewhere.

This is the pick me up I needed. I went over to my sister's for family dinner last night - and the dinner was way to salty - on Saturday morning I hit a low morning weight of 84.8 kg, this morning 85.8, 1kg of water retention - how depressing.

Cookc04-Welcome! Glad to hear that you made it through day 1, it really goes pretty quick if you stick with it. Sorry to hear about the water weight, I'm definitely dealing with the same thing myself!


Question for the grads out there- Were you running a full 3 miles by the time you finished the program, or were you running 30 minutes even if it wasn't a full 3 miles? If you were running less than 3 miles in the 30 minutes, how did you work up to 3 miles after you finished the program? Did you do it gradually or just start doing 3 miles? I know I still have 2 weeks left, but I'm thinking about what I'm going to do afterwards. I know I want to work on my pace, and I have a plan for that, but haven't yet formulated my plan of attack to get to the 3 mile mark (since I'm so slow). Any input would be appreciated.

Other than that, I finished W7D3 today, made it through though I didn't have a ton of energy. It wasn't like my legs were tired or I was breathing to heavy, I was just overall tired. I guess some days are like that. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

I switched to running for distance instead of time in W5, so on W9D1 I did 3 miles in 38:07.

I am still working on distance instead of speed. I tried to switch to speedwork after graduating and quickly found out that I just really didn't have a faster speed to use for intervals. Someone told me to continue to work on distance, and as I built endurance, speed would happen naturally. I'm using Hal Higdon's 10K program. One of the great things about this program is it also includes cross training and strength training in the schedule.

Hey all! Just checking in to say hello and see how you are all doing!

Rochester - that's really interesting to hear about the differences in running for speed/distance. I initially thought I would work on speed after I (fingers crossed!) complete C25K, since I feel pretty slow, and I wasn't sure how I could measure distance, but then I guess I could plot out distances on Google Maps (or those ones designed for running!), and then I would know how far I was going. It's food for thought!

I just completed W5D1 this morning... only one run to go before the dreaded 20-minute run on Friday!

The podcast I listen to (Robert Ullery) has just one podcast for Week 5, with all of the instructions for the different days given in one go. As I was doing my three five-minute runs this morning, I was mulling over how I'll feel and whether I'll be able to do the twenty minutes without stopping. I managed the first two five-minute runs perfectly well, but felt pretty tired and exhausted in the last half of the final five-minute run! I'm really hoping that I can keep my stamina up for the eight-minute runs on Wednesday and the twenty minute run on Friday!

Saw lots of odd things on my run today... a dead owl (!! ) right on the sea wall, which was sad, and two huge fish jumping out really high from the sea. The tide was extremely high up against the sea wall today, and even though it was really flat and calm, my feet got soaked as the water swelled up and went onto the wall!

In normal weather conditions and at low tide, it looks like this: picture and picture
But when the weather is bad and the tide is in, I have to run somewhere else, because it looks like this: picture

As you can see, there are plenty of options for a good soaking I tend not to mind getting my feet a bit wet, but as you can see from that last picture, when it's particularly stormy, it's not at all safe to even try to go onto the sea wall.

I'd love to see where you guys run, if you have any pictures! It's so interesting, particularly as we are all so international on 3FC

tinycities, great job on completing W5D1!! Where you run is beautiful! I wish I could run by the ocean . That last pic you posted is scary. A person would plan for a run but end up swimming! Unfortunately, I can't post where I run. You'd be looking at the back of somebody's head or body since I run in the gym. And I'd probably get kicked out for taking pics lol.

I completed W6D1 today. I started it on Friday but then just stopped during the last run. From boredom. I'm not sure why but today I kind of struggled. The 8-minute run seemed to go on forever. But, hey, I got through it so I'm proud of myself.

I lost my C25K I was in before, I'm so glad I found this one.

Woot! I got to the gym this morning and loaded up some ska on Pandora... looked at my C25K program WK4D3 and thought... heck! And pushed the WK5D1 button. And I got through it just fine! Better than I had Wk4, even! I think I do better without all the starts and stops.

I am finding that I'm getting very very tight from running, even with pre run stretches. Anybody else have that problem?

tinycities, I am so jealous that you have such a pretty place to run. How lucky!

Hey everyone, I am hoping to jump in. I did 6 weeks of C25K training over the summer and fell off my routine in late August. I have my very first 5K in just a few weeks so I have to get back out there and train again. I plan on getting a good run in today! Can't wait to tag along with you all.

Rochester-thanks for the advice! I do feel like I have the ability to go faster, it's just going to be much harder, but maybe I will try to let in come naturally. I just feel so slow, especially when people post that they're slow and they're running at like 6.5 mph! That's way faster than what I do!

Tinycities-I love the pics! Right now I run in my kitchen, partly for convenience and partly because I'm embarrassed to run outdoors. I know it's weird, but for right now it serves the purpose!

Pink sparkle-good job making it through, sometimes the runs do seem to last forever though!

JayLei-I skipped over W4D2&3 because they seemed to easy to me. Well, maybe not to easy, but I felt ready to do more. I also liked having less intervals, somehow it seemed simpler to not have to deal with starting and stopping and keeping track...

KayNicole-Good luck on the upcoming 5k!

I actually ran this morning, which is unusual for me since I mostly run at night. I really need to get over my fear of running outside, but I still have that whole high school mentality of "everyone is looking at me," when in reality they don't give a damn! Anyway, I ran for distance today instead of time, so I ran 2.8 miles (should be 2.75, I'm on W8D1) in a totally craptacular 42.5 minutes. I don't know if some of my speed issue has to do with the fact that I run in my kitchen, but it's kind of disheartening. At least I still have a lot of time to prepare for my 5k so that maybe I won't come in dead last (though I'll be happy if I just finish and don't walk!). Hope everyone is having a good night!