Did W6D1 last night. I got more tired than I expected to, but I had walked for longer than an hour yesterday morning, because I had decided to only run 3 times every week. Then changed my mind. I had also been windowshopping the day before yesterday and shopping yesterday, which means that I was walking for HOURS (I've only been shopping in two shops in the town where I live now and I have no idea where to even look! I bought a t-shirt in size L, yay!). It makes sense that I got tired, I think.

My knee also bothered me. And I'm afraid that the doctor will tell me to stop running, so he's out of the question for now.

I did W2D1 today, it was beautiful outside by the river but it´s getting colder in the mornings. I´m happy week one is done!

Marniadec, sorry about your bothersome knee - is it an old injury, something you´ve struggled with before? I hope everything turn out OK for you.

No pain for me so far (knock on wood) but I think running 3 times a week is a bit of a brutal start for my knee. I´m considering cutting down and do C25K twice a week and add in another spinning class for cardio. I´m so afraid to start too hard and hurt my knee again, the last thing I want is another year without running.

Marniadec, if your knee is bothering you, maybe it's best you do stick to running only three times a week. It's better to take things slow than seriously injure yourself and end up not being able to run. Hope your knee feels better!

I tried to do W8D1 today. However, the C25K app on my phone crashed or something. I ran about 15-20 minutes and then checked to see how much longer I had, only to realize the whole program had frozen/crashed at the 3 minute mark. I got frustrated and just walked and did incline and speed intervals.

I confess, I have not exercised at all in about a week. I won't be able to run outside today, so I don't know that I'll run at all, but i will work out! Tomorrow I can make time to run outside, hopefully taking all this time off won't have set me back too much.

W3D1 - complete!

I was almost sick with nervousness about starting week 3. I was appalled I was having to go from 1.5 minutes to 3 minutes...but I was able to do it. Still feel kind of nauseated though. Blehh.

Hey guys!

Thank you so much for your support and excellent advice with regards to the 25-minute run on W6D3. To my own amazement, I went ahead and completed the run without stopping, and I actually felt perfectly okay! Like some of you said, it was actually a whole lot easier than the two 10-minute runs that had previously killed me on W6D2. I also found using some mental strategies whilst running absolutely invaluable - I put together a document with some suggestions you gave in this thread, and other tips I found elsewhere on the web, and they were so useful - I printed it off and read it before I went out in the morning, so it was fresh in my mind. I found that using these strategies just kept me going and I didn't feel uncomfortable or in pain - the power of the mind is wonderful!

I've decided to take a break from C25K this week. The reason for this is that I've definitely decided there's something not-quite-right with my knee. It's not been causing me pain, but it's felt quite stiff and out of sorts for about a week or two now. After doing the long run on Friday, it felt a bit funny for the whole weekend, so I've decided to take a week-long break from the plan. I will make sure to keep exercise up (just walking though!) and then I will start Week 7 next Monday.

I suspected my knee issue has arisen from inappropriate footwear. Because I wasn't sure whether I would like running when I started the programme, I didn't want to splash out on some new shoes, so I've been running in some "fashion" trainers (sneakers to you on the other side of the pond!) which have absolutely no padding or support - I just wear them as regular shoes. I went to visit a specialist running shop yesterday for advice on running shoes, and they examined my feet and it looks like I have slight over-pronation (the soles of my feet roll inwards too much), which is probably aggravating the knee issue. I tried on a whole bunch of shoes in the store to see which styles/brands were most suitable for my feet, and yesterday I ordered a pair of shoes online (at a brilliant discount!), and hopefully those will be with me later in the week. That way, when I start Week 7, I'll be running in a decent, supportive pair of shoes, and that combined with the week's rest will hopefully mean my knee is no longer an issue!

Marniadec - I really hope your knee issue is okay! Fingers crossed that adequate rest will help your knee feel more comfortable.

pink sparkle - wow, you're making such good progress, very nearly there! I totally sympathise with the technological mishaps! It's so irritating! Back when I first started the programme (I think it was actually W1D2!), my iPod packed up altogether (I think it hadn't charged properly or something), and so I did the whole thing trying to count the intervals. Not fun!

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately, my knee isn't doing so well... I have a list of things that I'm not allowed to do and recently, I've been doing most of them repeatedly. And it's been raining a lot recently, which only makes things worse. Now both my knees hurt, then they're numb and then they hurt and they are numb at the same time... I was given painkillers and I'll have to take it easy for a while. So, I' to will only be walking for the next few days. I can't believe that I already miss running!

Pink Sparkle, only 6 runs left! Keep going! I too have had my cellphone die on me once. Not fun at all. But one day in highschool, when we were dying of boredom, a friend and I realized that a popular greek song's verses last 1 min each (yes, we hated school very much). So I just sang Tzivaeri 'till the end.

Tinycities, I hope your knee gets better soon! You said footwear and I was reminded of this: http://www.myprecisionfit.com/test/w...nswerSelected= I don't know if you are aware of it, but I thought someone may find it useful.

ashley nicole, awesome that you completed W3D1!

tinycities, congrats on completing W6D3! Hope your knee feels better after your week of rest.

I did W8D1 today. I really had to give myself a mental kick in the butt to get through it. Some unavoidable person called me early this morning and soured my mood a bit. But I got through it. I hope to complete W8 this week.

Hi all! I've been reading this thread quite a lot and never posted before. I use to play soccer and was a runner in 2001..geez almost 10 years ago! Now I'm trying to get back to the weight I used to be and would like to get back into running because I used to feel great after a run.

Yesterday I decided I would start it up and I downloaded the app for my iPhone and went to town! It was not as bad as I thought it would be but still challenging! Gosh I'm sooooo out of shape!

W1D1 complete! Woo! Without stopping

Hi, CutieCourt - congrats on starting the C25K!! I'm one of the newbies too, I just did W2D2 this morning.

I like to run in the mornings and with winter coming it's getting too dark to run before work, so I'll run on Saturdays and Sundays until we get snow, after that I guess I'll run at the gym. I do prefer running outside, even though it's getting colder and I had to use beanie and gloves today!

Marniadec - I really hope your knee is okay How is the walking going along? I think it's great to keep up some regular exercise that is easier on your joints. Do you know when you'll start up with C25K again?

pink sparkle - Thanks! How is Week 8 going? I guess you must be almost finished or finished already! Must be so exciting to be going into the last week! Do you know what you'll do when you finish the programme?

CutieCourt - Welcome! Congratulations on making the choice to begin the programme and completing the first run! It does feel really good, doesn't it?! I'm sure you know this already, but the one thing I found when I started is that I was running way too fast, and found it quite unmanageable. So I think you should push yourself at the start, but don't run so fast that it's just impossibly exhausting!

mette - Hope Week 2 is going well for you! I love running in the mornings too, and also running outside. I never thought I'd enjoy morning exercise, but I really love it, it fits so well into my schedule, and leaves me feeling refreshed and happier during the rest of the day Where do you live? Here (in the UK, South West) we sometimes get snow (last winter was pretty bad!) but usually in Winter it's a few degrees above freezing (or a couple below), and it's just grey and gloomy and quite rainy!

I've just come to the end of my week-long break from running and C25K, and all being well, I plan on starting W7D1 tomorrow morning. My knee definitely needed the time off. At the start of this week it just felt a bit strange, but then around Thursday/Friday, it really started to feel quite uncomfortable and odd. Yesterday I didn't really notice anything up with it, and today it feels fine. I'll see how I go for the rest of the day, and then if my knee feels totally normal, I'll start the running up again tomorrow morning and just monitor it throughout the week as I go through the programme. I'm so conscious of how sensitive knees can be, so I really don't want to run on it if I'm doing it damage, but at the same time, I'm desperate to continue on with the programme!

The other thing is that my new running shoes arrived a couple of days ago, which is great! They should hopefully really help prevent any further knee problems

Id like to join!!!!!!
I am doing w5d2 this morning. Loving this program so far but TERRIFIED for the 20 min run on tuesday.
Im going to go back and read over this thread for some insperation.

CutieCourt, congratulations on starting C25K! As tinycities said, try not to go too fast, it can be discouraging. Hopefully you'll love running as much as many of us do!

mette, I think that running in the morning is best, too. It gives you so much energy and you start your day knowing that you made it through one more day, which gives you a sense of accomplishment. I also think that if I ran outside, I would *want* it to be dark, so noone will see me!

tinycities, I feel exactly the same. I kinda worry about my knees, but I want to complete the programm so much! Even though I'm not really sure as to what I'll do next, yet. I hope your knee doesn't act up again and you manage to continue with no problems!

My knees are better (thank you so much for asking, tinycities!). It hasn't rained lately either, which helped. I completed W6D2 today and I hope I'll be fine from now on. The thng is that classes started last week and I'm trying to complete 2 semesters at once, so it's been pretty hectic and it will continue to be until late December. Right now, I'm thinking that I'll wake up half an hour earlier so I can run in the morning. If that doesn't work, I'll run Saturdays and Sundays, but I don't really like that option... I hope I can keep up.

I've had to take two weeks off because of medical advice. Feeling pretty untoned now.
I think I'll have to start again, at the end of this week.
Is anybody running with those 5 Finger Vibrams?

The US federal reserve has devalued the USD a lot so as to increase exports so companies can meet their yearly targets. This means that it is much cheaper for me to buy things online and have them sent here rather than buy the here. 5 Fingers cost $200 here, and under $100 in US so I'm wondering if I should take the opportunity to get a pair.

Thank you all for the kind words and good advice! I have officially finished Week 1! I am so excited! My husband and best friend are doing the program with me and they were both astonished that it got easier! At one point on day 3 I was so tired, but I didn't stop! I just felt sluggish halfway through!

I've been telling people about the program and so many have shown interest in doing it. I am hoping that it changes my life and impacts me as much as it has done some of you!

W1D1: completed 10-14
W1D2: completed 10-16
W1D3: completed 10-18