I'm totally OCD so it's ALL about schedule for me. My life is so busy I could never just wing it. I'd always be stressed about fitting it in. That said I allow for interruptions and I always have a back up plan if I can't do a run when it's scheduled. My runs are usually in the morning before anyone gets up so I'm really not taking time away from anything else to get my runs in.

Today was a dreadful 3 on the treadmill. It was dreadful because this was my 4th day running in a row, not typical, and I was on a hotel treadmill because we're out of town and it was raining outside.

Great job everyone! The enthusiasm and dedication is addictive!

I pretty much run on a schedule because of c25k, but if I know ahead of time that something is coming up, I'll change it around a little. I run M/W/F, but like the week of Christmas, I knew I was driving to Atlanta straight from work on Wednesday and would not have time for my run. So I made that week a T/Th/Sa. I usually have to run on the treadmill right now because it is dark after work, but definitely plan to move outdoors when the light permits it.

I was kind of excited to run outside today since I'm off work but it's soooo cold right now (I like it cold when I run but under 30 is pretty tough to get yourself out there). So I may go later, or if I can't squeese it in before sunset, I'll just go to the Y tonight. I'll be repeating week 4 this week, since last week I didn't finish Monday and skipped Wednesday. Week 4 kind of scares me a little, because that's when I hurt my knee last year. But so far, everything feels fine.

Oh, and my cross training is spin class. I'm still pretty new to it, but I really enjoy it.

When I'm back on track, I aim for six workouts a week, three of them being running and the other three being cross training (love swimming, taking a class at the gym, and weight training). I try and schedule Sundays as my day off, but even then I ride my horse so it's not a true day of rest, unless both the horse and I are feeling particularly lazy. I haven't yet run a distance that needs solid training, such as a half, but I suspect as I work towards that goal, my schedule and plan will become more formal and I'll need to actually schedule my runs to make sure I get them in. Right now I just work out before work during the week and early on Saturday - I find if I leave the workout til after work, I have a thousand excuses for not doing it. Much harder to find a good excuse at 5am, other than "I really don't want to get out of bed"!

Usually I run in the morning, after I workout at the gym. There’s a park right down the street, so it’s really convenient to go right from the gym to running. Plus I’m already warmed up, so the cold outside air is actually refreshing. A perfect week for me would be getting up at 5am, going to the gym for an hour and then running my usual 3-6 mile route, plus one long run on the weekend. Unfortunately, I have many imperfect weeks, but I try.

I ran 5.3 miles this morning, and I’ll probably run 3 tomorrow.

Matt - I follow a formal schedule when I'm training for a big race. I wasn't training for anything in December, so I just did my own thing.

My marathon training plan started today with a rest day. I'm doing eight miles tomorrow - a warm-up followed by mile repeats. Can't wait!!!

Keep up the great workouts, guys!

I'd love to join here but I'm lucky to do a walk/jog for 2 miles. I guess I could set a goal of being able to run a mile without stopping then go from there!

Niki - you're further ahead than me! I say join this group - you'll learn a lot and as you get faster and run further, you'll already be in a good group. And your goal is a great one - it's one I have to get back to, as I used to do 4-5 miles and now I can do 30 seconds jog/30 seconds walk and that's for about 1.5 miles. I can't wait til I can go further and faster and actually run the whole time!

Ok, well I did a jog on the tredmill. It took me 13:30 min to do one mile.....it's a start and I didn't walk! Now I'm just going to try to get a bit faster, like 13 min or 12 min and try to job 1 1/2 miles.

C'mon, you belong here! How do you think anyone who hasn't been running since middle school got started? The first few times I ran, it was at a 17:00 pace. You can already run a mile, AND you want to do more? Runner. You're doing awesome. Work on distance, and your speed will increase on its own.

Niki and Jules, welcome!! You both are runners and you belong here. :) . I remember that first day of the C25K program and how the 30 second jogs KICKED MY BUTT. It was pure ****.

You will surprise yourself at the progress you make if you are follow your schedule.

Tonight I did 6 miles. 5 of those miles was at 5.0 speed and the last mile was at 4.5. I'm going to take tomorrow off and then I'm going to try to change things up and run very early on Wednesday morning.

haha. That's the best excuse in the world in my mind at 5am

Ran something over 8 yesterday and a group 5K today. I have a GPS for running that keeps track of time/distance/pace, and I hook it up to my computer once a week to charge and transfer data. I do the group 5K with a friend who's a newbie runner, so it's at a very easy pace for me. I highly recommend group runs for all runners. We have a range of paces in the group I run with (psst, Matt, I live right outside Boston), and everyone is friendly and nice.

I'm running about 5 x a week, but I run shorter distances on the days that I lift.... I really never run longer than half an hour. Should I start doing some days with longer runs? Is it really a no-no to run every day? I run most days, at least for 20 minutes...

Treadmill runners, do you set the treadmill for a certain distance and run until you get there, or do you pick a time and see how far you get?

Should I be running some days for 45 minutes or (gasp) and hour? My biggest struggle is getting bored. I blast music and watch TV at the same time, but running longer than 30 minutes on a treadmill sounds totally dreadful.

Nikki great job. Of course you belong here. We all do. We are not here to compete with each other but to motivate and inspire each other.

Its freezing here and I am cold wimp so I don't think I will be running outside anytime soon! I did 3 miles on the treadmill which is part of Hal Hidgons training that I am doing.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Uber,

I'd say go by how you feel and I wouldn't think running for 30 minutes several days back to back would be too much of a problem. I'd definitely at least take 1 day and perhaps 2 days off a week though. If you aren't training for a race and don't want to run longer distances, running for 30 minutes is still great exercise!

I usually set the treadmill for a certain time and speed knowing how many miles it will set for me (if I'm going to run 4 miles I can set it for 48 minutes and run at 5.0 speed).