Just think of it this way -- your body is up for the 20 minute run, it's your mind that you have to keep occupied. For me, my biggest concern was getting bored without the interval changes, so I downloaded an entirely new running playlist the night before so that my mind was focused on learning the lyrics than on the 20 minutes of uninterrupted running.

It was Girl Talk for those of you who are curious, all their stuff is free on their website. That's what worked for me, you've done all the work to make your body physically ready -- now you just have to keep your mind from saying: 'I've been running for 15 minutes straight?!?! Impossible, I should stop.'

Of course, right after I completed that run I graduated from college and stopped running for a month (or two...) and had to start all over. W3D1 tonight.

Boredom gets me too! Last night I ran while listening to Old Country. You know, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, etc. It was great! It was just like story hour, except with whiskey, women and guns!

I know how feel InsidetheBeltway - I've had to start over too. Every time I start over I kick myself for ever giving it up! This time's gonna stick though, because usually I stop during Week 5 and I'm now coming up on W7D2.

I wish I have a treadmill at home. Mine was broken down few months ago -> forced me to run outside. But the weather here is just so vary - like it's hot today but tomorrow there's suppose to be a storm. So it's hard to run outside. Especially at noon when all the rain just start to pour down.

Anyways, if you could keep a steady pace, it's totally awesome. But when you do longer run, your body may not use to it so it's hard to keep your pace. Just vary it as long as you feel comfortable and can keep a conversation going. I usually keep my pace though, but i'm a slow jogger - around 4.5-5 mph. When I do extra running interval, I usually end up running slower than that because I am tired (around 3.5-4mph).

But, as long as you're running, that's fine.
Good luck and have fun.

*I was going to repeat the whole W5d2 but I couldn't do it because my legs for the first time felt like jello so I was only able to run an extra interval.

p/s: Thanks guys. I'm totally gonna make a new playlist for W5D3. Since i've been listening to the same playlist for the past 2 months (yes I listen to Dolly Parton while running ), I totally need a new playlist to keep me motivated. Or maybe I should just get an audio book. That might be more interesting because I can feel that someone's talking to me rather than just normal song that I cannot sing along with.

I finished W5D2 without any issues last night. I didn't have to reduce my speed, and was able to stay at 4.5 mph for both 8 minute runs. W5D3 will be Sunday night for me.

I like the idea of some new music for my impending 20 minute run. Any single track recommendations for some good running music? I am using the C25K ipod/phone app, where I just run to songs in my ipod library. I wouldn't mind downloading a few new ones before Sunday.

Here's my current playlist:
Rolling in the Deep - Adele
Single Ladies - Beyonce
Forget You - Cee Lo Green
Fighter - Christina Aguilera
American Boy - Estelle
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
Telephone - Lady Gaga/Beyonce
Raise your Glass - Pink
Don't Stop the Music - Rhianna
Need you Now - Lady Antebellum

What is everyone else listening to?

Susan May:

My first suggestion would be to download Girl Talk - they're mashups of popular songs (and free).

But since we have similar taste in music, here's some of my Gym Playlist from before:
Wavin' Flag (Coca-Cola Celebration Mix) - K'naan
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Pon de Replay - Rhianna
Uprising - Muse
Show Me the Money - Petey Pablo
Power - Kanye West
'Til I Collapse - Eminem (favorite running song ever)
Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
She's My Winona - Fall Out Boy

Hey Fellow C25Kers,

I've been active in this thread in the past but just took a hiatus of about 2 weeks from running. I initially tried to switch to a low carb diet. A few days of headaches and tiredness prevented me from running. Then I got a VERY nasty sunburn which made it painful to walk. Right after that healed TOM came. Then it took a few days to psych myself up enough to run again.

I previously did a shaky W5D3. Today I tried D1. I completed the first 2 5 min intervals and didn't even try the third. My HRM showed that the run really taxed my body; I felt afraid of being too sore in the morning and decided to play it safe. I'd been having a low energy day and the heat didn't help either. I'll do the whole thing tomorrow and hopefully I can pull it together by my 5K next weekend.

Scarlett: Good luck tomorrow. Listen to your bosy and know when to push or hold back. YOu can do yoruu 5k next weekend! WHOOOP!

I finished week one today. It was nice out so teh DH and I decieded to give it a go outside... man, it is hard to keep pace. We did okay though. Now I need to nurse my sore body

W4D2 done today... haven't decided if I'll do D3 tomorrow or Sunday. Or maybe both! I'm nervous about bumping up to W5... so I might do a few extra days of W4.

I just completed C25K! Wooohooo! W9D3 DONE!
So exciting!!! I can't believe I got all the way to W9.

Edit: Too funny. I just re-read my first post on this thread: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/3867955-post10.html
I was doing week 3 and worried about running for 5 minutes in W4.

Scarlett, low carb will get you - especially when you're relatively new at running! One of my friends (a dietitian) suggested drinking some milk shortly before I run or eating an apple a couple of hours before I run when I was on SBD. That seemed to help a little, but now that I'm no longer doing no carb still losing weight (albeit slower), and workouts are great, I'll never go back!

josey congrats on completion! I was just thinking today about how at the beginning I was nervous about 5 min intervals. I hope you keep it up! Any plans for races or longer distances?

kariatari - Thanks! I definitely will run a few 30 min. runs before I start something else. No races for me though! I HATE crowds. I downloaded the Bridge to 10k app for the iPhone already. So I have no excuses :-) I really loved the interval workouts so I figured even when I don't get to 10k, at least it is a new challenge.

congrats josey
Good luck on your 5k this weekend scarlett

it's raining and supposed to rain all day.... I'm not sure i'll be able to run... but we'll see how the weather like me...or not

I never thought about looking for an iPhone app for this! I just downloaded it! I have been doing walking/running intervals on a treadmill for about a month now, but just doing my own thing rather than following any program. The first few times I could barely run 30 seconds at 3.0 to 3.3. Now I'm running for one to three minutes at a time, usually at 4.0.

I tried a C25K running group a few years ago and really didn't enjoy it, it was always really difficult and I never felt like I was really improving because running with a group, I was always the slowest one. Even though the leaders were great and kept saying it wasn't about speed, it was kind of embarrassing. Doing it on the treadmill is SO much better!

So you're up to 5 minutes soon?! That's great! I listen to music while I run, the longest song on my playlist is abut 5 minutes long... at this point I can't imagine running for the length of the whole song, but a month ago I couldn't imagine running for more than 30 seconds so I'm sure if I keep at it, it'll happen!

Congrats on finishing! I'm right where you were in that early post - just finished week three last night, and on to week four Monday. Scary stuff! Think I'm gonna use you for inspiration, if you have no objections.

kariatari - thanks for your reply. I was trying to do south beach too. I succeeded on it in the past, but I lived alone then. I decided it's just not practical right now. Currently, I eat mostly SB friendly foods but give myself some leeway. The scale is still moving but it's slower. The good news is I feel like the changes are long term and I can more or less eat this way forever.