I've read about it but I'm so afraid to try. I don't want to see how out of shape I really am!

This week I started a very similar running program, the biggest difference I can see is that I go to a 'class' each week and the week schedules are slightly different.
Today was my W1 D2. My biggest problem is sore, sore leg and shin muscles. They hurt so bad but I will keep going. I got a watch and use the timer to keep track of the intervals. I do have to walk a little longer in between but the lady in charge of our class said the most important thing is to keep moving.
Today was a little easier than the first day, which I felt I was going to die, but I am sooo out of shape that I expected it to be hard.

I'm taking a few days off so I can get some better running shoes. I'm really worried that I'm damaging my knees the way things currently stand, but I don't want to stop doing c25k. I'll try to get back to running next week.

Just a quick note for those of you having knee/leg pain....try shortening your stride when you run. I found that any pain I was having in my legs and knees almost immediately stopped when I switched to using a shorter stride in my runs. :)

It's weird: I don't have knee pain while running. It's later, when I'm doing an activity like walking down stairs or squatting, that I get the knee pain. Having not run for a few days, that pain has gone (and it came on when I started running). I'll try shortening my stride, though. Thanks!

Did W1D3 today. On to the challenges week 2 brings.:trampo:

woohooo! I finished W4 today and survived!
I will start W5 on Sunday. Wish me luck

I am thinking about starting this. I am getting over bronchitis right now so no exercising for me. I was doing elliptical classes 3 times a week for 55 minutes and that was fun so I thought about alternating with running. Shall see how I feel once I stop coughing.

I was in physical therapy for several months for my right knee a few years ago. What I learned was (in my case) is that even though I was pretty active, the muscles around my knee were not equally developed. My PT said this was not uncommon for women.

When hiking and trail jogging, the knee wasn't being used correctly and as a result, there would be swelling and pain in the joint post-exercise. Ignoring this for many years caused some irreversible damage.

Things that help:

- taking an anti-inflammatory like Advil right before jogging

- icing my knee right after jogging and if not right after, that night, sometimes both

- running shoes that are right for my natural stride

and most importantly:
- leg strengthening exercises. Jogging doesn't really strengthen the muscles that stabilize the knee, so it really helps to do leg work on your off days.

Even if it's just while you're sitting at your desk. A great exercise is extending your leg so it's parallel to the ground, tense your quads and hold it for 60 seconds. Or several times a day just stopping and doing a set of heel lifts, go up on your toes and hold.

Good luck and keep on truckin'!

Well, the night before last, I decided that I'd skip my run yesterday morning. But, when 7am rolled around, and I was laying in bed, with a sore back, listening to my husband and girls argue, I changed my mind and decided to run after all. I am SO glad I did. I do NOT want to create a pathway for myself to quit. It would/could start with "I don't want to go today, so I will go tomorrow instead", and could/would end up at "I don't want to go today, so I won't". I went, I felt way better for having run, even though I didn't want to, and for sticking with it.

Week 3, Day 2 is done!!

Way to go!!! Good job on running after all!
I had one of those moments yesterday too. I was running out of time for my workout. Then I thought "nope, I need some me time and a run would be good". Part of it was that I was (again) scared of a new week. W5 seemed daunting after struggling through W4 last week. Anyways, I hopped on the treadmill thinking I can always stop if it gets too tough. I LOVED IT! I had no problem whatsoever! Last week running 5 minutes almost killed me. Yesterday is was just killing it! First 5 minute run and I didn't look at the time until 4 minutes were done. (That's how I judge how hard it is) And the other two 5 minute sections were ok too (looked at the time after 3 minutes each run). LOVED IT!!! Surprisingly I think this was the easiest run sofar. I was totally shocked and just bursting with energy after.
W5D2 will be tougher since they bump it up to 8 minutes. This is the first week where you don't repeat the same 3x. Will be interested how it goes on Tuesday.

Good job ladies! Keep on running! We can do this!

I was scared when I started but they really ease you into it. Try it! I am sure you will love it too! I am/was a serious life-long couch potato before. Now I am not only running but also enjoying it.

How long is the total time of running for week 2?

You can find the details here: http://www.c25k.com/

After a week off program, I got my two miles in today, but I hurt. I took the week off because 1) hip pain and 2) working my son's camp so no time or energy. Now today I ran 2 miles and my quads are s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g. Walking around the grocery store this afternoon I was limping. Amazing how quickly we get out of shape! Hope I recover in time for my run on Friday and more cardio tomorrow *bites nails*
I guess I would be on Week 6 , Day 2 of the C25K program.

ETA: The next morning my legs feel much better. Today will be a light cardio day (walking & step) and hope to go for my 2.25 mile run tomorrow *fingers crossed*

After having taken a week off, I got back to it today, repeating the sequence from week one as opposed to finishing off week two. I'm glad I did so. While overall I felt good, esp. as I got new, proper running shoes today, I was battling a stiff wind half the time and had trouble with my breathing. No stitch in my side except a hint of one for the first minute, but I felt like I was breathing a little too shallowly. I think it may just be a remnant of the cold I had last week as this hasn't been an issue for me before.

I restarted from the beginning last week and have now re-completed the week 1. Although I have never exercised as much as I have lately, I feel at the moment that I am not making progress with running although I can feel the progress in riding the exercise bike and doing the 30 day shred. Funny and annoying at the same time. I'll start the W2 tomorrow if I have enough time in the morning!

Well, was feeling quite poorly yesterday, and hoped beyond hope that I would be fine this morning. But I wasn't. Woke up feeling gross and sick still. I decided to try to run anyway (Week 3, Day 3) because I didn't want to get off track. I made it through the run, but it was very hard. I believe this is for a couple of reasons:

1) I have been (and still am) sick and feel somewhat weak
2) I haven't been drinking water appropriately, and am not well hydrated
3) I ran today at 9am, rather than 7am, and it's much warmer out, making me feel exceedingly hot.

Lessons learned:
Drink appropriate amounts of water every day
Run earlier to avoid the heat.

It's not killer out, only 17C, but it's much easier to run when it's 12C. I am absolutely dripping with sweat for the first time ever.

Finished W1 D5 and I feel good about continuing to work on running, although, actually its a slow jog for me. I am committed to continue with the program but do wonder how I am going to increase the time running because right now the 1 minute is rough. I really want to love running but am not there yet, hopefully the further along I get in the program I will begin to feel the love and energy that everyone talks about.

I am starting the c25k, I have to modify it because I am not allowed to run. I am not sure which program you folks are doing but it sounds much more extreme than the one I found. lol

Fist week is 30 minutes, 10 minutes for 3 days. I can walk way farther than that already, but I don't so I am starting there to get into the routine of it.

See ya at the finish line.

@Kate74 Huh? C25k is all about running.

Anyways, I am going to try W5D2 tonight. I am scared!! I have to do 8 minutes now. And I don't even want to think about W5D3 which is 20 minutes straight! Ohoh. Wish me luck.

So DON'T increase the time.

It took you years and years to reach your current level of lack-of-fitness. You can afford to take a few more days or weeks in your journey to fitness.

Seriously-- C25K progresses really, really quickly. Some people get lucky and complete it on schedule and without injury within their first six months' running, but I'm guessing that more do not. Take it easy on yourself and give your bones, muscles, and cardiovascular system time to adapt set yourself up to be one of the success stories.

(PS, either you're running--both feet off the ground at one time-- or you're walking. A slow run in still a run. And a beginning runner is going to be a slow runner.)

This is the case for me as well. I jog super slow, but I don't care, it's running all the same. When I am done the program, I think I will repeat it, I will run the whole time, but the "running" times will be a "run faster" time for me, learning to slowly increase my speed.

Josey, I beg to differ, couch to 5K is all about getting off the couch and getting active. if you look around you will find piles of programs that base the program on those that cannot run.

Completed W2D2 today.

I don't know but http://c25k.com/ states the following:

The Couch to 5k in 9 weeks running program
C25K, is a fantastic program that's been designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks.

So far we were talking about running here i.e. learning to run 5k in 9 weeks as far as I understand. At least that's what thought we are talking about!

Do you have a link to the walking plan? I was wondering what the goal is.

Anyways, I think whatever gets you moving is great regardless of the program/name.

W5D2 is done!! I actually did get through last night. The first run of 8 minutes was surprisingly easy! Woohoo! The second one a bit tougher. Anyways, now I can start sweating W5D3 which is a 20 minutes run (no walking!). Scary stuff!

And her walking hurts your running... how, exactly?

Just did week 2, day 3 and it felt good!

I forgot to turn the location services on for the iphone app (if I leave them on it drains my batteries with this app for some reason), so I don't know my distance or pace, but I didn't feel that I was going particularly quickly. That's okay, though. I felt a lot better about than I had with the first two days in this week and having water with me (I went out and bought a camel-back-type thing) really helped keep my energy up.

Still feeling like I can't take the deep breaths as I should be, though. Lung capacity has always been an issue for me.

The one real downside to today was during the last interval my sock slipped down and I got a blister on my heel. :( Oh well.

I didn't say that. I was just wondering what her program is since the C25k I know is all about running.

Well, I tried and a lesson learned. Becuase of errands and whatnot I didn't make it to the gym with the kids until 11:00 am and got on the treadmill and ran out of steam at 1 mile instead of my intended 2.25 :( [C25K W6 Workout 3]
Usually I run at 8:00am, about 30 minutes after eating my oatmeal breakfast. I think I had nothing in the gas tank today since it had been 3+ hours since I ate anything. I finished up with 30 minutes on the eliptical and I felt sluggish instead of energetic, but I got my workout in.
So for my Friday run - go early with something in the tummy and here's hoping to cross that 2 mile mark!

I don't think the program is meant to be super rigid either. I've repeated a couple of weeks, done the same "week" for four days instead of three and right now, I'm taking forever to break that 25 to 28 minute ceiling.

Hang in there. Soon you'll be jogging for two minutes with a minute more to go and you'll think, "60 seconds more? I've totally got this!"

i completed W1 D1 yesterday.. it was pretty good. i got to 1.8 miles. on a treadmill.. what is the speeds you all do for walking?jogging?running?

Hope everyone is still running!

I finally made it through week 6!!:carrot: Got my 2.25 mile run done in record time - 28 minutes! Don't ask me how I got so fast. On May 23rd I ran my first 2 miles and it took me 32 minutes (16 min mile) and today I am just under 13 min mile. I guess it was true when they say don't worry about speed - it will come.
Not looking forward to week 7 though with 3 - 2.5 mile runs - no more walk/run intervals for me :) And if you have been keeping track, it has taken me almost 4 weeks to finish week 6 (but I did have an injury that kept me sidelined for about 2 weeks).

Keep going! :running:

I consider walking up to 4mph. Jogging is more than 4mph but less than 5. Running is 5mph and up. I base this on the calorie burn charts that list running speeds starting at 5 and I can comfortably walk a 15 minute mile, but I also 9" taller than you. HTH.

I have been absent from the boards (aside from popping on to update this thread) for a couple of weeks because I have been off plan. HOWEVER, despite being off plan, I still ran religiously.

Today is Day 1 back on plan.

I ran Week 4 Day 1 today. I left my house sure I wouldn't complete today's run, but having decided that I would just stay to Week 4, Day 1 until I could make all the runs. Can you imagine my shock when I not only DID make it through all the runs, but wasn't dying? I mean, I was like "oh, we're done...ok" rather than the usual "OMG we have GOT to be finished soon...I can't go much further".

There are 2 things that helped me a little:
1) I made my own podcast, with my own music (I LOVE my music, but wasn't really into the trance/techno of the podcast I was using)
2) It was raining, which helped to keep me cool

But aside from these, I have NO clue how the heck I managed with energy left over. The only downfall was that I was feeling a little sick to my stomach when I was done, but that passed.

Just finished w5. My legs are tired, but they feel good.
NTexas - Congrats on finishing w6.

TiffanyLee - I do not use a treadmill, but I jog about a 15 min mile. I walk a 17 min mile. Their is not alot of speed difference, but it is a completely different work out. Do whatever works for you. When I am finished, I plan on starting over and doing my slow jog for the walking and increasing the speed.

I just completed week 3, day 2. I did it again on the treadmill, this time running a 10 minute mile. Now the trick is to see if I can push myself to do that when running outside. Best I've managed on my own so far is a 10:10 mile.

I am very disheartened, I have been working on this for two weeks and for some reason when I got up last Thursday after my Wed night group run, my knees were killing me. I did not run Thursday or Friday, my knees felt a little better on Sat so I ran but it was a mistake, my knees are so sore I can barley stand. I have been using ice and advil and have found out I have Patellar Tendonitis, and it is so ouchie! I am going to give it a couple days off and then try again.
I really want to develop a running program and am so sad that my body is not working.

NEMom: Ouch! That's awful! Just curious, but have you looked into getting your gait analyzed at a running store? I was having knee issues, went to get my gain analyzed, bought shoes that are appropriate for my bio-mechanics, and now no longer have knee trouble. Granted, I don't have patellar tendonitis, but it may still be worth a look.