Week 7 day 2 done! 2.5 miles in 30:31. It seemed a bit harder today but I did it!

almostatty--I have been taking my sweet time with this program, not really repeating weeks, but have 'life' breaks where I am not running, but doing other exercise (like when my son was in the hospital for 2 weeks, or on a trip or recovering from an injury - murphy has lived at my house for a while :) . The first few weeks were HARD, but as I got more fit it became easier as the program got harder. I remember running my first mile straight in late April and I thought I was going to die panting and puffing like an asthmatic. Now, I breath hard, but not panting with my heart beating out of my chest and I'm running 2.5 miles! The longer you stick with it, the better it will be, honest.

Almostatty - I'm at the end of week 5. I was really out of shape when I started in early May. I was also really intimidated by the longer runs. I've had steps backward and weeks I've done for longer than a week. Sometimes when I'd try a new week I wouldn't be able to finish it. So far Week 4 was the hardest jump I've had. Your body will adjust and you'll get there if you keep at it. Good Luck :D

w1d2 completed.
20 minutes gone by fast :D
Cannot wait for the next run on Sunday ^_^

Week 6 Day 3 -- COMPLETE! Woo Hoo! I ran for 25 minutes! :) Only went 2.3 miles in 25 minutes, but hey, at least I'm running faster than 5 mph!

Annita -- That's great! I love this program! You will, too! It just keeps making you feel better every time you complete the next workout... love it!

Me too!!! YAYY!!!!!

w1d3 completed.
oh...moving up to w2 on tuesday.
Hopefully I can do it well.
Today's workout felt great as usual.
I'm a little nervous for the additional 30 seconds on each run interval, but I think I can do it :D

For the last time, running outside is so different from running at home. I was at week 4 when running around my house - but running outside made my pace faster I suppose. Ah I guess that's a good thing.

thank you AnonymousYours. I think I'm starting to like it too. I used to not like it when run at home. But now running around the lake near my house make it so much different. I can enjoy each running day much better than before. I'm so excited.

Oh and i think i will go and find out how many km a trip around the lake (just to have a good idea of how many miles I run each day). I usually run 3 rounds for week 1 (includes 10 mins of total warmup and cooldown).

Today I did W5D2. It's a step back because I did D3 (most of it) last Wed. D3 made me crazy sore so I had to take a mini-break and resumed running today.

I planned to do D3 today but just didn't have enough steam. Was crazy humid, I drank a little yesterday and I hadn't run in a few days. But I'm back on track. Just a small step back. It has happened before and I'll get past it ;).

Complete week 7 day 1 today! :) Felt amaaaazing! (Not like w6d3, which was the same workout, but I was not sure I'd make it. haha)

Josey -- Congrats, as always! I'll catch up with you more in Boot Camp, but I can't wait to hear how your 5k went today!

Annita -- Congrats finishing week 1 running around the lake. That sounds amazing. I would love to be able to run somewhere so beautiful as the lake! Good luck on week 2 day 1 tomorrow, you've totally got this! :)

Scarlett -- It's good that you can listen to your body like that, and that you don't let small setbacks derail your progress. I'm rooting for you, girl! Can't wait to see you complete w5d3 with ease!

Getting ready to start C25K tomorrow with a final goal of being ready for the Tough Mudder run in Pennsylvania in April 2012.

Wish me luck!:D

Welcome to the thread, Rowan and GOOD LUCK! Stick with it and hopefully you'll like it as much as the rest of us.

Did W5D2 again today. It's been crazy hot/humid here lately. Gonna wait until I really have this D2 down or the weather breaks to try D3 again. Any day I'm out there breaking a sweat and getting my heart rate up is a good one.

RowanM - Good Luck. Stick with it, the running gets easier.

AnonymouslyYours - thanks for the well wishes. I know if I stick with it I'll get there eventually. I try to stay positive. Also contrats on week 7, 25 min thats incredible :congrat:

Thank you both! I hope I can grow to like running, I will have a lot to do along with the obstacles in April. :D

W2D1 completed.
Oh my, at every 80th second of running, i always had this thought: "oh my gosh, please tell me to stop" or something like "She hasn't told me to stop yet? Common, i've run quite far"... and blah blah...
haha, it was funny.
I'm glad I made it :D
addition 30 seconds made my legs feel it. But hey, it was a great workout as usual.

Thanks AnonymouslyYours. I cannot wait to where you are :D Running straight for 20 minutes.

Just did W1D1 here - I tried this program once before, but quit after week two (life got in the way...).

I'm armed with the C25K iPod app, a good playlist, renewed motivation, and so much encouragement from you ladies... I can stick with it this time! :carrot:

Week 8 Day 1 down - 2.75 miles in 32:05 minutes. That sounds great, but... I confess I walked a tiny portion of that. I had no energy after July4th celebrations (read "Margaritas") and the run was a sheer act of will, but I did it! Hopefully after a couple of days back on plan, my next run will be better. The good news is that I must have been running faster than my usual 5 mph to get that time with walking.
Almost done, almost done :)

Wow! I'm impressed! Week 1 Day 1 here in S.TX

No better time to start :) BTW, OT, I was in Corpus just a couple of weeks ago visiting relatives in Rockport. Took my boys to the Aquarium - too hot to do the Lexington this trip. Go get running though I know it is miserable in this heat (I tried 1x during my trip and about died , lol, I'm an indoor runner).

I cheated and bought a treadmill for that reason... well, that and the fact that I am a total night owl and can't get the motivation to run until after midnight and I didn't want to get mugged.

WOO!!!! :carrot:

I finished W5D3 today for the first time. It was really hot today and I felt like I'd rather walk through time square naked than go out running. I dragged myself out, perked up and decided to go for it. I didn't quite cover 2 miles but it felt great none the less.

It didn't even kill me. I felt like I could have kept going. This running thing has been so crazy. I'll struggle and be stuck for awhile then out of nowhere I'll have a day where I feel light as a feather, like I can run for miles.

Scarett -- THAT IS SO AWESOME! Congratulations! I know exactly what you mean! I am really happy for you. I love that feeling. Are you moving on to week 6 now, or hanging on to week 5 day 3 for a while?

Thanks Anonymously Yours . I'm going to do D3 at least once more. Today I purposely tried to run very slowly and didn't cover 2 miles. Tomorrow is my rest day. I'll try it again on Thursday. If I can cover 2 miles (or close to it) in 20 min on Thursday (without feeling too dead) I'll move on. If not I'll give it a little longer. We'll see how it goes.

Golly gee! I made my way through W1D1... you don't realize how out of shape you are until you try to get up and do something about it. :D

HA HA HA @ "It didn't even kill me." Now I know I'm not the only one who has that feeling of surprise after a challenging run. And I have the same feeling as you with how variable it is. A good friend of mine is a regular marathoner and he says it's the same at his level. Sometimes things just aren't aligned in GO! mode and other times they are.

NICE WORK!

Thanks BarnyardPunch I've been running for about 2 months now and I'm getting more and more used to the "swinginess" of it. It helps me to not get upset and too caught up in the tough stretches.

The previous day I struggled to finish the 2 8 min intervals, my diet and sleeping hasn't been great. I had been struggling with feeling tierd and heavy while running. Then yesterday out of nowhere I knock out 20 min. Stuff like this has happened before. It helps keep my focus on STAYING a runner.

I completed W7D2 today. Felt easier than the last two but it was a sweaty one :-)

So I did W1D1 twice yesterday... once in the morning, when I typically exercise, and then in the evening I was feeling pretty stressed and antsy, so I hopped on the treadmill and did it again. I'm starting to get to the point where I look forward to going to the gym everyday (and feel somewhat off when I don't get a workout in before work in the morning) - I never thought I'd be here!

I did W1D2 today. So far I can cove 2.3 miles in 31 min. Not sure how that compares to everyone else, but it's now given me a goal to work against. I've been doing a walk at either 4.0 or 4.1 and then running at between 5.3 and 5.5... I hope when I do D3 (tomorrow or Friday, we'll see what I feel like), I can bump the run up a bit higher. :)

w2d2 completed
I wasn't feeling well (only 3 hours of sleep) but i completed it.
The weather was extremely hot and humid.
:)

Did w7d2 today! My mp3 player decided to quit playing music with 7 minutes left to run, and those 7 minutes were pure torture, but I finished. Wow I did not realize how much faster music made the time go.

I know what you mean! I had a little hiccup yesterday with my iphone app. It started W1D1 (tsk!) and I didn't really check before I started. After one minute it told me to walk and I had to restart the program (not the running :-)) and it threw me off for the first 5 minutes at least.
No music though is really tough. Good job on finishing!!!

Btw what are you listening to?

Running without music is so tough. Great job with sucking it up and finishing your run.

Today I tried W5D3 again. I tried to run 2 miles in 20 min. I ended up running 1.5 miles in 15 min. I'm happy because I got my pace up. Now I'm solidly on D3, which is an improvement.

I slept poorly and went out before I was ready due to scattered thunderstorms. The humid weather soaked my clothes. Conditions weren't idea but I still did ok.

W1D3 done!

I have done W1 days 1 and 2 already, but I think I need to repeat the week next week! I walked through one of the runs on day one and two of them on day two! Still finished it and felt pretty good, but I'd like to be able to run all of the runs before I move onto week 2.


Has anyone experimented with doing more than 3 days per week? I'd really like to work up to running at least 5 days per week, do you think it's as effective if I'm doing the same workout for the whole week?

I can't wait to finish this program and really be able to run for 30 minutes!!

edit:

I ran today anyways :D couldn't resist the sound of nature rofl *j/k* so W2D3 completed.
anyways, it's a special day today because in the last round, i missed the start sound so i walked extra 90 seconds AND 2 minutes. So I walked total of 5 min 30 sec. Therefore I decided to see if myself improve any by running another round without the walk. And oh my gosh I can actually run 1km non-stop now without feeling like i'm dying while running. My speed was about 6 minutes for 1km, so i think it's not so bad either. I'm so happy. The first day when I started the program, I couldn't bring myself to run longer than 60 seconds, but now i can actually run 6 minutes. It just felt great.

On the topic I asked again, should I run tomorrow or take a day off? 3 days in a row might be a bad idea, no?
I'm planning to run 4 times per week now, the running schedule might be mess up if i don't run tomorrow (planing to run on Mon, Wed, Thurs and Sat). And this week, counting today as well, only 3 times yet. And i should run 1 more time before moving to week 3. I'm worry if I run on Sunday, and then move to week 3 right after that on Monday, I might feel real tired so I want a rest day before moving up.
What do you guys think?

W1D2 down... seemed easier today.

~fingers crossed~

W2D1 today.

I've done 4 days in a row, and so far it's been feeling GOOD. I'm sure I'll start spacing them out (and repeating them), likely after this week. But - and I never thought I'd say this - I've been super eager to get on the treadmill and go!

I tried to do the program through as an every other day thing, so some weeks were naturally 4x a week. I did two days in a row if I was feeling it, but only a few times. My goal is 4 - 5x a week too, but while I'm no personal trainer, I'd strongly caution against really pricking up the frequency until you're feeling solid in the final weeks.

The program may seem slow to progress, but you really, really don't want a running related injury.

I'm done with the scripted program, but still cannot run a 5k without some walking. At this point, I think it's mental, not physical.

So now I'll do longer, slow jogs for distance and then on the "off" days, just run a mile or so straight through with speed intervals and then do something else like yoga or elliptical.

Hope that's helpful!

I did 5 a week for a while. (I actually should get back to it!) What I did is while e.g. doing W4 I was doing W1 or W2 on my rest days. I wouldn't run 5 days of the week I am in. I think that is too much but going back one or two weeks should be ok.
Just make sure you stop if something (shins?) starts hurting. I had that too and had to rest a whole week after pushing it too hard.

OMG I woke up today and my stomach was KILLING me. It felt so sore I could barely move. It felt like menstrual cramps that wouldn't go away. My whole stomach ached. UGH. I took some ibuprofen and it feels a little better but I'm out of commission for at least today.

The first time I did W5D3 I woke up crazy sore and needed to take a few days off. Then I tried it again, ran 20 min really slowly (but only covered 1.65 miles) and had no soreness. Yesterday I tried to run 2 miles in 20 min but actually ran 1.5 miles in 15 min and then this.

I've really had very little pain and soreness throughout this whole program. I guess the longer distances just punish me. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon and it won't make me sore anymore.

my abs is killing me as well.
I feel very tight and sore. Probably the result from yesterday 1km nonstop.
Hopefully I feel better so I can do the running in this afternoon.

Barnyard and josey thanks so much for the advice. I like the idea of filling in the extra days with workouts from early weeks. Two of my girlfriends have joined me in this running program and weight loss efforts and I really think we are going to have a lot of fun in the process. I may have to enforce a "no laughing during run segments" or it's just a matter of time before one of us goes flying off the treadmill!!

We are going to repeat week 1 next week or part of it, to really get a good handle on the first week of the program. They also want to go to the gym 4 days instead of 3 days which is totally good for me!!