Congrats on being a marathoner ncuneo, that is amazing!

krampus, I know what you mean with the smoking, running definitely helps with the motivation! I still have a slip up now and then, and I am always reminded the next time I exert myself why I need to stay quit for real, I need all the O2 I can get in me! Have to remind myself social smoking is not a good excuse and not worth it in the long run.

chickadee32, running two days in a row isn't necessarily a problem, as long as you're gradually building up your weekly miles it should be fine. I think that advice is more for new runners doing a c25k type program. When I was doing my 12 week half-marathon training program I was running 6 days a week, usually alternating shorter runs with longer ones.

I guess I'm done with my c25k reboot so I'll join in here. Today I did 3.45 miles in 40 min. I was going for 3.1, but according to my GPS I overshot it a little. My legs felt like jelly and I was sucking wind up the last big hill, but I made it through. I remember what it was like to enjoy running, now that I am so slow and out of shape and pushing to be ready for an 8k on 4/28 I find I'm pushing past my comfort zone by the end of every run. I know I just have to push past this discomfort, but it makes me more than a little upset with myself when I think about how far I have fallen. Oh well, one step at a time, just need to build it up with each run.

shananigans, thank you for the feedback. I always feel energized to run again the day after I've done a run, but never do because of thinking I have to wait another day. It's good to know I can if I take it slow/make it light! I'm sorry you feel like you're struggling right now - it must feel disappointing to not enjoy the running as much at the moment when you used to really love it. If you're already doing 3.5 though and still have a month to go before the 8K, you should be in good shape to do it! And to me, that's a pretty fast pace given that you've just started out again... I have just worked up to that pace after many months of building slowly. Your body will get used to it again, and it will become more enjoyable again with time, I am sure of it.

nunceo, I wish I could help out with the thread, but I'm already running one over in the challenge forum, and that's enough to keep up with as it is! I'm also kind of in and out of 3FC when I'm going through an IVF cycle, so not as consistent around here as I'd like to be anyway. Sorry though!

I did 3.5 miles today at 5.2 mph, which was what I was shooting for. I've been doing three runs (3 miles, 3.5 miles, 3 miles) at each speed before bumping it up slightly, which has been working well... but both the run Friday night and this afternoon were kind of tough, and so I think I might need to add in another run before I bump the pace up to 5.3 mph. I'm not working toward a particular goal on any particular time frame, so it seems I might as well take it slow! If anyone has any specific suggestions, I will definitely take them.

Lots going on not much extra time to run got 4 miles in today 43min. Knees still feeling good cross training really helped! Happy trails all....

Thanks chickadee32, I know you're right, it just seems so hard now. Do you run exclusively on a treadmill? I personally hate treadmills, I get so bored! It has to be pretty nasty outside before I'll step on one.

Talk about crappy runs, today I feel like I should have just stayed in. I've been feeling like I kind of have a bit of a cold for the last couple days, but not too bad and wasn't getting worse so I decided I'd just go out and try for 30 min at whatever pace I could manage. I won't have time to run for the next two days, so I was worried about such a long break between runs and deconditioning. Well, I managed around 2.3 mi in 30 min, barely felt like I was moving faster than walking I had no power to get up hills whatsoever. I had to stop and walk up to get up a hill 2 times. I just wasn't feeling it at all. And to top it all off I tripped over a tree root and did a dive roll about 30 seconds before I was officially done with my 30 min. Probably because I was looking and my watch and barely picking up my feet. At least I didn't hurt myself and no one saw me. Brushing it off and hoping for a great run on Friday. I could really use one right about now!

shananigans: I'm sorry about the crappy run yesterday. I HATE when I have one of those. I do almost all of my running on the treadmill, in part because I typically exercise at night (9:30 or 10 pm) and in part because then the conditions (speed, incline) are totally controlled, lol. I like getting into my music and just being able to ignore everything else around me. I get outside for a run once in a while, but it's not often (maybe once every few weeks).

I went to a running clinic yesterday at my local FleetFeet, and it was interesting! I found out that, as I'd suspected, one of my legs is a bit longer than the other, and that's likely what has been causing the pain in my hip. I need to look for a heel lift to put under my shoe insert to correct that. They also gave me a bunch of other recommendations, including that I need to increase my cadence, which feels totally weird and wrong when I try it. The good news though was that the exercise specialist felt that the tack I'm taking to slowly improve my running is a good one, so yay!

After the clinic yesterday I did 3 miles at 5.2 mph last night. It definitely felt easier than the previous two runs at 5.2 mph, but I think I need a bit more before I can comfortably increase the speed. I think I'll do one more run at 5.2 mph as well as a longer run at a slower speed this weekend, and then increase to 5.3 mph for my first run next week.

chickadd:cool you went to a clinic sounds like all great advice a good to know you are on the right track, I admire you for running at night don't know if I would have the energy.
shananagins: hang in there do what you can do some days are better than others for no good reason and some times there are reasons

As for me I ran 4 miles today in 41;20. So today was a good day 10min 20 sec miles. Some days its 12. It helptoday to have my tunes the last 2 runs my Walkman decided not to work!!! So just got to listen to myself pant not what I like to do. It is finicky on the weather here cold and than warm it was 60 today and I finish at 10 am sweating YUCK going to need to get my butt out earlier! Happy running

devadiva: I don't know how you did those runs without your music!! It totally kills my motivation when my ipod batteries die during a workout - the few times it has happened, I've just cut my workout short and gone home. I seriously don't feel like I can run without music.

Did a longer, slower run tonight - 5.1 miles at 4.8 mph (faster at the end). It felt pretty good; my legs turned to jello when I upped the speed to 5.5 mph and then 6 mph for the last few minutes, but otherwise I could definitely have gone longer. I need to get to the gym earlier the next time I plan a longer run... I REALLY want to run 10K on the treadmill at least once, just to know I can do it.

Hey everyone... Mind if I join in? I'm a "kind of" runner... I worked my way through c25k about 2 years ago and I've been "kind of" running ever since. I say kind of because I still don't consider myself a runner. I didn't do much over the winter but I'm getting back into it now. I've done a few 5k's and have a regular 5k route that I run outside when I can... I'm in Canada so only hard core runners run outside in winter! 5k usually takes me about 45-55 minutes. I can't afford a gym so the treadmill in the basement is my friend all winter.

I run horribly slow and I have the ultimate goal of 5k in 30 minutes and a half marathon so I've decided to pick up the pace a bit. I'm doing c25k again, currently on week 3 but a lot faster then last time. I'm running at 5.2 mph on the treadmill as I'm aware it's easier then "real world" outside running. I'm hoping to do no less then 5mph outside, I'm putting off running outside, it's harder to track my distance and time out there.

Does anyone have any tips on how to improve speed? I figure after I finish the c25k at this speed I'm going to move on to a 10k and hopefully run that in August. The half I've mentally scheduled for next summer.

The other hurdle in my training is I keep sleeping through my runs! I'm trying to run in the mornings due to time, but this morning again I got up to run at what I thought was 5:45am (late to run but I could still get a short one in) only to discover it was 6:45 am and I was going to be late for work I have kind of a funny sleep thing where I'll do things (actions, talking etc...) that I don't remember in the morning so I must be turning off my alarm in my sleep Gaaaah! How frustrating!

Sorry for the long post.... thanks for any help

3.1 miles in 35:40, felt pretty good even going up 3 sizable hills. I will credit the nice cool mist and spending 11 hours in bed last night (I was wiped out and in bed by 8:30).

Aunty Jam, I don't focus much on speed, I find that just comes with time for me, but lots of runners do interval work to work on speed. I'm sure you can find lots of info on the internet. I have trouble getting up to run or work out in the morning too. I do it once in a while when it's the only way I can fit it in, but usually I try to do it when I'm more likely to be awake.

Ran 4 miles today 350ft gain in 1 mile of it rest was flat or the 1 mile downhill................All with no music!!! WALKMAN dead ordered a shuffle today will only put fast tunes in it and keep on truckin...IF ANYONE READ THIS BEFORE I HAD WROTE WRONG ELVEATION DON"T KNOW WHERE I CAME UP WITH IT???

Ran same 4 as yesterday trying to switch it up by adding elevation I HATE HAVING NO MUSIC!