I've started C25K for the 3rd time, I haven't made it past week 4. Not because I've quit per se but in both cases I moved halfway around the world and just never picked it up once I got settled in. The two previous times I've started the program I ran on a treadmill but I don't have one here and gym memberships in my town are really expensive so I've been doing it outside. Hopefully the cold won't stop me in the coming weeks. I really want to finish this time but I'm just going to take it one week at a time.

Good luck everyone and let's do this!!

Riddy--I had not heard that about running as slow as possible. I will definitely keep that in mind. So far I have set the treadmill on the fastest possible time I can walk (3.5--any faster than that and I have to jog it) and have pushed the jogging part as hard as I could. I started having shin split-type pain last week and have taken a few days off because of it. (Plus I was totally rocking the mummy-look with my Ace bandages for a couple days. lol) I think that if I backed off on the intensity of the jog I will do better long term.

Thedollylala--Congrats on starting the 5K210K. I love the idea of training for a 10K so that program is on my radar. Are you planning to go beyond a 10K at some point? Or are you just taking it as you go?

2Dy2MrwAlwys--Congrats on getting into week 2! I have the opposite problem sometimes where my breathing/heart rate is fine but my legs just can't go anymore. I'm starting this at a pretty high weight, though. I don't do a very good job of getting my water in when we're out either. I know I could drink out of the tap but I just don't. I actually need to go exchange our jugs soon. Thanks for the reminder. lol

Changergirl--This is my second go-round with C25K. I hurt myself in a fitness class last time and stopped right after doing the first run in the 4th week. I'm in week three now and have my fingers crossed that I make it through. lol We moved from Germany to California in 2010 and then from Cali back to Germany in 2011--I hear you on the adjustment period. It's rough! By the way, I spent a little bit of time around Taegu, South Korea several years ago. I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked but it's a beautiful country.

I hope everyone is having a great week! :)

Think layers and wicking material. There's some really great warm-weather gear out there.

I ran yesterday in 35 degrees and breezy. A wee bit chilly in my current clothes - wicking undies and long leggings, sports bra, wicking tee and wicking compression jacket. Next time it's that cold I'll try my wicking long sleeve shirt under the jacket. I did pretty good, though - ran the 5k in 41 minutes, kept running for 45 minutes, 3.41 miles total.

I'm thinking of trying the 10k app once I get tired of just running for 45 minutes at a time.

I'm going to attempt a run tomorrow, but I am SO skipping it if it's snowing out. :D

Hi ladies. Lots of silence on my end because it's been so nice outside that I've been riding my bike more and more, and not running as much. I tend to save running for the cold and crappy days (I actually like running in the cold but it's just miserable on the bike), and with our weather being awesome lately I haven't had much incentive to run. I am exercising though so all is not lost. It's supposed to be pretty bad the next few days so I'll be doing the week 2 runs soon.

Keep up the running! You guys are doing great.

I cannot handle the treadmill, which is probably why I "enjoy" running in the cold/crappy weather. It's the lesser of two evils and seems so much more preferable to the dreadmill. I get bored easily, practically fall off because I can't keep a consistent pace, and hate the thud sound I make with every step.

Anywhos, after a while you'll learn to love the cold. With enough layers, it's really fun.

I'm doing C210k so I'm also a bit different than everyone else. We're here to support each other going through a running plan so you are very welcome to join us!

What distance will you be running at when you finish your program? The options are to go longer or get faster. So either do a program that works to a longer distance or do yours again with hills and intervals mixed in (jog during the walking parts and sprint/run faster during the running parts).

As much as I mention liking running in crappy weather, I'm not a fan of rain so I have no good advice for you. You'll feel better once you're done? That's all I got.

A very very belated CONGRATS!!! I hope I can get to the hooked on running part you mention. A lot of people mention that it comes to them after several weeks of running so hopefully I'm on my way there.

Massive commiseration from my end. When I did this program last year, I couldn't get through one of the weeks and would just stop mid run and pout. Most of the time, I would literally have a debate with myself about how much I didn't want to run but how I needed to suck it up and do it. I'm sure people around me thought I was crazy.

It seems to be a normal thing to feel that way. Maybe you're just having an off week. The great thing is that you finished both of those runs, even if you had to stop during them. That's a point of pride and remind yourself of how far you've come. It's awesome that you're able to run so far for so long, and one or two stops shouldn't take away from that.

Perhaps have a little bit of food as you're getting dressed, like half of a banana, or the whole thing if you can handle it. I used to do that for swimming in the mornings, which I know isn't as jostling as running, but the little amount of nutrition helped me get through the hard workouts without the nausea I'd feel if I ate too much.

It took me about 2 months to stop hating running. Then over the next month, I started noticing that I was able to zone out and not think about running for every single step. I'm doing my own modified version of C25K, and I realized it was time to up my intervals again because I was running past the walk breaks, even though I have the cues over my music. The first 1-2 miles are still harder for me, but it gets easier each week.

Omigosh, last night I did W4D2 - I did it! And it wasn't quite as difficult as W4D1 two days earlier. I can't believe I'm running for a full 5 minutes at a time. I started C25K in September - obviously I'm taking it really slow, lol. But it is incredible to see how my fitness has increased - two months ago, 1 minute of jogging was really hard, and a week ago, 3 minutes was the hard part.

All of you are so inspiring. I keep thinking, "if those 3FChicks can do this, maybe I can too!" I hope I can get to the end and actually run a whole 3 miles at a time. It seems impossible but I never thought I'd get to Week 4, so maybe I can make it to Week 8 too! Reading these posts are really encouraging, so thank you everyone for posting!

I'm actually not as worried about running in the cold as I am worried about slipping and falling. I am a terrible klutz, and I'm terrified of falling on the ice. I fell on black ice at work several years ago and landed smack on my elbow - ruptured the bursa. I also tore my ACL slipping on beer on the floor (St Paddy's Day drinking & dancing incident).

But running through snow or while it's snowing doesn't sound much fun, either. ;)

Personal best today - all my miles were under 13 minutes, and my 5k time was under 40 minutes! 3.54 miles in 45 minutes total - yay me! :yay:

[QUOTE=Riddy;4522746]I'm actually not as worried about running in the cold as I am worried about slipping and falling. QUOTE]

That is a good point and something I didn't really think about!!! Now I'm more worried about this than the cold and I hate the cold. I think I have enough layers to get me through that and running warms me up anyway.

I ran wk2d3 last night and it sucked. I'm so embarrased by the fact that 90 seconds is killing me. I know it'll get better but right now it still sucks, I just have to make sure i don't quit. I'm going to go out again tonight and hope it gets better if not I may be stuck on this day forever.

I also have no idea how to quote someone properly, whoops :)

Thanks for the support and advice, especially about eating. I gave it a shot, and I found that eating just a little and not drinking anything seems to be perfect.

After last Thursday's bad run, I skipped my Sunday run (I had a good excuse, operative word being excuse). Then when Tuesday came around, I realized that I had also skipped Friday laundry (I was out of town), and I didn't have anything to wear.

Wednesday I went back out for W8D1 (for the third time), and I finished it successfully! Today I went out and did W8D2; a little slower, but still a good finish. That means I'm on track to finish either Sunday (if I take my running shoes out of town with me) or Tuesday.

I had a major revelation in the almost-week that I took off; the biggest cause of my unplanned stop and walks was neither my body nor my willpower (at least not directly)– it was boredom. In his book "This is How" Augusten Burroughs talks about how discomfort and boredom magnify each other, and this is definitely what I'm struggling with.

I'm not totally sure how to combat boredom; the two most recent runs I did "backward" from my normal route, and that helped quite a bit, but after that I'm out of ideas. Any and all suggestions welcome.

If it makes you feel better, 90 seconds kills me too, and I'm almost done with my program. I remember being shocked when I went directly from 90 seconds to 3 minutes and I found 3 minutes so much easier. It's almost like that's the amount of time it takes me to get in the right rhythm, and it's made worse when I'm also wondering if it's time to stop yet. You can get through it!

Don't be! Back in Aug, 90 seconds was killing me too. Now I can run 7 miles using 5/1 intervals. I can run longer intervals than 5/1, but I can't maintain them for 7 miles. ;)

Like Paja, I find some of the longer intervals easier. If I drop down to 3/1, my legs kill me on the walk intervals.

And don't feel bad if you have to repeat weeks. C25K had me jumping up to 5 min runs too quickly. I just held firm at 3/1 until I felt ready to move on. If the longer runs never feel good, then keep rocking the shorter intervals. I'm training for the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and there are plenty of people planning on doing 1/1 intervals the entire way.

Hey everyone :)

I'm wanting to begin C25K but not until the new year. I've been doing a bit of research into it and it confuses me on how it works. So, I was wondering could anyone answer any of my following questions please?

Is it simply following a plan like this for 9 weeks?
Do you prefer to jog or run the 5K? (Once you reach the 5K)
Could you spend two weeks doing the same workouts?

I don't know if it would be cheating or not to alter the plan or not. I'm not sure if people follow a specific plan or just make up their own plans. Any help/advice would be appreciated :)

Hi, y'all! I will be starting C25K next month (12/1) in preparation for my first 5K in February. I'm going to give myself a "soft start" until then by walking for 35 minutes 3x/week on the days I plan to run so that I get in the habit of getting out of the house for a few weeks before I actually start C25K. Reading about your progress is very inspiring. Keep up the good work!

Hi guys, thanks for all the support, especially Paja and Nikel. It's always nice to know that other people had the same trouble but were able to get through it. I'm going to use both of you as inspiration.

I ran wk2d3 on Friday and found it a bit better. I was going to run it again last night but I was way too exhausted after a weekend away. I'm going to try and move up to wk3d1 tomorrow and see how it is. I can always go back if I need to.

Dreamer, I follow something similar to what you posted however I edit the schedule to fit my abilities. I usually will run each day twice so it's going to take me double the amount of time to finish. I know other people who have finished and they also altered the schedule to fit them better, just do what you can!! Good luck once you start.

I hope you don't mind a long-ish answer. To give you some background, I finished the program a few years ago, and kept running until a bicycle accident took me out for about a year. After the year, I found I no longer enjoyed running, so I stopped. I've intermittently used various parts of the program on their own. I started again from the beginning at the beginning of August, and I'm on track to finish this week.

Yep, the plan that you linked to is the "official" C25K plan, so it's what a lot of people mean when they reference it. Other people do C25K inspired plans. (For example, I use the Ease Into 5K app, which alters the official plan to avoid copyright issues; having done both now, I like Ei5K a little better, but they're effectively the same.)

I prefer to never use the word "jog." I have a negative visceral reaction to it. I say if you're not walking, you're running. You may be running slowly or running quickly, but it's all running (provided it's not, you know skipping or some other human powered locomotion). I run between a 10 and 11 minute mile for the 5K, which is considered too fast by some people who are way more scientific than I am. It's comfortable for me, so that's what I do. Do what works for you to start, and if you need to bring science in to improve your performance or reduce injury, you can think about that later.

You can absolutely spend two weeks doing the same workouts. My rule has been that I repeat a workout until I complete it successfully (not walking during the runs), and then I move on to the next one. With three weeks out for sickness, the 8-week program has taken me about 14 weeks. I made it a rule to always try the next run if I successfully completed the last one (even if it was a struggle), because I often surprise myself with my abilities. But it would also be totally fine if you just decided from the beginning to do every workout twice, or whatever it is that makes you comfortable.

Finally, you can't really cheat on C25K as long as you're happy with your own progress (and you're not in some kind of competition or something).

Thanks so much for the information and advice, Changergirl and Paja. I look forward to beginning C25K in the new year. It's just not a good time to begin a plan at the moment.

Jumping from 3 minutes to 5 minutes scares me a lot. Not gonna lie. And I've found that I usually quit at that point. I'm nowhere near those intervals (I still have a few weeks of 1', 2', and 3' intervals) but looking at that jump is already getting me a bit discouraged.

So thank you Paja and Nikel1979 for your advice and experience. Maybe I shouldn't be so scared of it.

I also struggle with boredom, even now with the 1 minute intervals. Any suggestions for fixing that?

As for my running progress...
I took a week off from running to bike and since I was just finishing up week 1 anyways I decided to start the whole thing over. Based on my times, I didn't lose any run fitness and actually got faster! I was able to get all my running intervals under a 10-minute mile pace, with most being well under a 9:30-minute mile pace.

I often struggle deciding on when I'm ready to move onto the next week so maybe this could be a good marker...repeating until I can get under a 10-minute mile pace. In the past when I was in worse shape than I am now, I was at 10 minutes or around 10:30 even for the longer runs, so this could be a good way to get faster and go longer. We'll see.

Congrats on finishing those runs and figuring out your pre-exercise eating! And good luck with this last week of the program. Sounds like you're on track to rock it!

Ooh, I like your two rules! I may have to adopt them for myself.

That's a great idea! Establishing a routine of getting out the door is a fabulous way to start. That's usually the hardest part for me, at least.

To sum up the following paragraph in two words: I graduated!

Yesterday I finished W8D3, the last day of my program. I wasn't going to do it (I'm getting sick again, ugh), but I wanted to be able to say that I finished so bad, especially because I know I'm going to have to take some time off now that I'm sick. And it was great! Maybe because I knew it was a milestone, it was an easy run, and I definitely know I could have gone farther. I made a playlist especially for that run with songs that have motivated throughout the program; every one reminded me of a different run and what I was going through then, which was a lot of fun. This is actually the first run on my home route that I've enjoyed, and it makes me excited for what's to come.

Speaking of what's to come, I have a few ideas that I plan to work through after I finish being sick and keep up with running 5k three times a week for a little while, probably through the end of the year. I hope it's okay if I continue to hang out in this thread during that time (and maybe after if I pick up a similar program); I really like the attitude of C25Kers in general, and the people here in particular.


Me too! Sometimes I have to tell myself that if I make it through the warm up and I still don't want to run, I can turn around and go home. I've never actually done it, though, because it was the getting out that was killing me.

Paja

First off congratulations, that is an awesome accomplishment. I hope to get there someday and because of you it may happen sooner.

I really like your rule of moving on to the next run as long as you've completed the previous one. I always thought it would be better to try and perfect the run, either by going further or physically feeling better during the run. But you make a really good point, when you push your body it can do things you didn't think possible. If I stay on week 3 for 5-6 runs instead of 3 or 4 it's just going to slow down my progression. I'm really going to take that into consideration and I may alter my schedule and continue to move on unless I can't finish it.

I hope you keep hanging out here to give more sound advice and feel better soon.

Grats, Paja! It is so encouraging to read about other people's experiences here. I hope you're not under the weather for long.

I did W5D2 on Tuesday - two 8-minute intervals, woot! I continue to be amazed at my body accepting these challenges. The next step is a 20 minute jog - yikes!

Right now I'm recovering from a minor 'procedure' done on Wednesday, so I feel like I should let my body heal for a few days before resuming running. Just yoga and walking for now. Probably I'll redo W5D1 or W5D2 again when I start up on Sunday or Monday.

The weird thing is how much I like this running stuff. It is hard work, but I like the feeling of accomplishment afterwards. On run days, I wake up excited, anticipating late afternoon when I dress in layers, strap on the iPod, and pull on a knit cap to get to it. I'm determined to keep at this until running is easy, or at least easier. So that brings me to my question for everyone: what is YOUR motivation for doing C25K (or C210K)?

I haven't been able to run more than once a week in the last few weeks. I'm technically still doing W9 (I've run it about 4 times). For the time being, that will have to do.

However, the great news is that my run today took me down to ONEderland! I weighed in after my run at 199.6.

For me, running has truly been the difference in the weight loss this time. Even when I have been off plan (as I have been for the last few weeks), I'm maintaining, not gaining, because I get running into my week. Even if it's only one time a week, it makes a difference!

So excited to continue to run, lose, and feel and look better. I even ran on a busy street today and didn't care about how I looked in my running gear :)

Oddly enough, basically all half marathon to ultra running distances programs recommend that you increase your run workouts by no more than 10% each week. Mostly so that your soft tissue has time to adjust and to prevent injury.

It seems like there are huge interval leaps in these couch to 5k programs.

Not to say that people shouldn't use them...they can be a huge motivator. But those huge mileage jumps, IMHO, can be a prerequisite to minor injury if you don't listen to your body very, very carefully. Also, trail running, treadmill, asphalt and cement and all have differing amount of stress on your lower body...changing these can also affect how you feel.

But folks who are rightfully nervous about big jumps in running timing from week to week...I think it's okay to modify the amount of increase you do. Just as long as you increase....and you are consistent about it. Those are the important parts.

Good luck

It's not that it's a big distance jump though. In week 6, for example, you go from 2 10 mins runs with a 3 min walk in the middle to a 22 min run with no breaks. That is a 10% increase

Paja....previously recommended yogurt or bananas are often eaten....but you can also nibble a 1/2 slice toast (with maybe a bit of protein), a half granola/power bar, or maybe even peanuts. Typically your blood sugar level is at its lowest first thing in the morning, so even just a few bites (200 calories ish) of something easily digestible (that's not too sugary) will help keep your energy level up and stomach issues at bay.

Don't get discouraged. Even experienced athletes have to play with their nutrition schedule to get something that works for them. If you've ever watched a marathon...a lot of very seasoned athletes drop out due to stomach issues. So just think of it this way.....you're a hardcore athlete now! :carrot:

Good luck!

You are right, but it's a big change in terms of how much straight running there is. Some studies have shown running increases joint stress more than 300% over a brisk walk. So, if folks are struggling with their heart rate/breathing, have a history of joint issues or have a huge mental block, you could add a week where you run 15 minutes/1 minute walk/8 minute run...

....or, you could add two weeks that are

week a) 12 minute/2 minute/8 min

week b) 16 minute/2 minute/4 minutes

then pick up again at 22 minutes straight.

If folks want to push themselves and go straight to it, more power to them. Go for it.

I've coached age group and masters swimming for a long time...and I've had 4 surgeries on my lower extremities (which is a big reason why I am so heavy now). So, when coaching first time exercisers or those with a history of injuries (like me)...I've always gone the 'slow and steady' route. My philosophy is "better to keep them motivated and healthy rather than mentally beating themselves up for not finishing".

But every person approaches and responds to training differently. The most important thing is that you get out there and keep a positive attitude so that you keep coming back.

Hi all!
I completed W5D1 on Tuesday, but threw in a new Zumba class on Wednesday night. Now I'm so sore, I can hardly move! :(
I just bought a Black Friday special treadmill since the temps are dipping here in the Midwest... so after some yoga this afternoon during which I stretched myself, I'm hoping to hop on there and at least be able to repeat W5D1... kind of thinking I'll need to spend a week on each day of weeks 5 and 6! :)

I love playing lots of sports and so every active thing I like doing requires running. So the C25k and C210k programs are a way to get fitter and faster and enjoy these sports even more, because it's much more fun to do things when you're not gasping for air all the time and/or the slowpoke at the end.

After a week off for vacation, I'm having motivation issues again. It's so much easier to exercise when there's a set schedule. But starting that schedule again after a week of pure relaxation has been so difficult for me!

It's also been very cloudy here the last few days and that just makes me want to stay lazy. I just have to keep telling myself that sitting around all day is not ok, because that is exactly what got me to this weight in the first place.

Started the plan this morning! I did have to stop the last 15 seconds of one of the runs because my calf started to get really tight and I needed to stretch. Otherwise, I think it was a success. It wasn't easy, but it was definitely doable. I'm looking forward to my next morning out.

Good going, TheLauren! If you keep at it, you will be amazed at your progress.

I'm so happy that my 13 year old son has started accompanying me on jog days. He's a terrific sprinter so he really holds back to stay with me, but this program is helping him develop more endurance which he appreciates. And his company is so very welcome! We do simple word association games while we run to distract each other. :)

And with his companionship, yesterday I finally completed W5D3 - the whole 20 minute jog, woot!