I find the treadmill much easier than walking outside. I unfortunately quit the gym when I realized I wasn't using it that much. (just me being lazy) but now that it is nice out, I prefer the outdoors. I get bored easily on the treadmill.

If the treadmill is easier on your knees why not continue on it? Better that then injuring yourself and having to stop all together.

I have been taking my dog on my walk/jogs and I think she is enjoying it. I never had a dog before last year so I am not sure if she likes it or hates it. I think she does like it. I know she hates the car...but yesterday when we got to the park she started whining but her tail was wagging? Does that mean she was excited to go for a walk?

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day today. I am off to church then a graduation party. I hope to get my walk in later on in the afternoon/evening.

Wk 9 has begun! Can't believe I am jogging 30 minutes nonstop!!!

One more workout and then 5k on Saturday!!! Nervous but excited!!!

So much winning! On Monday, I was starting up W4D3, did the first 3 minute run, then the walk, then the 5 minute run. I was in such a good groove, had the right pace, wasn't all wobbly, and could breathe, so I ran through the 2.5 minutes of walking, and kept going through the next run and walk. Making a grand total 12 minutes of jogging IN A ROW!!! I don't know how it happened, but I have finally broke through the 5 minute mental block I was having. So freaking pumped.

awesome Job Silverfire! I just started W2D1..it was drizzling here but I still made myself go. I feel great that I did that. Once I am out there I love it. Hope everyone else is sticking to it.

I'm going to start C25K --again!-- tonight! Excited, but worried I won't be able to even do week 1, day 1 properly. If I can't, I'll just keep on repeating it until I can manage it. But also embarrassed that I let myself get to this point again. =/

Edit: well, actually I did it! Not only that, but I did it properly for the first time. In all of my past attempts at C25k, on the first day I walked through part of the running portions. Not this time! I ran all of them, and was surprised when it was over. I think all of the walking and bicycling I have been doing lately has made it a bit easier for me. I mean, I still jogged slooooowly, but it was jogging and not walking and that's what counts! :)

Hey, everybody, how's it going? KarinRose, how was your 5k? Silverfire, congrats on the 12-minute run! That's a huge milestone! BeachPlum, nice job running in the run! Really makes you feel like a bad-***, doesn't it? ;) Horo, how's the first week going?

The 5k went ok. Neither as bad as I feared, nor as good as I imagined. I started off at my steady slow pace and felt fine. Then about a mile in I started to lose my mental headspace as children passed me and I psyched myself out and started walking and jogging. I was a little disappointed because I was sure that I would jog the first 30 minutes like in training at the very least. It didn't help that it happened after a stressful week and after the last day of school (complete with happy hour).

I'm proud of taking it on but I am itching to continue training and to do the next one and improve.

This time was 47:08. I am still looking forward to a time that includes no walking in it though. :-)

It's going well. :) I completed day 2 successfully, though I'm thinking I might have to repeat week 1 before I can move onto week 2 as I'm still just barely managing.

I also just started C25K just last Sunday. And I just finished up day 2 yesterday. I found week 1 to be quite manageable and dare I say easy? But I still can't picture myself running a 5k.

I was always one of those who would get side stitches when running and give up midway. I'm learning perhaps I was running too fast. Lesson learned. Can't wait to see how I do in week 2.

thank you Hoho for the encouragement. and way to go Karinrose! you rock! I can't wait till the day I can say I completed my first 5k! I am suppose to be in week 3, but I am going to start it over. We have had some pretty wicked humid weather here and I am finding it hard to run in it. :( So I have been fast walking. still doing something, so I am not going to kick myself. Hellolovely, I can attest to your thinking you can't picture yourself running a 5k. But we can do it! might take a while, but that's what training is all about.

Hey y'all! I started C25k for the second time the other day. I think last time I got to week 5 so hoping to actually make it through the whole program this time :). I finished w1d2 today, so really just beginning. Looking forward to this thread for motivation!

I started C25K W1D1 yesterday. I did pretty good 1.79 miles @ 14:25 per minute. I also run my Zombie run app to motivate me. Sometimes I have to sprint to evade zombies which can make it tiring. lol. I'm looking forward to doing this and finally completing something!

What is this zombie app you speak of? Sounds interesting! :)

I just finished Week 2 day 3. I'm a bit slower than I would like, I do the first half the work out running 5mph, then get burned out and my legs hurt, so the last half I run 4.5mph. I've been doing the walking at 3mph. My app on my phone says that I should do 5.2mph run, and 4mph walking. I'm no where near that!

Week1 was hard, but I managed, I'm wondering if I should re-do week 2 and try to do the 4mph walks and the 5.2mph runs? Or, slow and steady and just work my way up there?

I can't wait to run a steady 5k, even if I run the whole thing at 4.5 mph. I'm sure I'll get faster!

Hi C25k-ers! I have completed C25K twice in the past (most recently in February I think) but stopped running for various reasons. Let's hope the post-C25K thread will help with that :D

yaaaaay I FINALLY got out and ran again. I had to go back to Week3,Day2. It was the right level - challenging but doable. I hadn't run (except for once a month ago) since April.

Great to see some many people getting out there and doing it!

Hi, kurisitaru - I have always gone much slower than what your app is saying. Although when I started the first time, I was on a treadmill and I was doing the run portions the first week at like 6.0 mph! Then as the runs got longer, I had to slow way down to get through them. When I got to the long 20+ minute runs, sometimes I would be at 4.0 mph! Which is what your app is saying is a walking speed... My walking sections were usually 3.0 mph, same as you.

The advice I got (years ago) was to just work up to sustained 30 minute runs, which is where you are when you graduate the C25K program, then just work on speed from there. More seasoned runners will be able to give you more details. I was never sure the best way to "work on speed" - just try to run faster for 30 minutes? Go back to intervals? or what?

One thing I always thought about doing was going back to an earlier week, maybe even Week 1, and jog during the "walk" sections and run all-out during the "run" sections. You'd have to jog during the warmup and cooldown sessions (repeating them I guess so you get the actual warmup and cooldown) to get a full 30 minutes though.

Thank you EmmaD. I think I'll just stick to my slow runs and try to finish the 8 weeks. Once I reach the 5K part, maybe I'll just increase speed incrementally until I hit a faster spot.

Hi ya'll, I haven't been progressing with the C25K really, and have sort of just been running instead. Yesterday I ran for 15 minutes all in a row (I hopped off the treadmill for a 15 seconds or so just to catch my breath a couple times) The week before I did 13 minutes in a row! I figure if I just keep adding a minute or two every week or two, I'll be golden :)

Zombie Run is a running app with a story line as if you're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. There is 3 seasons, season 1 is only 1.99 and had 23 running sessions (stories). Every time you run/walk it tracks your speed and miles, as well you "pick up" supplies. It always has a map of the camp and every run you do and complete you get supplies to make the camp bigger for more survivors etc....

I really enjoy it. :)

Week 1 complete! Onward to week 2 :)

Zombie app sounds fun, but dangerous? Running while looking at it seems like a bad idea, or does it interact with noise and not pictures?

I did week 3 day 1. Boy... the 3 minute run was rough, I had to drop speed to 4.3 for the last one, but I did it! I did that Tuesday, will do day 2 today. I also have been halving calve issues. I stretch and do the warm up, perhaps I should stretch more? Anyone else have that? I discovered I'm not as out of breath, but my calves start to burn and feel like a rock got stuck. If it weren't for that, I think I'd be faster. Any thoughts?

Hi everyone.
Haven't been here in a while- I finished the 5k app a while ago. I'm not running 5k, I think, but I still run at least 30 min (not including warm-up/cool-down) three times a week. Pretty sure I'm accomplishing about 3.5k in the half hour it takes to listen to another installment of the Zombies app. You just start it and it mixes story bits with your play list while you run, "hoard" mode optional- the hoards make you sprint. All the building/fiddling you do afterwards, not while running.

As for stretching, I found this article, 6 stretches every runner should do, to be helpful and not overwhelming. You know what I mean; there are some articles that will name 47 must-do stretches, or whatever, as if we don't all have lives to get to!

Thanks Magicsusan, I will try them before my run today.

I'm not sure, but I have the impression that *after* is more effective. That's when I do mine, anyway. Happy running!

I did it before the run, and again after the run. Doing it before was REALLY helpful. Far less of a stretching pain. My knees still kind of hurt as did my calves, but far better. Then I did them again after I ran. Made it more bearable.

Wow. I'm not sure you should be in pain at all. I'm still quite heavy for my height- was even heavier when I started running- and I've never had issues with my knees.

Is it possible you need to check your form/shoes/running surface? Just throwing it out there... it's a LOT easier to prevent damage than wait for healing...

Good luck, in any case :)

Hmmm... I could look into new shoes. I'm seeing my doctor in a week or so, I'll ask her as well. I thought it was just normal...

Week 5, day 1, was easier than week 4 for some reason! My calves and knees no longer hurt! So YAY! Going to get new shoes still, and doctor tomorrow!

Boy do I sweat. Yay for a sweat band.

Hey guys, its great to see a C25K thread. I finished this a while back but I'm still not running a full 5k, I'm slow so I'm doing just over 3k in the 30 mins. I loved the program so good luck to everyone doing it, it can seem impossible at times but trust your body. Its stronger than you think. You'll get there.

I haven't updated in more than a month but I just finished up week 6.

I remember reading what week 4 entailed and thinking I can't run for 5 minutes straight! Oh to be back at week 4. Oddly enough day 3 of week 5 wasn't hard at all (running for 20 minutes), but I had some trouble with week 6. I didn't give up or walk or anything, but I was just way more tired. I think perhaps the change was the weather. It got HOT last week even around 10 PM along with the humidity! Plus day 2 of week 6, I ran 30 minutes after I ate (worst decision ever. I felt so heavy running and had side stitches like mad, but I did it!).

I just completed week 6 day 3 about 4 hours ago and it wasn't hard except I was uncomfortable due to the heat.

And question, how do you guys breathe while running? I read so many different methods from "professional" sites. When I was running just 5-10 minutes, the shallow mouth breathing in and out worked, but as I'm running longer, I can't seem to get a pattern in my breathing. Any help?

I'm really struggling to exercise at the moment, I'm still doing my 30mins run 3 times a week but its so hot and humid it makes it so much harder than normal. I'm having to take breaks at times and my pace is much slower than it usually is.

Hellolovely I try and breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, I think that means you get maximum oxygen into your lungs.

That's how I was breathing until last week. Two shallow breaths in through the nose and shallow breathing out through my mouth. But then I read another "professional" article saying to breathe with your mouth since it's larger and you can get more air into your lungs. So I tried that, but with the heat and just exhaustion I am finding it hard to keep a pattern. I shall go back to shallow breathing through the nose and concentrate only on breathing than listening to my music and etc.

I stopped jogging at week 5, just too hot. I now Shred inside. (My treadmill is in a hot place with no AC...). I'll do C25K again once it cools down, or when I can move my stuff!

W1D1 here...just completed my first "run" for a looooong time!

I'm horribly unfit at the moment so I found it quite hard, but just when I was thinking maybe I should finish early and make this a pre-W1 week, my app told me it was time for the cool-down :)

Looking forward to D2 and to gradually getting back to being fit!

Hello :wave:
I start W5D1 tomorrow and absolutely 100% terrified. I thought 4 mins then 5 mins were awful. Four wasnt so bad and 5 and I are becoming friends. But 6! Then8! :dunno: when I am in the 5 min warm up I actually start to get nervous lol crazy ol'me :)

I've graduated the program but due to becoming lazy I'll be doing it again! I will be doing W1D2 tomorrow... wish me luck!

Just restarted, I completed it last year and felt the urge to try it again, I have started outside, trail running,when it gets to dark/cold I'll go back to the treadmill at the gym.

W1D2 completed plan on D3 tomorrow

Best to all :sunny:

Just finished W4D1!

This is the farthest I've gone in this program. It was a bit of struggle to finish today, but I've mostly been doing really well thus far.

Hope you're sticking with it too kelijpa!

WTG Trayteam!

Did w2d1 yesterday, feel like I'm off to a good start, thought I could jump ahead, but glad I decided to restart from the beginning :sunny:

Glad to hear it kelijpa!

I do W4D2 tomorrow, and I'm trying to psych myself up already. One thing to do it is that I officially signed up for a 5k race that will be in a month. Even if I have to walk a few parts I won't be crushed, but it is great motivation to continue on.