oh i love spinning..... try it... u will sweat like never before lol

and its great for burning cals.. oh and not so hi-impact for your rest days

pachy,,, omg... that run in hyde park will be a piece of cake! (without the cake!!)

I somehow got my days mixed up and run again today. I was able to complete week 4 day 2. Completed as in the full 3, 5, 3, and 5 minute runs. Yeah! I'll take tomorrow off to make up for the mix-up in running days.

2.32 miles in 27 minutes is great Shrinking Mama. I cannot remember; was this week 7 day 2 for you? When are you going to sign up to run a 5k?

Lou - spinning always looked hard to me. I know a girl that regularly rode 40+ miles daily (3 to 4 times a week) and was in great shape, always taking exercise classes at the college. I remember her taking a spinning class a few times and talking to me about how intense it was. Definitely not a class for non-active folks. You must be in pretty good shape to be enjoying it. Kudos!

Everyone has been so active- that's great! It's has continued hot & humid here so I'm mostly working out at night. I've been stuck at 5-6 minute run intervals with 3 min. walks between, 3-4 repeats. I can't push past 6 minutes no matter what I try. So I'll keep trying until my body is ready to progress. I'm feeling great- no aches & pains so that's a plus.

Shrinking Mama- When I take the kids with me the little one (10) rides his scooter beside me & we talk recipes. He loves to cook. Congratulations on the 2.3 mile run! Keep up the great work.

Pachyderm- Congratulations on your 20 minute run.

Softballmom- I am definitely learning more as I run more.

Webweevil-Wonderful progress! You must be so proud of yourself. How's your knee?

Lou1978- I've never tried spinning, but it looks & sounds pretty intense. It's low impact, but definitely high effort!

Question? Is jogging considered running? I'm an avid walker and when I go to the park, I try to walk/jog for 6 miles, which I do. I do segments of walking and jogging. I have not tried to do the whole six miles, but I have done almost a 1/2 mile at a jog.
Anyway, just wondering.
Also if you start out jogging, does your body some day let you graduate to running faster. I freqently feel really really slow.
I walk 6-9 miles a day, between going outside and doing a walk video
Thanks for the information.

Hi Exquisitern~

It sounds like you're doing what are called intervals or repeats. Some of us are doing intervals & some of us are running full time.

I don't know about the faster thing- my body refuses to move past 6 minutes of running between 3 minute walk sessions. The other ladies who post here could probably give you better advice.

A good website to check is coolrunning.com (I think). Lou1978 is in the UK & uses a different site that has slightly different timetables. Stop by again & tell us how you're doing.

GenreGirl - Bummer! It sounds like you hit a wall with your running. Perhaps you shouldn't do the 4th six minute repeat. Just glancing at week 5 and 6, it look's like they only have us running 2 or 3 repeats as the runs get longer. I am sure you will break through the wall when your body is ready.

Welcome exquisitern! I've noticed the terms running and jogging are often used interchangably online.

Hi, just checking in from the weekend. I busted Friday night due to heat / nausea. I was trying to do Wk 6 D 1; I ran the 5 minute and the 8 minute intervals, but crashed on the last 5 minute run even after stopping over and cooling myself with water in the restroom.

We had an overnight softball tourney Sat and Sun, but the hotel had a treadmill. I've never been on a treadmill (believe it or not). I ended up doing about 2 miles Saturday night, and loving it, went back Sunday morning before games and ended up doing 3 miles on a 15 min/mile pace. I am sore today though!

I really need one in my basement for those hot and humid days like Friday. This week I will probably have to hit the inside track with AC unless the humidity can sink. I've ran in mid 90 degree heat before, I don't know what happened Friday

Hope everyone is doing well.

exquisitern - I consider running and jogging the same. Not sure what the difference would be, if there is. Also, I've noticed that I am running faster than when I started unless it is a very hot day, then I slow down by the time I finish. Welcome to the forum.

hi yup .. I'm in london.....

im doing the www.girlsruntoo.com plan.... on week 4 i think now.. running 5mins walk 3 mins x 3 !.. eek think it will be fine.... looks like thier site has been revamped.. i cant see it on there now.. i can do a copy if any one wants... (lucky i have printed one... i might have even been clever enough to save it on my computer (im @ work!)

Well ladies I am running MIA for a bit. Pulled my groin muscle really badly playing in my kickball league last night. Going out of town this weekend on assignment so my goal is to be better by then and get a decent run in even though I will be out of town. That is the awesome thing about running eh? You can do it anywhere!

webweevil - I am a clock looker as well, such a shame sometimes I just wanna get out there and run! Sounds like you are doing great.

shrinking mama - Well I usually do mine just when the sun is going down, about 8 p.m. my time. Make sure you drink lots of water and or bring some with you. Running outside is a challenge not only for the obvious reason (it is harder for your body to do) but also because when in public you may be tempted to run faster...I used to feel like I looked rediculous going so slow...but try to keep the same pace you have been using inside.

genregirl - I know what it is like to get that running plateau, I often rely on that little voice inside my head to coach me along. Just keep trying, you will get there.

exquisitern - Running slow is jogging So yes. Once you get used to jogging you will get a bit faster but there are other things you can do to increase your speed as well.

softballmom - great job getting that running in even with being out of town. I admire your no excuses attitude.

So I'm curious as to whether other people have this problem. I ran my first 5K on July 4. I could only run 1.5 miles, then I did the run/walk thing. I've started training outside now because the treadmill didn't prepare me enough for outside running. I'm now up to running 2.27 miles straight so I know I've advanced. But my lungs keep me from running the full 3.1 miles. My legs feel fine, but my lungs start to burn and I'm huffing and puffing like a maniac. Does that stop other people, too?

After I do my straight running, I walk for a while, then I try to run as fast as I can, then walk, run, walk, etc. I thought that perhaps running short distances faster would build up my lungs. I asked a woman at my gym about this, and she said that I should just keep trying to add a few more seconds onto my run, and I should be able to run the next 5K at the end of September. My goal is to run the whole thing.

Any thoughts?

Hello everyone, sorry in advance for the long post!

I don't have internet at work at the moment and I feel so lost! I'm having to use my home connection which is rubbish.

Well, it sounds like everyone is doing well, glad to see that you are still running Stephie.

I have officially gone mad. I met up with an old friend of my sister on saturday and she is running in a 10k on 1st October. It now appears that a group of us are joining her, and by us I'm including me!

So I am abandoning the trusty C25K programme and inventing my own. The first step was to work out how far I had actually run in 20 minutes last week, and it was only 1.5 miles. So on Sunday, instead of starting week 6, I got out the map and decided to run for 2 miles. It was so hot that I actually felt pretty ill, but running a set distance was much better for me than running a time. For a start I had planned my route so I knew how much further I had to run and was not constantly checking my stopwatch. I also had a lot more energy on Sunday, despite the heat, so I ran my 2 miles in 19:43, and then carried on until 22:13. At that point I felt like I was about to die and I had to go and lie down under a tree to recover before I walked back over the hill towards home. I am pretty achy today, but I put that down to having to cool down under the tree before making it home, so my stretching was delayed.

Now I am planning to run 2 miles tomorrow and Thursday, and kick it up to 2.5 for next week. My new plan (no more than a 10% increase in mileage each week) has me running 7 miles before the race. So in theory I have a great plan, now I just have to hope that my body can keep up with it! To complicate matters, i have now injured my heels (something called Plantar Faciitis), something which can be linked to running, but also to wearing unsupportive shoes when you have high arches like me - not a good idea to wear flip flops for weeks on end, whatever the temperature. So now I am wearing sensible shoes with orthotic insoles all the time, and I will see if I can keep running. I am actually a very wimpy person when it comes to pain (apparently people with ginger hair have lower pain thresholds than other people, and I have a very low pain threshold so it might be true), the one advantage of this is that I can catch problems before they become too serious as I feel them before other people even think about them, so hopefully I won't have to halt the running again (the disadvantage is that my friends and family get fed up of me moaning!!)

Ooh I didn't mention that my sister is one of the people in the group doing the 10K. Our sisterly rivalry is almost non-existent nowadays, and I am genuinely delighted with her successes, but something in me really wants to beat her in this race! Is is wrong that I want to crush her!?!?! She has a better underlying fitness level than me, and she used to do quite a bit of running, but hasn't in a long time. Although I have a head start, she does have plenty of time to train herself up for this.

Lou, looking forward to 3rd September and our 5K. Should be a good test of my endurance.

Sheila, I get the burning lungs sometimes as well. Could you have asthma, or could there be high polution in your area. That is what affects me.

Pachy - Wow!! Well, it sounds like you've got a good plan. I can't wait to hear about the advanced training. You go girl!! Needed a little challenge, huh?

Webweevil - I am running a 5k on Oct. 29th. I signed up June 15th and started training on June 16th. It's a great motivator! Glad to see that you're moving right along!

Genregirl - Sorry to hear you're having trouble. I'm sure the heat is not helping. I agree with Webweevil. Maybe you're just doing to much, but only you can tell. Maybe if you play with it a little you'll have the results you want. Good luck!

Exquisitern - Welcome! I'm a quite literal person. In the beginning I called my jog a jog and now that I'm going faster I call it a run. I'm sure that there are many experienced runners that would smirk at my "run", but if it feels like a run, I'm calling it a run. I think it's your conditioning (when breathing is comfortable) that tells you when you can speed up. Good luck!

Softballmom- Sorry to hear about Friday's run. Glad you were able to workout over the weekend. Good for you!

Stephie - Thanks for the tips! As soon as the weather breaks I think I'm going to go for it. Hope you're feeling better soon!

Sheila - I haven't experienced the lung thing. No info to offer. But I am very interested in your 5k experience. Going into the 5k, had you been able to run the 3.1 miles on the treadmill? What do you know now(besides how important it is to train outside), that you wish you had known before the 5k? Several of us have already signed up for 5k's and any insights you can share would be great! Thanks!

Lou - How is week 4 going?

Well today I did week 7/day 3. It was difficult but I pushed through. I ran 2.53 miles in 30 minutes. I had been out in the heat earlier and also did not have enough to eat or drink today and it was clearly causing me trouble. Of course I continued on because I am so darn stubborn and really wanted the 2.5 miles. That's just me. I'll be better prepared next time. I did feel great afterwards!

Happy running! Look how far we've all come!!!

ahh u doing the north/south nike run..
i thought about that.. i think i might die... lol...... maybe next year!...

going to gym tonight.. didnt get there yesterday.. work traumas... grrr (not mine but jens) so will defo go 2nite!...