Awesome, you won't regret it :)

For sure don't worry about your speed for now, you can work on that later. Hopefully you will find next week easier than you have in the past.

If you are already walking 3 miles a day you are ready to run :)

I started week three today, felt good. I'm looking forward to running for longer periods of time.

Keep it up everyone :)

Welcome aboard, Sue! Glad you found it so easy, that will really help as the intervals ramp up! :)

LosetoWin Always happy to have another new person to compare C25K notes with! :)


Treadmill speeds are notoriously inaccurate. Ever check the post-workout summary that appears on screen against the stated speed you set? I've normally seen 2.8mph when the setting was at 3.0mph and it only gets worse the faster you go. Take it all with a pinch of salt, but as long as you're doing a running motion any speed is fine. :)

Amanda has indeed registered for a spring 5k ... Run for the Fallen here at Fort Bliss.

I suspect that I'll be coming away from my "well woman" doctors appointment on Thursday with some antibiotics as I'm rattling, croaky voiced and hacking up yucky green ick. Managed my Week 5 Day 1 (on the outdoor track), but just can't imagine doing 20 mins straight on Friday with this. Amazingly, I don't cough or choke or have difficulty when I'm moving. I firmly believe that I'll be doing the Day 2 on both days 2 and 3, and then doing them again next week on 1 and 2, with the 20 min run on the Day 3. Better to be safe than sorry and I should be well enough by then to cope with it.

The outdoor track was both easier and harder, in different ways. More interesting to look at the mountains, feel the breeze and not know exactly how many laps it would take me to run 5 minutes ... but a harder surface, bright sunshine and 72F definitely made it a higher heart rate event for me. My poor garmin was very upset with me. It said my average heart rate was 242 (I think 33 mins of that heartrate would kill most humans off, so I'm sure it's not quite right) and I burned 51 calories. Yeah, yeah garmin, I'm going with the 300 for that, thank you very much.

Outdoor track has its own motivation, too. Fit and healthy soldiers playing soccer on the pitch in the middle of the track. Win-win indoor or out. :)

Run pace seems to have settled around the 11:30 per mile rate for me. It varies a little either side but averages out. My pace is more even and despite feeling tired in bouts, I can keep going. I suspected my pace would drop outdoors with the unforeseen variables but the track elevation was around 73ft variance so I was actually going up and down hills, albeit small ones. Fun. :)

Awesome, Mimi. You should be proud that you didn't think anything of it until you finished. That's a big hurdle for transitioning to outdoors later. :)

Week 1 workout 1 is finished! It went great! I am glad to be on board here. Thanks for leading the way, ladies!

Amanda -- feel better soon! And your plan to extend W5 makes perfect sense to me. Good idea. (Maybe I should keep you company :)) Friday (the 13th) is currently scheduled to be my first "20-minute day" as well. Ugh!

And thank you and DeterminedDieter for reassurance re the speed. I just keep thinking about the peeking through then hedges visual, and that's a lot slower that 6.0 for someone as short as me!

Yay, congrats! The sense of accomplishment grows each day you do this program. I know I couldn't have run for 5 minutes straight when I started, and now it has its moments when I feel a bit weary, but I can do it. You will, too. Welcome aboard. :)

Nice going, sounds like you're ready for Week 4 already! :)

I really enjoyed Week 3, and it brought some valuable lessons like how much stronger the body is than we think. :)

I always see how I feel on the day, but I have enough headroom between the end of C25K and the first 5k run to slow it down if I need. :) If Week 5 Day 3 was your stumbling point before it might not be a bad idea to repeat the 5/8/5/8/5 a couple of times to build up.

I was quite shocked today .. after finishing the last 5 min run I walked for about 60 seconds and then almost sprinted to catch up to hubby (who was walking round the track slightly ahead of me). I was amazed that I had the energy reserves to do it, because when you finish that last one don't you just feel like "oh, thank goodness that's over!" LOL Just goes to show how much more we can pull out if the motivation is there!

I agree with DD, Mimi. Run at a pace that allows you to keep putting a foot in front of the other. That's all that matters. If your natural pace is fast then that's the way you'll run once you get into your rhythm. It took me 4-ish weeks to find it, but I'm almost on the nail with every interval now. Hopefully it's muscle memory and it will just expand to the longer distances. :)

Yes, this is the problem with running on a treadmill though -- it's not really muscle memory but more of a manufactured pace (because I just pick some speed, say 4.5, and then stick with it. Looking forward to getting outside and seeing what my pace really is. You're right though -- if I was running to catch up to DH or DS or, say, some soldier :), perhaps I'd pick up my pace!

I got derailed but I am back on track! Did week 1, Day 1 last night. I am committed to doing this!

Way to get back at it Kelly :)

Yay, good job Kelly. :)

Hi everyone, I'm a new maintainer doing the C25k too! On week 5 so Briael I should be doing the 20 min stretch on Friday 13 th too! Don't know if I'm ready for it. Initially I felt a little stronger so moved a little faster than the schedule. I love the high I get from even the short 5 min stretches. I use the treadmill, run at 5.2 and walk at 4.0.

Woot! Three of us supposed to be doing the 20 min run this Friday. I am still wanting to at least attempt it ... but if I have to repeat it because of this chest infection then I will accept that. Dreading the big step up, but I have confidence that the program works, as so many before us have succeeded with it. :)

Sounds like it's going well for you, Saharag. :)

This is a good article by the same people who wrote The Art and Science of
Low Carbohydrate Performance. Instead of being about elite athletes, it is a study about us! I bought the book on my Kindle. This article was one of the references.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC371554/

Reading this book and article make me stop to re-think what I would want maintenance to look like. I feel so much better low carb. Do I want my maintenance to still be some version of low carb? The book makes the case for low carb (about 50 g), moderate protein and high fat being key to successful endurance. I am just so tired of carbs making me tired. I don't know if I want to jump on that train again.

Thanks ladies! I was looking forward to my walk/run last night, but didn't get to do it because we are being audited at work and I didn't get home until late. That's OK though, I will do it tonight!!

Hacking up icky green stuff and don't feel brilliant, but the sun is shining and it's warm here so I'm determined to at least try Day 2 today. Taking hubby with me to make sure I don't have any repercussions. Body feels good, head feels great, sore throat has gone so it's really just the rattling chest. Don't even feel "heaviness". I believe it's doable.

Good luck for W5 D2 Mimi and Sahara. :)

Good luck with the big runs this week, Week 5'ers! Hope you feel well, Amanda.

I have done my first couple of runs on the treadmill. I am trying to run slowly, but I am feeling like I am doing the C23K program, not 5K. The first day I ran at 4 mph, and today, I upped it to 4.2. Anybody else start slowly? Does it get easier to run faster as the program goes on? I am trying to keep this pretty low intensity, so I am not exhausted after running at 4.2 mph.