Great weekend. I ran 4 miles on the treadmill at 5.0 then bumped to 5.5 at the end. Then yesterday, I got inspired to run outside even though it was 24 degrees outside and it was awesome! Something just really kicked in with my fitness lately and I feel like I can go and go.

S**t run today. I'm really struggling mentally with the longer runs. I'm on week 7 of C25K now (25 min runs). I know I can do it because I ran 25 min last Friday. But I still have this attitude that it's too much. I really wanted to skip the gym tonight. I pretty much had my mind made up to fail before I even got in there. So, sure enough, 5 min into my run I gave up. Put in some time on the elliptical just to have done something.

Anyone else really struggle with getting their head into the longer runs on C25K? Tips?

Completely missed my run today due to my 2 yr olds rough night. I decided with the lack of sleep it would be best to take a day off. I can't remember the last time I didn't do any activity! It was nice. I don't plan on skipping completely though, I'll make up tomorrow in the am and the hit the gym in the pm and finish the week off per usual. I'm going to push for 25 miles this week, I've been coming in around 20-22 lately and I would like to push myself a little bit...and I secretly want to get my maintenace range down to 130-135, but I haven't really commited

Have a great week everyone!

Haven't run since Thursday, so I'm heading out tonight. I wanted to go last night but it was snowing. Hopefully I'll be able to go a fair distance; I'm really nervous considering I smoked half a pack of cigarettes on Saturday night. Not my greatest moment.

Update: Ran about 5 miles/8 km almost effortlessly! No walking breaks. I just listened to a favorite album on my iPod and off I went. Feeling great and not sure if I should sign up for the 5k or 10k category in an April road race/fun run. I can't run a 10k but a 5k wouldn't be much of a challenge. This is Japan so there probably won't be many slow runners/walkers.

Last week I had a good running week. 28 miles total. I’m hoping to run 25-30 miles this week. I ran 5 miles yesterday and 3 today. Planning on doing 4 Wednesday, 6 Friday and 11 Sunday.

Ashley - I've seen others mention this "fear" of the longer runs, and many times it seems doing one of the prior weeks a second - or third - time can help overcome that. By "re" doing one of the weeks you know was successful, sometimes that puts your mental state where your physical state needs it to be!

Krampus - if you can run 5 miles pretty easily - which it sounds like you can - you can do a 10k. That extra 1.2 miles will be easier in a group with your race-induced adrenaline going! I say go for the 10k - I bet you'll do great.

As for me - I strength trained this morning, and I'm really noticing a difference when I run - my knees and hips are far less sore, and my physical therapist said that's the goal of strength training the legs. So many runners don't work the legs as they figure running is enough - me included, pre-surgery - so now I'm becoming a convert!

I was going to run my treadmill intervals tomorrow but I somehow got suckered into signing up for the 5:30am spinning class. I've been wanting to try it for ever and the trainer at the gym said "why don't you" so I said sure... then freaked out. I did go into the spinning room and set up a bike so I could figure out the settings - I guess there's the seat height, the handlebar height, and the seat fore and aft (it slides horizontally). So I got it comfortable, tried standing up and pedaling and realized doing five minutes of that nearly finished me off - heaven knows what an hour will do to me! I'm hoping the instructor will understand that it's my first time (I'll tell him before class, of course!) and will let me just pedal slowly if I need a break. I hope I enjoy this - it looks like fun and a challenging workout and I need to introduce something new. Plus it's good cross training for running.

You are at the point where you are totally feeling the sluggish'ness from the running and it's playing mind games with you. The Best Thing to Learn about Running is that it does not always feel good to run and when you have reached this foundation of running you need to learn to recognize the mental mind games and start SQUASHING THEM! Stomp them out of your mentality. Stop talking to yourself about how crappy you feel and how it's easier to not run at all. Because YES it's easy to stop and it's easy to give up! You will Find your true inner strength when you challenge and push beyond these thoughts during this time. Next time you know you are going to fail, I dont care what you have to say to yourself, but you keep your *** moving! Get mean with yourself if you have to! Perhaps you need other positive uplifting mantras to keep you going! Sometimes I'll think about someone else hardship in life, you know maybe someone dying of cancer or maybe how inspirational it is to learn of someone triumphing and surviving far worse than a 3 mile run! Sorry if this sounds harsh but I was the all time class for having many many moments of mental mind games and heck once in a while I still do but they are infrequent now and I learned how to get past the mind play! Good Luck, you Have been doing this so you Continue to do this!

*WAVES*
Still Running here! Week 3 marathon training done! Tomorrow excited for an outdoor 6 miler, 30 degree temps might feel like spring, lol.

Hi all!

I've been struggling with binges and gaining, but running has been great this week. I've only gone out twice, but both times I kept at a good pace for a full hour. Tonight I was much faster than Tuesday night. I'm guessing I went maybe 5.5-6 miles.

You know what, I'm going to sign up for the 10k race in April. Even if I'm the slowest runner and I crap my pants or fall.

Can I join? Just did W1D1 on Tuesday night. Felt pretty good most of the time except calf pain during the last 3 run sections but I get that pain on the treadmill any time I go much over 3.0 mph so I was ready for it mentally.

I'm trying to do C25K in addition to training with a half marathon training team. Their slowest speed is 12-14 minute/miles and I get excited if I can do under 20 minute miles, but they've been tolerant and helpful thus far.

I'm enjoying getting back into my running this year.

Well, sort of. It's been a bit hot to enjoy really, and i've had to do it all at 0530am just to avoid the worst of the heat, anyway cooler today (but about to go to work) and should be cooler tomorrow, so planning my long run of the week at something over 90mins tomorrow morning (did 90mins last week and plan is to build gradually). Hurray!

I like planning a longer run and deciding where to go etc (although totally understand dreading it if it was on a treadmill. Yuk)

Good on you for picking the 10k Krampus. Bet you're nowhere near last place. That's the sort of thing i used to worry about, and needn't have, even though i AM slow. There'll be plenty slower than you. April is yonkers away anyway.

Jules - how was spin class? I'm a spin regular, usually 2 a week - it's good!

Ugh! What a crappy week! So my DS was sick and I missed Monday as I already mentioned. Well I made that up Tuesday, had a good 4 Wednesday and then I got sick I ran 2 miles Thursday, even though I usually don't run Thursdays, to help try to meet my goal of 25 this week, and then last night I barely slept due to aches and pains and missed this morning's run So technically I'm only behind about 1 mile of my usual because I ran Thursday, but I was hoping to be +5 on my usual. Anyway, I'm babbling...I'm hoping I'll feel well enough for my long run tomorrow and will get in a good 10-12, but deep down I know I should probably skip it, but my skinny girl attitude is saying don't you dare. We'll play it by ear. Besides the aches and pains which are subsiding it's above the neck so I'm trying to suck it up!

Sounds like you could do with a bit of a rest ncuneo. I'd say re-plan the schedule to allow for a couple of days off.

Did my long run this morning. 100mins trail which was good although fairly technical so pretty slow. Abiding by the 10% rule for increasing my long runs so hoping to stay away from injury, and should be back up to 2hrs by the end of feb....

So last week I skipped Wednesday's run to let my muscles recover a bit. Between running and spinning I'd been doing hard workouts every day for a week. Then Friday I just did three 5min intervals. I was thinking about how much more natural and comfortable my stride feels on the shorter, faster runs. So the game plan right now is to back track a bit on my distance, and start working on my speed. At the beginning of the month I had my big revelation that I could run longer if I just slowed down. But with each addition to my distance I slowed more and more. And the slower I ran, the more my legs ached. Slower may be easier cardiovascularly, but it's a lot harder muscularly. I have long legs, running at 4.5 mph (or anywhere under 5mph for that matter) just isn't natural for me.

I bought some new shoes yesterday and I'm eager to try them out. But I want to stick with my MWF running schedule, so they'll have to wait another day!

ETA- oh, and I had an NSV with the new shoes. The guy at the store looked at my old New Balances, measured my foot and brought out a pair of Asics. My first reaction was "oh no, I can't wear Asics, I have wide feet." To which he told me I don't have wide feet and my old shoes were too wide for me, which is why my laces were pulled about as tight as they'll go. I tried the Asics and, sure enough, they were not too narrow. The were even slightly big in the heel and I ended up with a pair of Brooks. Hooray for skinnier feet!