I'm repeating week 8 because I had such a hard time with it....

Towards the end of the run I get so all out of breath and that's when I really want to stop. I don't think it's in my head because when I start walking, it takes me about 1/2 a mile to really catch my breath again. I dunno why this is. It's frustrating. I know I can do the runs, but I'm almost scared of them. And that fear translates into me not doing as well because I'm not as confident. Any tips guys? Maybe I'm just being whiny. I dunno. It's bothering me

I refuse to give up, btw. This is the most awesomely large amount of progress I have made in my life. I love what I'm doing, I just want to be confident in my abilities!

I think it's a great idea to repeat if you're not feeling confident. Do you think it's your speed that's making you tired? Do you have a way to monitor your heart rate? I start to get out of breath once I start to hit the max end of my target heart rate.

So, I tried something new today-- it was supposed to be my day off, and somehow I found myself at the gym on the treadmill. I decided to go back to the 8 minute intervals and try to run faster....

So, I ran 8 minutes at 4.6...I'm happy to report that I actually DID IT But I was very tired!!! I don't think I could have gone much more at that speed.... I decided not to do the second interval-- and I got on the bike instead. But it was kind of interesting. I'm thinking about maybe switching up some shorter faster intervals with the longer slower runs. No idea if that's really a good idea, but I feel like less of a NOOB when I run a little faster.

hi everyone!! So glad I found this thread. Kind of a lurker among the boards but I need all the help and support I can get. Little introduction: Name is Nora, 22, live in Southern California. Doing Nutrisystem and have lost 30 pounds in my journey to be a healthy fit me. Reason for doing so is getting in shape for a fire fighter academy. I'm currently an emt, and am in the paramedic program. I just started C25k this week and tomorrow will be my W1D2. So far it's been okay. It's a challenge but nothing I can't handle. What I'm working towards is a 3 mile run within 25 minutes, among other things that'll I'll get help with in other forums :0D Any helpful hints and tips? I went and bought amazing running shoes so I'm set that way :0D Looking forward to getting to know everyone

Hey Nora, welcome to the boards!!

Well one thing I can tell you is that a lot of running is mental. One of the ladies on this thread said she does a mental checklist when she's feeling tired, and asks if her legs are ok and if she can breathe. If yes, then she knows she's fine. It helps a lot!!

Also, don't worry about speed. I advise going as slow as you feel comfortable with, so you don't tire yourself out. It's better to run for longer slower, than run for less time faster, in this program at least.

Good luck!!

Hey ubergirl I took your advice and slowed it down even more, and I'm pleased to report that I ran for 30 MINUTES!! I refused to look at my ipod for the time and just kept going, and finally looked just so I had an idea of how much more I had to go since my ipod was about to die, and I'd already been going for 29 mins! So I did a minute or so more and then started walking.

I think my problem was that I was running too fast in the very beginning, and tiring myself out. I guess I got all excited and had all this energy... I thought I was running fast at first, but I couldn't be sure. Today I intentionally stayed at a steady pace and it worked!

Yay! Thank you for your help!

Hi Nora-- welcome! It sounds like you are totally on the right track. I love your name, by the way!

Oodles-- YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! I'm shocked at how important pace is too! I can easily run 25 minutes at 4.1 mph (on the TM), I was more tired at 4.2 and at 4.6 I don't think I can run more than about 8 to 10....

Also, I don't remember who said the thing about the mental checklist, but I use that strategy all the time. It really does help! I am amazed that you didn't look at your ipod though. I look at it compulsively and I have this whole mental game I play with myself related to the five minute chunks.

Hey everyone! I'm Megan, and I'm not a runner. I hope to be soon though! My dad ran his first marathon a couple of months ago, and in the long-term, I hope to eventually be able to run at least a half marathon. I thought I'd start with this- baby steps! I'm not a fantastic runner and have NEVER enjoyed it before. Maybe something will click and I'll love running all of a sudden? haha... we'll see.
Tomorrow is C25K start!

Hi Megan! Welcome! You are going to do great!

So, I've sort of been crazy with running this week-- I just did my fourth straight day. Yesterday, I completed W7D3

I set the treadmill to 1% incline, since that's supposed to be more like running outside. I started at 4.1 and upped it to 4.2 then did a minute at 5.0 at the very end. I was nervous about the 1% incline-- but I did not really notice a difference-- except that I was tired at the end-- the last five minutes I was sweating buckets and pretty tired. My face turns beet red and I sweat pours off my face-- everybody else at the gym just looks like they're strolling in the park. I don't know if I'm working harder or what?

Anyway-- I was excited because at the end of my workout, the ticker said I had run 2 miles-- and it really hit me-- I just friggin RAN TWO MILES with my treadmill set on a one percent incline-- so it suggests that I should be able to run two miles outside!!!

Uber that's amazing!!! Well done girl, I'm so proud of you!
I haven't tried running on an incline on the treadmill yet, really scared to try that And don't worry about the face turning beet red, I am JUST the same, I look a complete mess by the time I've done my run, but you know what, I don't care, proves we're working hard doesn't it!

Today I had an amazing run, I'm still in shock really. I've struggled with constantly watching the timer, and needed to find a way to take my focus away from the time. I read on a running forum somewhere that someone had suggested you cover the time and run for 6 songs on your ipod/mp3 player before you let yourself look at the time. If you have your songs on shuffle then you never know how long you will have run by the time those 6 songs are up. So I thought I'd give it a try today and guessed I'd be at about 18mins by the time they were done. When I looked I'd actually almost done 20mins so was really pleased, then once I got to about 25mins and knew I wasn't going to die I actually upped my speed from 7.5kph to 8kph, AND I added on another 2mins so in the end I ran for 30mins non-stop
I knew I shouldn't really have done the 30mins, I've only done W8D1 so 28mins once, but I really felt like I needed to do it today and that I actually could, and this whole C25K journey for me has been about pushing myself harder than I ever have before and tweaking the programme as I've gone along. Some days I've repeated, so it seems just as natural to move on when I feel ready as long as it's not by silly amounts.
I actually ran 3.76km in 30mins, so am 3/4 of the way to the 5k I'm doing on 3rd July! I'm not sure whether to keep adding minutes or try to speed up slowly so I can run further in a shorter time. I guess that's going to be trial and error, but for the next couple of weeks I think I'm going to keep going with the 30min runs on the treadmill and start trying to run outside again and see if I can make a bit of progress outside, which is my new really scary challenge

Congrats to everyone who's been working on C25k!

Loving Me - I would keep adding minutes to get to 5k - at this point, I think the speed comes with running longer lengths.

I just did W8D3 yesterday, technically... I actually ran 5.2k in just over 34 minutes... stupid traffic lights... heh. I just picked a route near me that I liked and ran it - i'm finding that the route makes a difference too... not just the hills but how interesting the route is, and how many people I have have to run around heh heh.

Loving Me--- TERRIFIC!!! Good for you!!! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has that awful problem with turning red-- but you're right! We're probably pushing ourselves harder.

Why don't you put the treadmill at a .5% incline now... I don't think you'll even notice it. For me it was a mental thing-- I read that running outside was like running on a 1% incline and so I was thinking that if I tried to run outside I would die (which is kind of silly, since I've done at least half or more of my runs on an indoor track.)

Well, I just have to update with my somewhat sucky day yesterday.

First-- I don't know what has gotten in to me, because I have run EVERY DAY for the past five days. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so I decided to try running outside.... it was also W8D1 for me, and I also was probably tired from running every day!!!

So, I started out, and again, just like last time, I had to take a walk break after less than five minutes. Now, I can't figure out if it's fatigue-- because both outside runs have been on tired days-- or the uneven terrain, or the very very slight hilliness. In any case, I did 28 minutes-- I walked at least ten, probably 15 of the minutes, and I still felt very fatigued.... for some reason, it's easier for me outside to just kind of find myself shifting into a walk even though I didn't really mean to-- whereas on the indoor track or inside I just plug on. DUNNO.

Next time, I'm going to try the outdoor track, which at least is flat... before I try running across boggy weird uneven fields and hilly stuff. Obviously, I'm just not there yet.

Hi everybody, can I join you? I just started C25K this morning with my 11 y/o ds. He enjoys walking with me and was always trying to get me to jog, so when I found this program I decided to start it with him. We had a great time and are both really looking forward to advancing. I have never been a runner (we are really big on hiking and biking in my family) but am really excited to start.

Sure! Hope on board! Welcome!

Uber, sorry to hear you had a bad run, but you're right, you need to remember that you've run for 5 days in a row which is not recommended on the C25K, so you are bound to be tired.
I have only done one run outside so far and it was awful compared to running on the treadmill like I do all the time. I know that I need to start running outside regularly to get used to it in time for my race in July, but I'm honestly scared to try it again so you should be proud of yourself for trying again, I'm sure like we have been with the programme, the more we do it the easier it will get. Just don't expect as much of yourself outside for now, maybe even go back a few weeks in the C25K when you run outside and try the shorter intervals again, that might help you feel like you've achieved something and you can build up from there.


I've been to the gym today and did my 30mins on the treadmill again, so I guess I've done W9D2. I did most of it at 7.5kph, but some of it up to 8kph, and did 3.8k in total so .04 more than Thursday. At about the 10min mark I got an endorphin rush that I haven't had for a while again and for about 5mins I felt like I could run forever, I REALLY enjoyed those 5mins and just wish all my running was like that.
I just bought the Nike+ sportband kit so that hopefully as I start running outside I can see how far and at what pace I'm running. Depending on the weather etc tomorrow, if things go to plan, I'm going to try callibrating it at the park down the road and try a short run outside.

Great to hear!

And thanks for the encouragement-- I decided to take a day off yesterday to rest!

Ok-- so I just got back from W8D1. First, I accidentally set my ipod app to W7D3-- 25 minutes. My first thought was phew-- I'll just do 25 minutes again.... I started out, (indoor track) and I put on some kind of calm easy music instead of the usual pumping stuff I listen to.... about ten minutes in, I realized that I wasn't fatigued, really AT ALL-- I wasn't sweating profusely, wasn't obsessively checking the clock, wasn't counting down by fives.... When I hit half way, I decided to go ahead and go for the 28 minutes.

It was UNBELIEVABLE. I've NEVER had a run like that. I did not get exhausted. When I stopped, I felt like I had had a good workout but I didn't feel so exhausted that I was borderline going to puke, or really out of breath, or like I really had to force myself-- it just felt like normal exercise.... During the last three minutes that I tacked on to get to 28, I decided to pick up the pace a little, and for the last minute I ran a lot faster. When I started running faster I got this HUGE hit of endorphins. When I was done, I felt FINE. It was SO WEIRD. Why can't it be like that every day???