WHAT?!?!?! No no no. I won't allow that type of talk (as if I'm in charge... but you know what I mean). You are NOT a failure. You are an athlete, a champion, and you WILL complete week 5, I promise!

Why don't you do this: jog 10 minutes, walk 1 minute or so, jog 9 minutes to total the 20 minutes. Then you can move onto the week 6 intervals.

I personally think there are a couple of flaws with c25k. Let me list the TOTAL amount of minutes of running/jogging per workout... (please correct any math mistakes I make).

Week 1: 8 minutes, 8, 8
Week 2: 9, 9, 9
Week 3: 9, 9, 9
Week 4: 16, 16, 16
Week 5: 15, 15, 20
Week 6: 18, 20, 20
Week 7: 25, 25, 25
Week 8: 28, 28, 28
Week 9: 30, 30, 30

The numbers in bold signify a HUGE leap in number of minutes one runs compared to the previous workout. I'm sure there's a professional reason for this, but, because so many people hit that road block at weeks 4 and 5, I think it is worthy of pointing out. I already have planned to do W5D3 as suggested at the beginning of this post, and I don't feel any guilt moving forward after that workout (especially since it's quite similar to the W6D2 workout).

Congratulations to everyone for continuing on with their success with the c25k. I just got back from a short bike ride but I think I'm ready to tackle W3D2 even with the slightly sore muscles. Honestly I just want to move my ticker!

Happy running to all!

ETA: W3D2 complete. my feet hurt, other than that, it went well.

I have no advice for HOW to set your pace as I'm so "new" to running again with the extra flub I'm slowly burning away. I'm just concentrating on my breathing, form, endurance, etc. My goal is to complete each interval with enough steam left to CONTINUE if I had to (say an extra 15 seconds). Your stride will naturally increase if you concentrate on your form, as in, use your big muscles to run, pick your legs up higher, and stride farther than as in a jog form. I do plan on going to a high school track to calculate my speed, possibly during week 4.

Happy running to all!

I hope it's okay I jump into this thread. I was scared to try c25k, but now I don't know what I would do with out it. The running makes me feel so good. I'm on week 3 now. I did day one yesterday. It was so hard. I was worried before I got on the treadmill that I couldn't do it, but I pushed myself and did it. I was pouring sweat. I didn't know it could be so challenging to run three minutes straight.

What do you guys do when a week scares you? I'm about to start week 5 and I was reading it the other night shaking my head and saying to myself "There is no way I can do that!!!". I'm scared to try because what if I'm right? Pathetic no?

Great job Asherdoodles!

Aunty Jam... The only thing pathetic would be you not attempting it. So if you don't complete it the first try, you try again, and push a little further, until you accomplish completing week 5. You can do it though! I know you can! :O)

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

ahh!! I had my first run that I just couldn't complete as written! I just got back from doing W6D3 and it was ROUGH. I'm not sure if it's since it was a weird work day (2 hour drive for a meeting and 2 hour drive back in a car full of smoking co-workers and an upset stomach all day and only 1L of water) or if my mind just got in the way!

Today was the 25 minute run. I've not had any problems at all so far. I was dying 11 minutes in. The towel trick over the treadmill clock wasn't working. I did 0-5 as my warm up walk, 5-23:30 run at 5.2, had to walk it out from 23:30-25:00 and then finished up the run from 25-31:30. Overall, I finished the 25 minutes of running, all at 5.2 speed, but I'm so mad I took the 1.5 minute walk break! Anyone else struggle with W6D3? I've decided I'm going to call it a week and move onto Week 7 next week since it's the same run three more times.

I love this place... ^^^ Prime example why. Thank you. I was feeling really down and freaked out, I've just finished week 4, I WILL be starting week 5 on Monday.

Priscatip - You can get watches /chips that tell you how fast you're running outside... garmin just came out with a forerunner 110 that everyone's raving about but it's not cheap. I do it backwards... after my run I work out how fast I was running. After a couple of runs, you'll get the sense of approximately how fast you're going by how your body is responding to the run (am i running out of breath faster, how do my legs feel). I found also when I moved to running outside that my body was happy when I let it set the pace and I ran faster that way. When I run on a treadmill, it always feels, no matter what speed I go at (even if it's slower than my outside pace), I always feel like I'm playing catch up. But when I'm outside, my body is setting the pace. I'm running at my natural stride length and i'm speeding up and slowing down with the terrain. When I do this, I find that I run faster on average although I'm sure that at some spots, you could walk faster than I'm running... so kind of just let your body set the pace and trust that after having run on a treadmill, it knows how fast 5.5mph or whatever should feel. Am I making any sense? I ramble a lot.

Aunty Jam - good luck with week 5 It looks intimidating but it's not as bad as it looks... it's definitely partially a mental thing, I think. If you need to, slow down your run pace so you can hit the time/distance.

It sounds like it was definitely a combination of your day (I can't stomach being in the same room with smokers... I can't imagine being in a car with them... I'm sure that put a damper on your mood and may have affected your breath too. I've definitely had an upset stomach problem... one of my week 7 to 9 runs... I was snacking on junk food a LOT during the day and I had the crappiest stomach ache during my run and stopped halfway to find a bathroom... thankfully I was running around the uni so it was all good That taught me a rather valuable lesson on what NOT to eat before I try to run 5k. You'd think I'd be smarter than that.

Definitely move on to Week 7 and don't be mad at yourself! We all have good days, bad days, fast days, slow days. And lazy days, in my case. I'm sure your next run will be great

So I tried to run Week 3 day 3 outside today, instead of on the treadmill like I've done all the others. (In a week, my gym membership is over, and I'll be sans treadmill for the summer.) WAY DIFFERENT. I've been rockin' the runs so far - even running more in the cool down period - and I couldn't make it through the first 3 minute run today. I gave up and walked home. My throat was burning, my nose was running, I couldn't catch my breath.

For what it's worth, it was cold and windy this morning, and now it's raining. But what am I going to do? Should I start C25k over outside? Why was it so different? That's the suck.

I'm about to start week 1, tomorrow! I'm really intimidated. Right now 90 seconds of running seems so impossible (even though I've seen that you guys can get up to 30 minutes!).

Is this even possible to do if you're still massively overweight? I really want to do it but I'm scared I won't be able to because of how much I weigh. What do you guys think?

Is it too late to join this? I'm on W2 day 1 of C25k.

It's certainly not too late to join in! And yes, THeActress, I think you can do this. The best part about this is that it eases you in to it. If this is your first time exercising, you might start with walking 30 minutes straight. That will make the transition to running part of it easier than if you hadn't done it at all before. Good luck! You can definitely do this!

Priscatip - don't start over, try again on a reasonably calm day. I hate windy days... it's super windy today and I had a hard time running... it feels like I'm running through sludge and I actually had to stop. And I'm at the point where I can, on a reasonable day, run 7.5 miles. Oh and slow down if you need to that will help.

AuntyJam, glad to help! Can't wait to hear about your Monday run. I am sitting on the sidelines cheering you all on as I'm in extreme pain. I don't know what I did to my back but it hurts, my hips hurt, and my upper legs hurt. Picture really bad menstrual cramps and then times that by 1,000. Might make an appointment with a chiropractor.

Keep up the good work Ladies! Priscatip, I would personally add in a walk every day this week, just to get used to the elements outdoors. I wouldn't start c25k over, but I would jot down mental notes as to WHAT is actually different. Lessen the length of your strides and I bet you'll feel a difference. You can work up to bigger strides once you build up the stamina.

Bye for now *root root* from the sidelines!