Hey,

I want to try the C25K program, because I've always hated running, simply because in school, we were made to run the same distance, no matter what our athletic ability or fitness level... I want to do it to prove to myself that I can, plus I hear it's great for fitness/getting in shape.

I'm attempting to download the C25K podcasts, but I'm confused. There are the ones with Robert Ulley which I guess have more talking but he tells you when to walk, when to run... but in my googling, there are other versions of it, with just music. Does the music indicate when to run, when to walk or whatever?

What did you use? Any suggestions?

Also, did you carry water? NOrmally when I walk, I don't, because if the bottle is heavy I tend to lean toward that side...

Lastly, what changes in your body did you notice with running? I understand that my weight may not melt off but rather redistribute with the addition of muscle.

Any help would be great. I'm very new to this, and I want to stack the chips in my favor if at all possible. I've already been professionally fitted for shoes

Thank you!

Hey Goddess,

I am not really going to answer your question cause I don't know anything about Couch to 5K. But I'll tell you how I started running. I hated it in school too and if you would have told 16 year old midwife that she would be running for fun 20 years later, she would have said you were crazy.

But now I have completed a half marathon and I run several times a week and now I am going faster than I ever did. I hear Couch to 5K is great, but I really never follow rules or programs too well so I know it is possible to become a runner without it if you are interested or if anyone else is interested.

I just went to a track and started out running the straights and walking the curves. I did that for just a lap or two at first and then did more laps. Then I built up to running half of it and then walking a quarter and running a half until that felt okay. And then I worked on running a lap and walking a bit and running a lap and walking a bit until I moved along to longer distances without walk breaks. It took me many weeks, but I always went at my own pace and avoided injury. The other thing that I did that worked well for me (that I see other people NOT doing) is I would run s-l-o-w. I see people take off trying to sprint and they can only get about 20 meters before dying and having to walk. I would run really slow but I would be able to hit my distance that I was planning without walking.

Speed was a nonissue for me for about 3 years. Now I am faster. Anyway, I know I didn't really answer your questions, I just wanted to share my perspective on how I started.

Also since I started at a track I would just toss my water bottle on the grass. I can never do more than *sips* when I am running though. Chugging makes me sick.

ETA: As for body changes, my legs rock (although they are not quite of Tyler Durden's status )and I like to refer to my "incredibly shrinking pannus" cause my lower belly really goes away remarkably with running as my cardio. I personally do not get the same results with elliptical, but other people's experiences may be different.

Good luck and I hope someone who can actually address your Couch to 5K questions comes along.

Goddess - Congratulations on starting a running program! I've been running for just about 4 months, and I'm up to 2.25 miles. I wouldn't have believed that I could do that if you had told me 6 months ago. Here is the plan that I followed - http://www.runningplanet.com/trainin...r-program.html . This is a 8 week program that takes your from no running at all to 2 miles. I took 11 weeks to finish (repeated a couple of weeks). It is very easy to follow or adapt to your own schedule.

As for the water, I run on the treadmill, so I just keep a couple of bottles on it. I can't run without water, and I can't carry it because of my back problems, so I'm tied to the treadmill at this point. If I have anything bigger than my iPod in my pockets I'll get really bad flare-ups in my back.

As for changes, my legs certainly look better. And my behind is simply melting away. Plus just knowing that I can run puts a bounce in my step!!

I thought i posted something but I guess it didn't 'stick', I thank everyone for thier input. It's good to know that someone as non athletic as me can be a runner.

Most of the structured walking to running programs I read have a set amount of time to walk, then to jog/run... is there music available which helps to keep the pace? I can't imagine always watching my watch when attempting to do this...

Oh, yeah. I wanna pair of legs like Josephine's, too!

And, I hope I'm like you and my lower belly goes away quickly. That is the one area that bugs me the most.

Well, that's fun to hear .

I have a Timex watch, one of the Ironman models I think, that has a repeat countdown timer feature. When I was doing 10/1 intervals (10 minutes jog and one minute walk break), I set the timer to beep every 11 minutes. I would take a brief walk/water break when it went off and start jogging again within a minute. Depending on your interval, you could just set the timer accordingly. For example, if you start out with 2/2 (2 min jog / 2 min walk), you can set the timer for 2 minutes. It does help to have that structure.

I used the Robert Ullrey podcasts to do my C25K training and really enjoyed them. I didn't go for distance, but just jogged for the time he said. I knew that I couldn't do a 5K in 30 minutes in 9 weeks, but I figured I could learn to jog for 30 minutes. Which I did, thanks to those podcasts.

Now I run 3 days a week at least, and run 3 miles each time. My time to do that decreased from 50+ minutes the first time I jogged the whole time down to yesterday's time of 37.5 minutes.

Oh, and my legs and hips started shrinking the more I ran.