C25K .... Overture and beginners please!

d4n13773 said:
Hello,

I've just been looking over the last few pages of this as motivation!

I started C25K a couple of months back, but binned it at week 5, going back to my own style of unstructured walk, jog run regime as I just was not achieving the runs - often because of the gradients around where I live. However I did a parkrun in 30 mins (again a mix of running and walking), I met some lovely people towards the end who were trying to spur me on and encouraging me to take smaller, slower running steps but to keep on running. My normal running speed is quite fast with long strides (due long legs!!!) but I really struggle to keep it up. So over the past week or so I've been trying to keep myself running/jogging on my tired legs at a slower speed.

I'm hoping therefore I can pick up C25K with this new mindset & hopefully some motivation from here! Will head out tomorrow and see where I get!
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Hi Dani
The answer is definitely to slow down. I could not have got through these runs if I didn't and I have just finished week 9, which is the end of the podcast series. Everyone else I have spoken to all say the same thing - they are not covering the full 5k by week 9 and it seems to me the answer is to start upping the pace at the end of the series when the 30 mins get a bit more comfortable.
I also live in quite a hilly area and I cannot run for 30 mins without hitting one! I found they make the run more interesting and the trick is to slow down even more and you will get up them.
Good luck with your restart - which week are you starting on?
 
Jeniferous said:
Believe me when you get to 5 mins your motivation will boost, then 20 mins and you'll be buzzing! Well done on your start!

I'm a bit stuck at week 8.. Suffering with cramps legs and realising how much an impact the fuel I put in makes or breaks a run!
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You are so near to completing....I don't suffer with cramp but I do suffer from calf pain and today I have strained my achilles tendon. My upper back has also started aching - not sure what that's about!

On my run days, I have porridge for breakfast and some kind of carb with every meal. I don't eat for at least 2 hours prior to a run though.

If you are really struggling, why don't you re-do week 7?
 
elm said:
I start week 3 on Tuesday and knowing how much I have to run scares me a bit lol
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How did you get on with week 3, elm?
Take my advice - don't look ahead to the next weeks podcast. I did it once and it worried me and yet I still got through that week ok. I decided thereafter not to look at what was coming.
 
Maria2206 said:
Hi Dani

Good luck with your restart - which week are you starting on?
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I think I'm going to try for week 5 day 1, which on the podcast I use (running in to shape) is 3 x 5 minute runs with intervals of 3 minute walks. I think my fitness has been maintained (if not improved) since I last tried it and I know I can do 5k in 30 mins (albeit a mix of running and walking) as that was what I managed at a local park run - I just need to silence the voice in my head saying "just slow down to a walk and catch your breath"
 
d4n13773 said:
I think I'm going to try for week 5 day 1, which on the podcast I use (running in to shape) is 3 x 5 minute runs with intervals of 3 minute walks. I think my fitness has been maintained (if not improved) since I last tried it and I know I can do 5k in 30 mins (albeit a mix of running and walking) as that was what I managed at a local park run - I just need to silence the voice in my head saying "just slow down to a walk and catch your breath"
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I think one of the other keys to success is getting your breathing right. For a long while, I felt like i was gasping for breath quite soon into each run and every run was a struggle. I had to fight similar voices in my head because I am asthmatic. I read on another forum the importance of getting breathing right so I started taking bigger deeper breaths and since then my breathing and endurance have improved five-fold.
 
Maria2206 said:
How did you get on with week 3, elm? Take my advice - don't look ahead to the next weeks podcast. I did it once and it worried me and yet I still got through that week ok. I decided thereafter not to look at what was coming.
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Just finished day one of week three. :) felt proud that I could go three minutes without stopping.

I told myself that I was ok if my legs just gave out because I was not going to stop until it told me to walk again lol
 
Elm, I think it was week 3 that made the difference for me so far and I did it 5 days as I didn't achieve it the first time I did it, and was extra chuffed that I could by the end.

So, today I managed the week 5 day 1, without too much difficulty really - though I was ready to walk by the time each 5 mins were up I think that is more of a mental "ready" rather than a physical one.

I am back at work until Wednesday, (& my shifts do not allow for outdoor running to be squeezed in anywhere) at best I may get to the gym one night but otherwise undecided whether to repeat W5D1 on Wed or to attempt W5D2, which is two lots of 8 mins - I feel that running for 20 mins (W5D3) is massively out of reach still, from a confidence point of view it would be nice to know I CAN complete what I set out to do, though its nice to do a set and compelete it when you doubted yourself, however it is very demotivating to not be able to do it - still I've got 6 days at work to decide!!!

Sorry if I'm asking now questions that have already been covered, I've looked through the thread but haven't read it all.

Just wondering if other people run the same route every time, or variations?

Does anyone do it 100% on treadmill, or any of it on treadmill?

I have two main routes that I use, one that is about 5k from my house through to the next suburb and back along a disused railway the downside of this is that some of it is alongside a road and I hate breathing in traffic fumes and it had haphazard hills.

The alternative is that I walk up hill (which takes the 5 minute warm up) along some streets, and then 3 laps around a lake and then back home - also about 5k. In some ways I prefer this as there are no hills to get in the way of the running, but think I have a bit of a mental block with it that I think "I can't manage to run a full lap of this" - although I have in the past, it just seems a bit impossible - that said, if I do the 8 min runs that should get me all the way around so maybe I'm closer than I think!
 
elm said:
Just finished day one of week three. :) felt proud that I could go three minutes without stopping.

I told myself that I was ok if my legs just gave out because I was not going to stop until it told me to walk again lol
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Well done Elm! I think weeks 3 & 4 are the breakthrough weeks, when you start feeling you can do it. Great stuff!
 
d4n13773 said:
Sorry if I'm asking now questions that have already been covered, I've looked through the thread but haven't read it all.

Just wondering if other people run the same route every time, or variations?

Does anyone do it 100% on treadmill, or any of it on treadmill?

I have two main routes that I use, one that is about 5k from my house through to the next suburb and back along a disused railway the downside of this is that some of it is alongside a road and I hate breathing in traffic fumes and it had haphazard hills.

The alternative is that I walk up hill (which takes the 5 minute warm up) along some streets, and then 3 laps around a lake and then back home - also about 5k. In some ways I prefer this as there are no hills to get in the way of the running, but think I have a bit of a mental block with it that I think "I can't manage to run a full lap of this" - although I have in the past, it just seems a bit impossible - that said, if I do the 8 min runs that should get me all the way around so maybe I'm closer than I think!
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I have a circular route that has some hills but has no street lighting. Some of the roads are little country roads so lately I have been sticking to the wider road and running with a head torch (tricky!). This is a bit hilly but in a weird way I am starting to enjoy the challenge of getting up them. I can chop this run into a number of smaller circulars, just to make it more interesting.

I have done a 25 and a 30 minute run on the treadmill and I never thought I would say this but I find it a bit monotonous. However, it is better than not running at all and I used the treadmill once on a business trip and once when it was chucking it down.

Your lake run sounds lovely and I would persevere with that one. Seeing as you have just restarted, why don't you do the 5 min multiple run again so that you take the pressure off yourself feeling the need to run around the lake in one go? You could perhaps squeeze in the 8 minute combination at the weekend, shifts permitting. You don't want to put yourself off by overdoing it.
 
Tried a morning run today. Think my last two pants run are probably down to making excuses. Monday was pants because I was dehydrated and my legs were crampy, today it was 6:30am and I hadn't eaten and felt rubbish!

So I think I'm going to head to my local park run on Saturday morning and get my mojo back, no excuses!
 
Jeniferous said:
Tried a morning run today. Think my last two pants run are probably down to making excuses. Monday was pants because I was dehydrated and my legs were crampy, today it was 6:30am and I hadn't eaten and felt rubbish!

So I think I'm going to head to my local park run on Saturday morning and get my mojo back, no excuses!
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To be fair Jeniferous, dehydration and leg cramps (and a 6.30am start!!) are pretty good reasons for having a rubbish run. I have a rare day where I can work from home today and I am looking outside at the sunshine thinking that I should be taking advantage of the daylight and the lack of rain but I just can't face it....now that's a poor excuse!

Good luck with your park run and hope your crampiness eases off.
 
Jeniferous said:
So I think I'm going to head to my local park run on Saturday morning and get my mojo back, no excuses!
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Definitely try the park run. I did the Woodhouse one a few weeks ago and did so much better than I thought I would. I went on my own but there were loads of lovely friendly people encouraging me along on the last lap. I'll be doing it again on my next Sat off and hoping to improve my time.
 
I started this last night. I'm planning on doing it solely on the treadmill. I've followed the programme in the past, then managed to increase to 10k. Then I fell pregnant, had my baby 3 months ago, so had my first go back on the treadmill last night for over a year :) I will admit I didn't start at week 1. I completed week 4 day 1 last night.
 
Good work! Park run didn't get me out of my funk though, not got official times but was last I think. Barely ran any of it, thing is that I don't know what stopped me.. I wasn't sore and my breathing was ok so why did I not keep going? And then I got all angry with myself and my breathing tightened up and it snowballed from there. I ran with my other half which might have been a mistake. I probably ran too fast, I got all worked up and my stomach was churning. His kind words of support just made me more upset and breathing worse :(

Well at least I completed it and a bad time means improving it shouldn't be too hard I suppose... And I could be 4 and a half stone heavier, probably hungover in bed and unable to walk a mile like 2 years ago?
 
Haha I'm such a drama queen - wasn't quite last and it was a sub 40 minute Pb for me. Now if I get my nerves and emotions under control and focus next week I'll be fine!
 
Jeniferous said:
Haha I'm such a drama queen - wasn't quite last and it was a sub 40 minute Pb for me. Now if I get my nerves and emotions under control and focus next week I'll be fine!
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Hey we all get in a funk at times but stuck with it I couldn't run 60s in feb and now do 13k with 13 1/2 stone gone I couldn't be more pleases
 
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