Starting out on c25k - New Year, new start [title meddled with by MNHQ]

W2R2 done today. DD went on her bike and enjoyed racing on ahead!

Did week 9 run 2 this morning - went ok - was a bit windy for my liking but kept going for the 30 mins.

Hope the parkrun went ok for you Funch - my first one next Saturday!

Seriously Lou by the time you get there your body should be ready- I just went really slow and was fine.

I have done w9r2 and have my first parkrun tomorrow to finish on a high!!

I did w4r2 today and I'm amazed that I did it- never ever thought I'd be axle to run for 5 mins!!

Just checked out week 5 though and a bit daunted by the 20 min run!!!

Hey Funch - maybe it is a result of the week off and then doing too much? I think try to running taking it easy but be prepared to stop if you get discomfort when running. I had a really bad back around week 3/4, but it is something that has happened before s nothing to do with running. In fact running was when it hurt least but sitting down was agony! I stuck with the program but went really slowly until it was better. But please listen to your GP and do as recommended by him/her.

As for me - week 9 run 1 tomorrow morning, I'm going to try somethign a little different as I always start of and just get slower and slower so I am going to consciously try and start slower and see if I can run the whole 30 minutes at a more consistent pace. Will see how it goes.......

Did w8r3 yesterday but increasingly worried about this pain I have in the groin/front of my right leg...seems I am now getting back pain on the same side. I doesn't get worse with running and can disappear at times for days, then just recur I have made a doctor's appointment and am going to do week 9 very carefully first. A few months ago I'd have loved an excuse not to exercise...now I am gutted!

Hotdog you may find you do the 5k much much quicker at parkrun - the atmosphere and having lots of people to buoy you up makes a huge difference. I found w8r1 really tough too, then had a mad week including off ill on Tuesday so had a longer rest than usual before the run today. I felt way better on today's run which reminds me how important rest is.

I am actually really loving the whole thing...I cannot believe how much!

hey Funch - I did week 8 run 2 this morning too :-) I went ok today, but run 1 I was really really slow - don't know why but really found it hard to get my legs going - just one of those bad runs I guess. I did keep going for the 28 minutes though so that is something.
I did 4.2 km in the 28 minutes today so would be about 32.30 for 5k - hoping to beat that in 2 weeks when I do my first ever parkrun! When I started in Jan I thought I would do it in under 30 mins - how naive was I LOL
Herb - does sound as though you could do with some professional advice - I have been lucky so far and not had any problems thankfully, but you definitely need some stretched or exercises to help.
Hope everyone else is doing ok - and enjoying some nice weather to run in :-)

herbaceous I am not particularly knowledgeable about injuries but that does sound quite worrying - I'd go and see the doctor and they can point you in the direction of the right kind of physio or stretching regime or whatever. I hate getting aches and pains...the thought of not being able to exercise actually scares me these days (never thought you'd hear me say that until I started c25k!)

How are you all getting on? hotdog did you manage w8r1? I'm just back from w8r2 and spying on my local running club...I am actually considering making myself known to them! They seem to have a range of slow, shorter runs for beginners fatties like me, and they looked friendly enough!

Hello all. I'm on the other c25K thread too, but wondered if you wise people had any advice.

I'm on week 3, having never really run before, and am finding it not too bad. Not exactly enjoyable, but not as awful as I thought it would be!

There's only one problem - my knees hurt after I've finished, and then for a day or so when I go down stairs, etc. For a while it was getting better, but has got worse again when I started running for three minutes at a time. The pain is behind the kneecap, and seems to be when I put load on the knee when it's bent.

I don't know if it's tight muscles somewhere, weak quads and teardrop (pretty likely - my quads are like porridge), a mechanical problem (I'm quite pear shaped and probably run knees together) or something else. Anyone else had this problem?

ohhh Funch - we are almost the same! I do week 8 run 1 tomorrow morning and aiming for the Park run on the 15th as it is the one before my birthday and my aim when I started out on week 1!

It is great that we are all sticking to it - I've never run for this amount of time in my life before so I'm still surprising myself every time I go out.

And yes - get proper shoes and proper advice - we are definitely the "new" business the specialist shops love :-)

Wee done on the Big Step Up to 20 mins neeps, it is a huge psychological hurdle to get past. I did w8r1 this morning, so only 5 runs left!!!!

I am hoping to do a park run as my final c25k run on 8th March...can't wait!

Huge well done to everyone. Don't worry about going to a proper running shop, they love beginners as we are all new business to them!

oooh, I did a 5K in 43 mins on Sunday - I'm joining the 80 year olds!! :D

If you look under the results section of your local parkrun you get the latest times, and for my nearest, there are about 20 each week who are around the 40-45 minute mark admittedly all in their 80s

well done neeps! It's not about speed, it's about doing the time so definitely all counts!

It's great how we are all sticking to the running - certainly keeps me motivated :-)

Just done week 7 run 3 this morning and it was ok - ready to move on to 28 minutes on Weds :-)

I too just wish I was a bit faster, but I'm sure it will come with time. Still going to do the 5k park run on March 15th, but not sure I'm going to get under 30 minutes - I will need a serious injection of speed to manage that, but I'm fairly sure by then I'll manage the 5k without stopping and that is the main thing :-)

Keep it up everyone :-)

The 20 min W5R3 done!!!! It was fine, but it was more of a shuffle than a run (I know so because I didn't catch up with a man who was about 50 metres ahead just striding out on a walk!). But done is done, right?

DD and I did W2R1 tonight in a right old wind so she was blown about a fair bit. She also has sore legs from earlier in the day doing a 3k bike ride in the same wind!

We travelled slightly longer than before to halfway but as I couldnt do the walk sections as fast as I could have done we ended up covering the same 3.2k.

I did w2r3 today. Starting to feel a bit achey in my knees etc. I should probably get some running shoes as just in old trainers ATM. There is a specialist running shop in town but I'm worried I'll get laughed at as I'm such an amateur

Neeps I have to have a distraction too - although in my case it's music! These days it's really the only time I get to REALLY listen to 'my' music and sometimes I can't really tell if I'm running or dancing (think arms in the air, silly moves). I'm lucky in that I'm very rural so no one's watching! I'm not sure I'm ready yet to run without music...

Well done everyone it is brilliant how far we have all come! I am just back from w7r3 and feeling great!

Neeps the 20 minute run was ok for me because I just went ridiculously slowly. I listen to audiobooks so have a distraction to focus on which I find helps.

I bought new running shoes three days ago too and they feel much more supportive. I have entered a 10k on 5th April too...this running bug has really bitten me

Good luck for everyone's next run!

Did W5R2 today - the two times 8 minutes. Found it fine but am bricking myself about the 20 min run next time - that's a huge jump, surely that's illegal?

I'm so glad that everyone's going so well! WELL DONE!!!! :)

I did 7.5k yesterday - an hour's running. It was SUCH a beautiful day and I actually managed to wear out the dog. I had a head cold though and it got worse over the day so all I've done since is lie on the sofa (ordering new running shoes from Amazon)....

Hoping to do another this weekend if I get better.

What do we think the optimum number of runs per week is? I've found (to my cost!) that rest days are important!

DD and I re-ran W1 tonight and even managed to drag DH out with us!

They plowed on ahead and I felt that my legs were full of lead but for the first half we were running into a headwind and the air was quite chilly which is never good for my breathing generally anyway.

We went marginally farther (3.21km as opposed to 3.18km) but we did it in a minute less so perhaps it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated!

I did w2r1 today and I felt the 90s runs getting easier as I went on. I really really hope I can stick at this as I am actually enjoying it.

However, I had a cs 5 mo and today my scar feels v achey