The Couch to 5k 2011 - Part 3 : Keep Holding My Hand So We Don’t get Separated!

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Yet more space for us to talk about our progress on the Couch to 5K programme, the stuff we wear and the music we listen to! New runners are warmly welcomed - come and give it a whirl, you know you want to! There has been a lot of success on this thread, both in the UK and internationally, moral support is abundant, and there is always a kick up the arse for anyone who needs one!

If we stick together we will enjoy success, I thought song lyrics were appropriate so in the words of Gwen Stefani..

Run, running all the time
Running to the future
With you right by my side
Me, I'm the one you chose
Out of all the people
You wanted me the most

Running, running, as fast as we can
As fast as we can
Do you think you'll make it?
Do you think we'll make it?
We're running, keep holding my hand
It's so we don't get separated

Be, be the one I need
Be the one I trust most
Don't stop inspiring me...

Good luck everyone x

Everyone - who is this 'Laura'? I'm just following a training schedule I found on coolrunning.com and plugging into the iPod. Am I doing it wrong?

Laura is the voice of the NHS podcast version of the C25K programme, you can download it from the NHS choices website.

Wolef don't worry Laura never came running with me either (I used the bupa plan). I think there are a few C25K plans around but they are all slightly different I think, but have the same effect in the end .

Pistey HTH but it sounds like you are all under control even though Thursday is inconvenient for your DH it would give you more shopping time though. Thinking of you and yes, what an adventure!

I was thinking of you this morning Pistey, when I heard on the news that all the New York airports and subway have been closed. What an end your holiday - certainly sounds like one you won't forget in a hurry! Hope your DH manages to get something sorted and that you have a safe journey back.

Bear Love the nail colour - you inspired me to go and dig my No. 7 £5 vouchers out of the recycling bin as you can never have too much purple nail polish. (I'd thrown them thinking they would expire before we're back in Wales next, somehow managing to forget that we'll be in England next week.)

Hope your 10k went well molly and well done on your run, Bssh.

WhoKnows Sorry to hear you're ill (and on your holiday too, which must be doubly annoying); hope you're on the mend soon.

I had no excuses not to go out this morning now that DH is back. Even at 7 am, however, it was just too hot - and there were also far too many people about for my liking (don't they all have beds to be in?). Apart from the heat, I got a really bad stitch about halfway through so had to jog the second half at a snail's pace. Fortunately the only other runner I saw was going in the opposite direction so I didn't have to go through the humiliation of her overtaking me.

The only good thing about today's run was that I mapped my route beforehand so knew that I had already run 5 km when I collapsed stopped rather than the 4.6 km my iPod claimed I'd run. Am still wondering about a Garmin...

Pistey what a trip! Have emailed you, hope you're all ok

sweaty - have you escaped? Hope you're ok.

Linzer - yes dig them out. I always buy the nail varnish with my £5 voucher although this time, because of MN yet again, I bought the muslin cloth cleansing thingy. Am just about to put Stand Back on. Tis very bright! If you don't get a chance to nail varnish shop, let me know and I'll post you one. Well done on the run this morning. Bloody buggery people. Why can't they have a lie in?!

Good girl Bssh, well done on your run!

Wolef - I've gotthe c25k Laura/NHS one on my iPod. Music absolute pants, well most of it, but I luffs Laura.

to everyone else!

yes, music was terrible but I liked Laura.

I've been for my long Sunday run earlier - it was bit wet and windy but it's done now. My time was a little slow but I will work on that. Hopefully DH will be home for a while and can pace set to drag me along for me on our runs. The hours run today was definitely easier than it has been previously despite running up hills and I am talking more and more with each run . A good day I think as my ankle held up well too.

Confession time!! I have removed my free from Marie Claire purple nail garnish. whisper - I am going to put some dark red on instead. I can see some cracks trying to form at the base of my nails so i have filed them off but fear the worst. I shall enjoy the colour while my nails are still long enough to flaunt it!

I am impressed by anyone who runs in heat or humidity - it just saps energy doesn't it. However, you do get to LIVE in it for the rest of the time . It's a little cooler here...

Hope everyone travel plans and holidays are going well and that injuries and illnesses are soon a thing of the past!

Happy running

I've been doing my nails too, Jelli - dark red on my toes and Marie Claire purple on my fingernails (a bit of a clash, I know). I like the purple shade but unfortunately it's chipped on two or three fingers after just one day, so it's back to boring pale pink for me, I suspect. How does everyone else manage to stop nail polish from chipping? I suspect I may need to become a lady of leisure.

Wow, that's certainly very blue, Bear! DH told me yesterday he thinks I should be more daring with my nail polish but I think that might be a little too daring for me (do love the colour, though). Thanks so much for the offer; I'm determined to get to Boots, if only to use my two vouchers, but it's very kind of you.

Will be back tomorrow morning and promise to talk about running as well as rather than nail polish. I'll be child-free for nearly three hours as the girls are at a school warm-up week next week, but after checking tomorrow's weather forecast, I've decided temperatures will probably be more bearable at 6 am rather than 9.30 am.

Hope you're OK, Pistey - have been thinking about you and sweaty (did you manage to fly out before the airports were closed?).

Gak. My knee has flared up (DS kicked me, accidentally but REALLY HARD, in early February and then I tripped up the stairs carrying DD2 and twisted the same knee in March. It had been sore for a couple of months after that but I thought it was better now). Oddly enough it was fine when I was running, but started to hurt in my enforced gap between W1 and W2 and now I'm hobbling around with it strapped up.

Anyone know of a C25K hopping programme? Failing that I suppose I'll have to reboot with a repeat of W1 in a week or two. And will be interested in any knee-preservation tips that BsshBossh comes up with.

Hope you are OK, Pistey.

Just a quickie as my laptop is almost out of battery, but had a message from our Head Girl, Pistey, and they're all fine, if a trifle wet. Not heard from sweaty, so presumably she's in the wilds of England with no phone signal. Being chased by coyotes rabbits.

Night all, will be back tomorrow to hear your nail varnish running stories.

Well, I've done it - 5k in 28 minutes and 46 seconds! I'm sure the purple nail polish I was wearing made all the difference. Actually, I really focused on my breathing this time and started taking deep breaths right from the start (if I don't, I often find I get a stitch), and that definitely seemed to help - maybe it helped more oxygen get to my legs too... So in the words of Jane Fonda, don't forget to breathe.

Good news that Pistey is OK; I've just been reading the latest update on Facebook so fingers crossed she manages to get a flight back soon.

Just a quickie from me today.

Elephants I am sorry to hear about your clumsy DH knee. I truely hope it heals swiftly and you get back with the programme double quick.

Bear thanks for the update, I think we've all been worried.

Linzer fantastic - thats a huge improvement you've made - I bet you had to double check your watch when you finished!! Well done! Will try out your top tip re the breathing as I am suffering with stitches again myself, grr! Enjoy your PRSP

Linzer YIPPEEEE! Well done! You clever thing, three cheers, hip hip HURRAH x 3 I'm so pleased for you, that's fab news!

Herdof ouch your poor knee. It's so disappointing when you get a setback, I do sympathise. And it's sore.

I've not been out :(. I had planned to go this morning but am still very wheezy and I don't think my recent prescription has kicked in yet so will leave it till Friday and have a little go then.

Well done on your Sunday run Jelli, glad your ankle is holding up.

I've taken off the luminous blue (yes it was bright!), and am currently sporting China Glaze Reggae to Riches. Scroll down the page to the eighteenth one - yes I know. She's a woman after my own heart. It's a purplypink and shiny, shiny. Put a top coat of Seche Vite on too which made it mirror like. They've really cheered me up as I am back to work tomorrow after the lovely long summer break.

Hope everyone else is ok and happy :)

Linzer wow, well done!

Herdof I'm finding doing a variety of squats, focussing on feeling the strength in and around my knees, before and after a run very helpful now. Have also started taking calcium supplements for future precaution.

Well, W2R2 completed this morning. Much easier than Saturday's W2R1 in that I wasn't as out of puff and I wasn't counting down the runs in the hope that they'd be over. So am happy.

Oh, regarding my knees when I'm actually running, I find Laura's (NHS podcast) suggestion to always aim to run heel to toe really helpful. So land on the back of the foot and roll the movement to th front.

Question for you all: have you put on weight since you started running or lot it? I'm eating the same amount but seem to have put on a few pounds since starting C25K a couple of weeks ago. My clothes fit the same but the scales are going up. I'm physically overweight and have lost about 35 pounds since March and still have another stone to go so this is concerning me.

Thanks. And I think once I've healed up I'll put the strapping back on for running; could be that knee's just going to need a bit of extra support on an ongoing basis (hey, plus it makes me look like a real runner who's been doing it long enough to have "old injuries"...)

Bssh, initially when I started C25K I lost weight, but was dieting like mad and had cut out carbs and the like and was being really good. Needless to say that has all gone to pot over the summer holidays, and I'm back to square one. I think I lost weight from dieting, but the running really toned me up. Eventually.

Bear, i usually find that the steroids kick in very quickly. Maybe you need to check with your doctor if you are nit feelimg better by now? In case you have an infection or soemthing as well

Discliamer -i am not any kind of health care professional

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccccckkkkkkkkk!!

I'm so ready for bed too but need to keep going a little bit longer yet. Well DH made good use of his gold card and got us home albeit via Chicago, but it is all good. The earliest otherwise would have been Thursday. Fabulous and eventful holiday all in all, what with our earthquake and hurricane and it feels like we've been away for such a long time. Thank you Bear for posting for me - I couldn't seem to post - I wrote a great long thing when we were holed up and nothing would make it go through, even though it said I had wifi.

But I did run in Central Park and was so pleased to have slower runners than me. I overtook loads!

Now I need to have a read through and see what nail varnish colours we are all wearing and see how the running is going.

I think I need to also go and change my name back!

Thanks Kristina, that's a good idea, I will - I am desperate to get back into it again and shake my love handles off.

Yay Pistey, welcome back! Glad you arrived home safely in the end; it sounds like you had a fab if rather eventful holiday. It must have been a great feeling to overtake all those runners in Central Park.

Bssh I haven't really lost any weight since I started running, although that wasn't my main goal anyway and I've been eating just as much chocolate and as many hobnobs as before. I think fat turning to muscle may account for you weighing more when you first start exercising, though - esp. if your clothes still fit as usual. It sounds like you've done amazingly well to have lost 35 pounds already.

Bear Sorry to hear you're feeling wheezy; sounds like a good idea to get checked out. Fab nail colour again; maybe Seche Vite is what I need. And a base coat. I touched up my Ciate purple and it chipped yet again the next day, and two days later it looks awful - all my nails bar one are quite badly chipped. Maybe I'll have to consign purple/dark colours to my toes. Or try out a different nail polish every day.

Thanks, Jelli - I still can't quite believe I managed it. It was the same route as I'd mapped previously so at least I know I really had run 5k and not just what my Nike app thought was 5k.

Herd Sorry to hear about your knee. I managed to fall downstairs in the middle of the night once and banged my knee really badly; it was so painful and I could barely walk the next day, so I can empathise.

I have time to fit in one more run before our trip back to the UK, so will try to go out tomorrow morning. The girls are staying overnight at a friend's, so I could take DS to Kindergarten early (depending on what time he's up) and go out for a slightly later run now that the temperatures have cooled down a bit. I'm finding it difficult enough to get up at 7 am at the moment (when DH leaves for work; DS invariably wakes about five minutes later), let alone 5.30 am when it's still dark.

Pistey! We must have posted at exactly the same timeand then I buggered off immediately to make tea. Glad you're back safe and sound - thought you'd want to tell everyone about your adventures with the NYFD yourself so I kept the info to the Bear minimum . But we were all worried about you - and sweaty too - she's fine but horror! She's been sans t'internet this week!

Linzer good luck with your run if you manage to get out. I'd recommend the Seche Vite, it makes your nails really hard and shiny, although I've only been back at work one day and have chipped my purply nails already :(

Have fun at the Christening :)

I should really be a lady what lunches. Work, schmork.