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

We should all be ladies who run and then lunch, Bear - no danger of chipping our nails with either activity. Can you get Seche Vite at Boots? (Have packed my two No. 7 vouchers! Just trying to decide whether to go for nail polish, eyeliner or something else that I can't remember after two glasses of wine.) I can buy it on Amazon for ?11 but wondered whether it might be a little cheaper in the UK.

Linzer I got mine from eBay (SECHE VITE 14ml BRAND NEW FAST DRYING TOP COAT, seller was got.it.nailed) and it was £5.60 with free delivery (not sure if that's only UK though). They sometimes have it in Boots, and I think I might've seen it in John Lewis too - iirc it was around £6ish in Boots. Tis really good though, worth it. Have a look at No 7 Vivid Violet nail varnish when you're there, it's a lovely colour. Team Purple and everything!

Running, then lunching sounds right up my street . Possibly even the lunching would do. Don't want to over exert myself.

Don't know why that went bold and shouty capitals, sorry. Copy and pasted it from ebay.

Have been out for my run, so time for lunch now. Or coffee, at the very least. I didn't enjoy it as much today, probably because I had a stitch most of the time (but on my left side, so not half as bad as the one I usually get on the right). I managed it in 29 minutes so was quite happy with the time, but had to push myself to keep up the pace - it's all too easy to slow down when I start to feel tired, and my automatic response to a stitch (even though it really wasn't too bad today) is also to slow down. Anyway, that's my last run for the week so I'm enjoying my PRSP phase now.

Thanks for the Seche Vite info, Bear - I'll have a look out for it in Boots but otherwise will get it from the eBay seller you mentioned. Even with postage from the UK, it would still be far cheaper than buying it over here; if the UK seller only charges £1.50 to post to Austria, how can the Austrian seller charge ?4 to deliver it within Austria? Will definitely have a look at the Vivid Violet varnish too; I want to be fully kitted out in purple for the start of the Shred.

Shred? What shred?

Are we Shreddies nearly Ready????!!!
When are we starting by the way? I have to find purple weights yet...

All was well in my hurricane in the end, and the anticipation was the worst bit really, they shut the entire subway system, airports, Amtrack etc in advance which made everything rather trying. It was a wild night for sure, intense winds and vicious horizontal type rain - so bloomin noisy! We woke up at 4am to find it raining in our hotel room which is weird because we are on the 7th floor of 12 and it wasn't coming in through the windows, apparently it is a design fault! About a third of our room was soggified!

Then the incoming water on the ground floor tripped the fire alarm at about 4.30 and we had to evacuate into the wild conditions - DC thought it was fab-u-lous. I was significantly cheered by the NYFD firefighters, and made DS take pics as I thought it would look weird if I did We did well to get home as quickly as we did, even though we had to come via Chicago - but that was absolutely fine.

Not sure when I will be running next, I have my Flying Lungs on today and am rather congested tmi sorry, but it will clear, and I fully intend to go to Boxercise tomorrow.

Bear - YOU ARE SHREDDING WITH US!! Any more nonsense and I will come up there kick your butt and confiscate all your nail varnishes until you behave better!!
I need Seche Vite for my tootsies, and your steroid inhaler should start working after three to four days. Not a health care person either, but from experience, so maybe a) Are you taking it properly? Not being funny, but are you holding it deeply and for long enough? And do you rinse your mouth out afterwards like you?re supposed to? OR maybe you have a bit of an infection that needs something to boot it into touch? I hope you are soon feeling better though. Have you seen this? Terribly sad, I just didn?t know if you had any wool or time left. I?m reminding myself of it all, haven?t done it since being a Brownie, it is coming back to me, but not good enough yet! I?m determined though to re master knitting!

Linzer - hope your family is well, and that you enjoy the Christening! And enjoy PRSP

Jelli - what are you thinking woman? Red?! And I am so impressed with you running for an hour - the longest ever I have done is 45mins, and even then I probably didn?t reach 5K

Sweaty - I think you did well to get out on that Friday! It wasn?t nearly as bad as NY were led to believe it was going to be, but a major pain up the arse..Hope your boys are looking forward to starting the new term.

Kristina - interesting what you say about shredding - yes I?m sure there is a lot of bragging about weights etc - at least on here, everyone is brutally honest.

HerdofTinyElephants - I think nearly everyone has had ups and downs physically on this thread, and they are very frustrating - just ask Bear. I?ve had a couple too, and you sometimes just have to wait it out, let yourself heal and then try again, usually by going back a couple of runs. Hope you heal quickly though.

BsshBossh - I absolutely agree with the heel to toe focus - a friend of mine is a serious runner and that was her advice when I first started, and it keeps your foot in alignment. I?m not sure about weight loss because of the running, but definitely toning, and I feel healthier for it

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes - hope you are recovered by now, someone told me the music on the shred is awful too! I was thinking about trying again on the C25K and thought I might try with Laura...

OTheHugeRaveningWolef& vanimal - hope you are still getting out and running!

mollycuddles - some amazing running from you!

Do I win the Longest Post Competition. I think I might

and also Bear - I am loving When God was a Rabbit - I'm just over half way - ace recommendation- thanks!

Good to hear about When God Was a Rabbit - it was one of the far too many books I brought back with me from my last trip home. Recommendations always welcome.

Thanks Pistey I am feeling much better today and planning to get out and run agin tomorrow. Annoying to have missed so much time, but I have really not felt well at all. Glad you got back safely, sounds like you have had a really memorable trip.

Hello ladies, I hope you are all well.

Can I ask a quick word of advice? I am/was on W2R1 (which I have completed, not very easily mind!).... but I haven't run for a week since - we were away at the ILs over the Bank Holiday weekend, and then DH has been abroad since, so I didn't have anyone to watch the DDs whilst I run.

Should I continue with W2R2, or do I need to go back a step?

Although I am hating running, I really, really feel the need to go, and so I am paying a babysitter to come over for a bit tomorrow so I can go for a run. It's amazing how crappy I am feeling already for not going.

Yay, our Head Girl is back! Welcome back to the fold Pistey! Mwahahahaha at you confiscating my nail varnishes . No chance! And thanks for the inhaler advice - to be fair, I haven't tried to run yet , but come to think of it, I've not needed my blue one lately, so it must be working. What's this about rinsing your mouth out? Am I going to get a fat mouth as well as a fat arse with the steroids? Hope your flying lungs back to normal soon.

And if you win for longest post, I'm going to win for most [emoticons] on this thread.

I did see the other thread, so sad. Have pm'd Knotty.

Vanimal, good luck with your run, just go for it and see how you get on, especially since you've got a sitter and everything. You'll feel so much better for going and be all smug when you get back. If you managed on W2R1 and didn't struggle then give W2R2 a go and see how it goes.

Hope you're feeling better whoknows, and glad you and Pistey are enjoying the book Linzer. :)

Happy running and soon to be Shredding everyone!

at the fat mouth! It's not supposed to be tres good for your teeth.
And it's only a localised inhaler - so you won't get a fat arse either!

Oh, is that why you're supposed to rinse your mouth out Pistey? DS has an inhaler and it says in the instructions that he should rinse his mouth afterwards, but the paed told us he should have something to eat after inhaling - DH said it's so that he doesn't get any mould in his mouth.

vanimal I would second Bear's advice and do W2R2 unless you were really struggling with W2R1 and want to repeat it (I think all the runs are the same in Wk 2, aren't they?). Good luck, anyway!

Packing almost done, but I haven't packed my running gear this time. We're even more limited luggage-wise than on our last trip back, as we're just taking hand luggage, and I probably won't have much time anyway. Tomorrow should be a running day but I can't see myself running round Manchester airport somehow! (Our flight doesn't arrive till almost midnight so we're staying overnight at the airport.)

Ah but what happens if you have a fat arse anyway Pistey, eh? will I be like the <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=marge+dursley+harry+potter&um=1&hl=en&safe=active&client=firefox-a&hs=ex2&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&biw=1024&bih=407&tbm=isch&tbnid=50ZzPwA-FxCCVM:&imgrefurl=ljhreviews.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/sundays-top-ten-minor-harry-potter-characters/&docid=oCekZb3d6MhQVM&w=437&h=329&ei=VThfTpKnKoGr8APxo6jVAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=399&vpy=98&dur=1535&hovh=195&hovw=259&tx=149&ty=108&page=4&tbnh=108&tbnw=143&start=36&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:36" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Auntie in Harry Potter?!

Bon voyage Linzer!

Welcome back Pistey. Your early posts back in the new year when you were just starting running really inspired me and now look at you running in Central Park with a hurricane on you heels .

Okay, so W2R3 completed. It was really hard compared to Tuesday's run as I was running with a headache. But that compulsion to get out and run was so strong...

I've gotten into a good routine now. On Saturday morning as soon as I wake up I start with a long power walk in a beautiful park a mile away from me then do the C25K once I'm there then power walk back. (DH looks after DD whilst I'm out and I return the favour when he runs on Sunday - he's a proper runner and can run for an hour non-stop). Then on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I run at the park round the corner and just stick to the 30 minute C25K so that by the time I get back and can take DD to nursery and DH can go off to work.

BsshBossh - well done on getting into a routine, I reckon that is about half the battle!

And Bear - if your arse is that big then it will be EVEN EASIER FOR ME TO KICK IT !!

and when are we actually starting shredding my fellow Shreddies?

Can i ask a stupid question please? Im on wk3 of the c25k. I do a circular route from my house thats abut 5.2km long. My music track only lasts for 30 mins. Does this mean im supposed to be home by the time its finished? Because im not, i ve got another 10 ish mins walk home

Hi Kristina, no it means I think that the ultimate goal is to do 5k in 20 mins with 10 mins either end of warm-up walking and cool-down walking. At least that's how I interpret it... Though I would personally be very happy if I could complete a 5k in 35mins!

I meant 5 mins at either end... Maths not my strong point!

Well, I finished the C25K a while ago now and I 'm still some way off 5k in 20 mins (40 is more like it still for me).

Got back out today, still not feeling 100% but didn't want to leave it any longer. It was fine for the first 10 mins, by 15 I was starting to run out of steam and gave up and walked home after 20, the main thing is I got out again. I'm still puzzling how I am going to fit it in with the Shred from next week though. I'm thinking Tuesday for starting it, as that's when the DCs are back at school.

Hello ladies! Great to be back! We got home from our norfolk holiday on MOnday, straight into week 2 of a 6 week build to extend our house, do a new kitchen and a new bathroom. I have been running to relieve stress, but caught a lousy cold earlier this week so have been out just once since Sunday. Am working tomorro wbut looking forward to a run on Sunday.

Ready, Shreddie, go!! I am physically unable to join you (although th DVD has arrived!) as I don't have more than 1 sq m of space in my house of builders. However, I shall be cheering you on - go, ladies, go - from the comfort of my sofa and looking forward to joining you come October

It's nice to be back . Hope you are all well.

Keep on runnning everyone.

By the way, isn't the point of C25k to run said 5k in 30 mins? I think week 9 with Rawbert is actually 40m long, because you do 5-30 - 5. I could be wrong though. Many of my real runner friends whose stamina (and bodies, frankly) I admire, pop round in about 24-26 mins. I know one man who can do 19m but he is truly bionic and not really in my league (in SO many ways!!!)

I though the aim was 5k in 30 mins, which I think is a tad optimistic for most new starters in 9 weeks, unless they are considerably younger, thinner and fitter than me . I know one person in RL who breaks the 25 min barrier, she meets all those criteria, plus she has been running for ages and is at the gym several times a week. If I can get to doing it in 30 I will be happy.

We've said this before on here - the programme is misleadingly called couch to 5K, when it should be called Couch to 30 mins.

I think at the end of the programme no one should be disappointed not to be achieving the run in the half hour. What we need then to do is to build up stamina and strength to get to 5K in 30 mins with 5 mins warm up on one side and 5 mins cool down on the other. I have never got to this point

Lovely to see you Sybil - glad the hols were good - let's hope your build goes well. x

Yes, cheer us on. I think we are starting shredding on Monday or Tuesday - am I right? Or is it the week after?? I'm getting purple weights tomorrow. Nothing else will do.
And my purple leotard, matching scrunchy and leg warmers.