Couch to 5k 2011: Part 5 - Polished and Ready to Run

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Yet more space for us to talk about our progress on the Couch to 5K programme, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the gadgets we use -and our nail varnish.

New runners are warmly welcomed - come and give it a whirl, you know you want to! Although this thread has been going for a year now some of us are re-doing the Couch to 5K, some of us are relatively new, some are doing half marathons already, we are a good mix and would love to hear from anyone who would like to run with us. Just jump in whatever stage you are at.

none of mine shows the BPM.

Just come back from running club. Im annoyed with myself though as we usually start off together then split into two groups. I have always gone with the futher group (ie ran an extra mile than the other group), but last week I felt like it was too much and this week before we got to the part where we split up I was feeling out of breath and worn out so I went with the shorter group. Once we got back to the club I felt like I could have carried on. I think at first I was just finding my rhythm.

Anyway seriously considering doing a 10K in Sept I would like to do something so I can start to get PBs and also have something to aim for. I haven't got the funds right now to register for it so will have to think about it for a couple of weeks, but Im seriously considering it. Will let you know if I do it.

Hello everyone

Sorry for no posts - I sprained my ankle really badly 3 weeks ago and to be honest it is still quite sore, so I've not been out at all. We are going on holiday today for a week so I am taking my running stuff. My MIL will be there for part of the time so that will be an excellent incentive to get running.

HOpe you are well and enjoying running in the sunshine. Well done to everyone still powering through the programme.

sybil you poor thing. Ouchy! Hope you get some running away in next week

FB - 10k's are great . Seriously, it's good to have something to aim for, and September is plenty of time to get ready.

No running for me today - I could do with a leg stretch after 7 hours on a plane and 5 hours in a car but there is not enough time.

oh no sorry to hear that sybil hope you can back to running soon

Ive ditched Laura (for now, will use her again in a couple of weeks to start my hill training) and doing my own thing. As I was aware if I was listening to Laura I would be running 25 mins, I made sure I did. I marked out a route that was 3.5 miles and decided I would walk/jog it. I listened to a continuous track from my ministry of sound running trax and made note of the minutes it was onto when I started running so I had an idea of how far I got to. I didnt want to wear a watch as then I knew Id be clock-watching.

Anyway I walked 5 mins, ran 25 walked another couple of minutes and started running again, but I got a stitch in my shoulder so walked again while taking deep breaths then I started running again and this time ran until I got to the point that I knew it was 5 min walk to home which made it 7 mins (I was hoping for 10, but nevermind - I would have to if I hadn't had a stitch) so all is going to plan.

I am definately going to do the 10K in Sept, 13 weeks away from tomorrow. Just need to decide who I want to raise money for. I am new to the area, but would rather I picked a local charity than a national one, or could I raise funds for the school or something? I know I dont have to do it for charity at all if I dont want to, but I feel like I should. Any ideas?

Happy running everyone and I hope you all have a good jubilee weekend :)

Sounds horrible Sybil, I have heard that a bad sprain can be as painful as a break. I hope you get to run while you are away.

Well, I done 25 mins today I find 17-20 minute period bloody awful, but after that it gets easier and I think I probably could have done a couple of more minutes.

I have no idea what charity you should choose fb, but I do know that any local schools, pre schools or toddler groups would welcome a donation.

I have also ditched Laura (lordy I feel fickle) and ran for the first time with runkeeper today - week 7 run1. Bad choice of music made it tougher but I ran along the Thames and watched the boats making their way up to the Chelsea start. It was lovely.

Pour Laura, we use her for our personal gain then ditch her as soon as she's served her purpose

Sounds lovely Kew I love London. One day on one of our (mine and DHs) weekends away I will have to make a point of running by the Thames.

You can park in our school carpark FB!

Hi everyone. I've been away on holiday so have been slacking off a bit. I got back at lunchtime today and went for a run this evening though.

I re-did w3r3 (I'm still with Laura ) and it was hard. Partly because it's a week since I ran last and partly because it's boiling hot here (28 at 8pm when I went).

It's really helpful for me to read how you're all doing - it gives me hope!

Hi All, I'm starting to feel that I'm getting back on track (famous last words!) spent last week doing 500m + 4mins of tabata method + 500m on Tuesday and Thursday and the calf survived that... This week I've done 1km + 4mins of tabata method + 1km on Sunday and Monday - plus I'm doing 15 mins of stretching after every workout (every day apart from Friday and Saturday as I'm doing some swiss ball stuff too).

So far it seems to be working and the calf (and shins) are bearing up - so my new plan is to increase it by 1km per week for a while...

I'm pretty set on entering the Buxton triathlon now, so I feel a spreadsheet of training plan coming on...

And the weather seems to be improving again, so that's good too

Does anyone have any headphone recommendations? The little earbuds had been driving me insane as they kept coming out, I've switched to some Ross ones on a band that stay put but are horribly uncomfortable...

Just come back from a run. According to map my run I went 4 miles today. As I have decided to take part in the 10K in just under 13 weeks time I thought Id have a look at the 10K plans. The bupa one looks good so I thought Id give run 1 a go and I did it without too much difficulty and I went the hilly route which doesnt seem as bad as it did before This was run 15 walk 2 run 15. I really hated clock-watching though. Plus I really want one of those sports watches. Nike do a nice sports band for £45. Thinking of getting it. It tells you how far you've gone, how long it took, your pace, how many calories you've burned off plus you can connect it to your computer so you can log it on the website. Just need to figure out when I can afford it now, may need to shop around.

I just use the earphones I got with my ipod. They dont seem too bad for falling out for me.

Wish the weather was improving here though I do like the fact that its quite cool when Im out running.

FB I almost bought a Garmin last year, but then started having problems with my knee. By the time I got back into running I had an iPhone and so could use the Runkeeper app, so I can't really justify splashing out on a watch. It would definitely be easier to look at though.

Neil I use the earbuds and they're generally OK; the ones I had before kept falling out though, and it was a real pain.

thanks There's no way I could run in 28° so I'm very impressed. Luckily (from a running point of view) we haven't had much of a summer here so far so temperatures have been quite bearable recently.

Kew of your run along the Thames; I was watching all the runners there with envy when we were in London last year.

I'm finally back up to running 5k, although am not quite as fast as I used to be. DH has just started running too; we did W5R1 at the weekend and I felt quite smug when I noticed how exhausted he was looking and how he was struggling to keep up with me (he was far, far fitter than me 20 years ago).

We ran along the river, which was lovely and very quiet as it was drizzling (and also fairly early on a Sunday morning). I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of dogs as I've heard it gets very busy there with dog walkers and am petrified of being chased by a dog when I'm running. I'm going to go out with my neighbour in a few hours and try the same route; am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be equally quiet at 8.30 on a sunny(ish) and dry weekday morning, but I suspect not.

Id love to have an iphone, but cant afford it ATM. I figure that the running band watch thing would be a lot cheaper.

Talking of being chased by dogs, I had to run past a sheep on the road the other day I was a bit worried about that too. Also running past a field of cows worries me too (I live in the country)

I'd be the same, FB - I couldn't cope with running past much more than a cat! You don't see sheep here at all, though, so they're a huge novelty for the DC. They still talk about the time when we had to stop for a flock of sheep on the road when we were driving back to my parents' a few years ago.

Luckily we only saw a grand total of three dogs on our run, none of which showed the slightest interest in us, but I was still glad I wasn't on my own. I definitely feel safer running with my neighbour - not just wrt dogs, but also because it's very quiet once you get into the woods. We had a lovely run along the river, anyway; we're definitely going to do it again next week, and possibly at the weekend too.

I have been a complete running slacker over the weekend. I last ran on Saturday, couldn't be arsed on Monday and was busy yesterday, so tonight is the night. ..........

FB at least your cows are in fields rather than obstructing your path .

I did panic the other day as I saw something on the path ahead when I was quite a way from the village. It turned out to be a fox (which ran away) but in the winter there had been rabid jackals in the woods and I was frantically wondering what to do. I'm also a bit paranoid now about snakes. There are lots in the area where I run and the grass is starting to get a bit overgrown on the paths which makes it harder to spot them ahead. I haven't stamped on one yet so maybe they're scared off by my elephantine steps.

I really want to start week 4 today but it's raining really hard. I wouldn't mind running in the rain but the track will be really really muddy and slippy. I think I might have to wait until tomorrow!

I did week4 run1. And I didn't die although when DL (Darling Laura) explained it I did think about just going home.

I'm stupidly pleased with myself for running 5 minutes without stopping. I'm trying not to think about week 5 yet though...

Well done on the 5 mins million, it's a good felling isn't it?

I ran last night, but only for 20 mins. I was pressed for time and I figured running for 20 mins was better than doing nothing.

I plan to run tomorrow, then Mon, Weds, Fri & Sun. I go on holiday for a week after that and no running will be happening, so I feel the need to cram before I go

yey well done million it is very daunting, but once you do it, it only gets easier.

As long as you dont overdo it I like

I was thinking about how advanced/fit do you have to be to be able to exercise more than 3 times a week? At first its all about taking a rest day inbetween runs and exercise in general, but serious athletes train every day. So when do you get to the stage where you can add an extra day or two to your weekly run schedule? I currently go out 3 times a week, but would like to up this sometime in the future. I dont want to over-do it or injure myself so wont be rushing anything.

Im so excited as I had some unexpected money today (tax rebate) so I am going to spend it on my running band I mentioned earlier and kinect for the xbox. I want a pilates or yoga game with it along with some other form of exercise possibly. DH has been looking at UFC trainer so I might be tempted with that. This also leads on from my last question about adding more exercise into my weekly routine.

FB I'd be cycle commuting daily for a long time before I started running - when I started commuting by bike I started with 3 or 4 days a week and it took a few months to reliably do 5. I very much did it by how I felt (still do), if I didn't have the energy to cycle, was injured or ill then I didn't (still don't)...

I think I've just about shaken off this calf injury and have switched to doing 5 days a week running too, but so far shorter distances (currently 15 mins per day) - have only been doing it 2 weeks and on the last day before my rest days (Thursday evening) I was definitely feeling tired and we'll see whether I do 4 or 5 days running this week.

I'm not sure its purely about fitness with running it seems to be far easier to pick up injuries than swimming or cycling - so I'd probably be even more careful about not running tired as my 'form' seems to fall apart and that's when I injure myself...

So to answer your actual question! I think if you feel like you'd like to and are able to add another day, why not just do it one week? Keep it reasonably short (distance/time) and see how you feel once you reach your last run before your rest day - if you still feel good then you were ready for the extra day :)

Excuse me while I swear horribly?

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck! My fucking foot has swelled up like a monster Cornish pasty. Tendinitis again! Argggghhhh!!! I got away witjh it for 3 m, got to 30 mins and 5plus k .... And bang! All gone to pieces!

It was stopped me running a few years ago because it wouldn't 't go away

Oh no Orm! That's awful. Much sympathy.

Just been out for a hilly 4 miler with DH. Was a good fun run, after I got past the first ten minutes when my head is firmly telling me to stop and go back home and sit down and even pushed my pace quite well. Hurrah!

We've just come back from a surprise, for me, trip to Budapest without the DC. We took our fitness kit and did a few runs, did some Jillian in the room and used the hotel gym. I would say we went swimming in the thermal baths too but really we just wallowed in the water! In case you are impressed that we ran on holiday feel reassured that it was just as well as we ate plenty of cake, pastries, beer, bread, cheese, cocktails and food in general and wine too . Highly recommend Budapest though

oh no ormiriathomimus that must be awefull. I know Id be gutted if I couldn't run for a while, after all that hard work too. Just want you to know that I feel for you.

Thanks for the advice neil I think what I will do is stick with running for 3 days, but have a go on the kinect a couple of times a week too.

Going for a run later and have started looking at the Paul McKenna way of eating, I read the book yesterday and going to re-read it again today slower and thinking about each bit as I read it. Later when I have my bath after running I will listen to the CD. I will get to be a size 12

sounds lovely jelli

Have just made a tentative start on running during a week's holiday. The friend who came with us persuaded me to come running with her. We did, I think, one minute's running, followed by one minute's walking for six cycles (she was counting so I think that's what we were doing). She was following a Runner's World programme. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed the running. And I didn't find it too hard either, although I wouldn't have liked to do any more.

So where do I go from here, please, all you experienced runners?

And I had no idea WhoKnows and Linzer were both on this thread!