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.

[littlepinkpear]

Hello I liketomove it! Safety in numbers is good.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

OK, I'm back, hello to ILikeToMoveItMoveIt and alessthandomesticatedgoddess.

Iliketomoveit - I had pretty well the same reasons as you for starting, which was last year, I find it varies, sometimes my legs slow me down, sometimes my fitness. I approached it by keeping the speed down but gradually increasing the time, using the C25K plan, which meant I completed the plan but was still running quite slowly at the end of it. The fact that I was managing to complete all the running intervals kept me motivated, whereas, if I go too fast and can't complete an interval that demotivates me. You can always work on speed once you have got yourself up to being able to run 30 mins comfortably, it will all be doing you good.

Littlepinkpear - I used the NHS Choices couch to 5k podcasts on an ipod shuffle as I didn't have an Iphone then (got one now). I think they probably have an app version, their music is annoying though. I now use an App called Runkeeper, into which I have programmed all the C25K runs, I use them interspersed with longer runs. Advantage of it is that it logs your dates, distances, speeds and you can listen to your own music whilst getting prompted to walk or run at the right times. And yes, nail varnish discussion is always welcome here as a diversion

Goddess

Here's my playlist, cut and pasted from Itunes so some of the artists are listed as compilations. Can you tell I'm a child of the 70s/80s.

Layla Derek And The Dominos
Milk And Alcohol Dr. Feelgood
Funky Town Dynamic Disco Hits
I Will Survive Dynamic Disco Hits
Turn To Stone Electric Light Orchestra
Sweet Talkin Woman Electric Light Orchestra
Don`t Stop Fleetwood Mac
The Chain Fleetwood Mac
David Watts The Jam
Going Underground The Jam
Town Called Malice The Jam
Pity Poor Alfie/Fever The Jam
Soul Limbo Latin Fever
Thriller Michael Jackson
Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) Mika
My Generation Music Of The Millennium
Oliver's Army Music Of The Millennium
Heart Of Glass Music Of The Millennium
Teenage Kicks Music Of The Millennium
Crazy Little Thing Called Love Queen
Don't Stop Me Now Queen
Walk this way Run DMC with Aerosmith
It's Not Unusual Tom Jones
I Hear You Knocking Dave Edmunds
Chiry Chirpy Cheep Cheep Middle Of The Road
Mouldy Old Dough Lieutenant Pigeon
Tiger Feet Mud
Made Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
Y.M.C.A. The Village People
Together We Are Beautiful Fern Kinney
Give It Up K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Relax Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Dancing In The Street David Bowie & Mick Jagger
Black Betty [Album Version] Ram Jam
The Final Countdown [Single Version] Europe
More Than A Feeling [Album Version] Boston
Up Around The Bend Hanoi Rocks
Bat Out Of Hell [Album Version] Meat Loaf

Can also recommend Running CD

[alessthandomesticgoddess]

Off to download. Thank you!

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Thank you for the welcome ladies [smiles]

What you said about speed whoknows is what dh said. Keep the speed down and aim for distance.

I love your playlist too. I dug out my mini iPod and am running to some r&b and dance tunes that I put on there when I got it 6 years ago! I think it may need updating, but the big bumping choones seem to work for me. Saying that, I used dh's iPod and was quite happy running along to War of the Worlds!

Funnily enough, I have been painting my finger nails for the first time in years but my nails don't seem to like it. Once I take the polish off they peel I wouldn't mind but I apply base coat and all that guff. Maybe the remover is causing it? ........

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

I too have been suffering with flaky nails, there is some very good (if a trifle expensive) advice on this thread nail help.

[jellibelli]

OOh hello there littlepink , moveit and goddess ! Welcome.

"Don't panic, never panic" (sorry OBEM quote!), I was a confirmed non exerciser and non nail varnish wearer and somehow i am now an exerciser and am sporting 'chocolate' on my fingernails - miracles really do happen......

My DH has been a runner for 30 years and is delighted to have helped me get running. When he is home we run together (although we weigh him down to make up for my lack of speed , which even I will admit to being fun, as we've never really shared a hobby like this before. We also do JM dvds and I plan to hit the gym with him too before long.

I used this plan as i don't have a clever enough phone/ipod. I also use this to plot and measure my routes, as well as DH and his stopwatch, for timing when required..

whoknows i may have misread but Fat Bottomed Girls seems to be missing from your list....?

No running for me today. I didn't get round tuit. I did 'Get Ripped' with JM this morning though, so i am not all bad.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Thanks for the flaky nail advice. Another one started flaking yesterday, grrrrr

If all goes to plan, tonight will be a run night. I am sticking with the same pattern that i used on Friday and Sunday (75 secs running then 45 secs walking), and plan to stick with that until I feel like I dont want to die at the end!

Will report back later.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

What are you trying to say Jelli?

Well, still no running , I am streaming with a cough and cold, did feel a bit of a pang at all the people I saw running while I have been out and about today, aiming to get started again on Friday. I've just broken a nail but gives me an excuse to re-do my manicure later.

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Oh gawd that was difficult.

I wasn't in the right mood to start with (tired and ds was a pita during dinner), and on all of my previous runs, by the end I have felt I can give more. But this is the 3rd time I have done the same run and it doesn't feel any easier. Dh warned me about this (he waffled on about ripping muscle fibres during last week, then them healing this week which makes it harder. or something along those lines, I lost interest )

However, I will keep the faith and run again on Friday

I hope the cold gets better soon whoknows, there's lots of it about here.

I do the have The Shred DVD ............. but it is still in it's cellophane

Dh has a romantic dream about us going out running together. He probably pictures us running along hand in hand, while ever practical me is thinking 'and who will look after the kids?'

[littlepinkpear]

Right. Day 1, Week 1 of couch to 5k completed as I had to start somewhere.

5 mins walk, 60 secs run, 90 secs walk for about 30 mins. Felt completely unnatural as I bounced along on the treadmill but I made it the whole way through! Will pay for it in the morning :)

One question - I only did 3.5km as I wasnt going very fast at all is this normal or should I be going quicker and further.

I need a

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Very normal I'd say, in fact pretty good for your first run. I didn't have any means of measuring my distance when I first started but when Idid week 9 I was still only doing about 4km, running for the whole 30 mins, so well done!

[jellibelli]

who knows I didn't mean anything personal about YOU I just thought we all had Fat Bottomed Girls on our music. No offence intended. Hope you are feeling better soon though and commiserations on the nail. I hate it when it happens

Well done move it and little pink I was doing it out there in the 'real world' so have no idea what distance I covered when doing the timed intervals. It wasn't until I started measuring miles that I monitored distances.

Don't be worried about challenging your body. Miraculously if you can complete the run as required by your plan, you
are ready to move up to the next step when it comes even though you are not 'daisy fresh' at the end.

Anyway no running for me again today. I really will try to go out for 30 mins tomorrow to make a change from Jillianing. No work tomorrow so fingers crossed.

[coostoonettle]

(sneaks in, sits in corner, panic setting in that I have now set my goal and told my pt, reading thread talk.......ew at toenail issues)

[jellibelli]

Hi coostoonettle don't worry, you'll be ok, it's tough at times but it will work, honest! You'll be so pleased you decided to do it.

Intending to stop MNing at 8am and go running.

[NeitherShreddedNorSmug]

Hello all - it's so long since I posted this dropped off threads I'm on . lovely to see so many new people joining - I will have a look through later and try and reply properly.

I have been exercising but not running much because my knee is still sore. I ran one morning last week, which wasn't too bad, but did a long-ish walk (8 or 9 miles) at the weekend in converse instead of decent shoes and it has really hurt since then. I'm travelling for work this week and went to the hotel gym last night for a go on the treadmill but every time I cranked it up to a run my knee really hurt. I have my yoga DVD in my laptop from last time I travelled so will wake myself up with that instead this morning.

Am sporting OPI Miami Beet on my toes, since that it where I am for the next few days .

WhoKnows we were out for dinner with a friend who has type 1 diabetes on Friday. He went low-carb on the advice of his doctor and has lost 15 kilos, halved his insulin intake and reduced his HbA1c by 2 points. Not bad going!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

That's interesting Shredded, DH has been told he needs to get his HBA1c down a bit by the nurse but not been given any proper advice as to how withoutrisking hypos I don't think it's alarmingly high but has crept up in the last year. Did your friend find it hard to make the dietary changes, is it an exteme low carb diet?

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Sorry Nettie, directed you over here and then disappeared, been at work. Are you running already as part of your gym routine? Have you come across the Couch to 5k plan? The people on this thread range from those who started at the beginning of last year to those who have just started out, so there's plenty of friendly advice and inspiration. Just ask away!

That Miami Beet is nice Shredded, not dissimilar to my Rimmel Urban Purple. I think I need to switch over to my summer system of painted toes and bare or Nail Envy only on fingers, my poor fingernails have not taken well to being manicured on average twice a week all winter and are flaky, whereas my toes have recovered from the same last summer.

[NeilsBoar]

Hello! Are men allowed on this thread?

I've just done W1D1 - which is quite an achievement as last time I ran I go intense shin splints after 5 mins... Went for gait analysis and bought hideously expensive shoes yesterday and managed 20 mins run/walk without shin splints. Hurrah!

I've just lost a bit of weight through commuting to work by bike and recording all my calories - so I thought I'd do something I've been fancying for a while and have a go at a triathlon. So I'm upping my cycling miles, doing a couple of swims a week and doing C25K. Hoping to do the Wilmslow triathlon on May 13th!

And is nail polish compulsory?

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Well, we are very inclusive on this thread, anyone is allowed, nail varnish or no nail varnish! And people with scientific sounding nicknames always make me smile . Sounds as though you have made a good start Neils, gait analysis and the proper shoes make such a difference, and good to have a target to work towards. How far do you have to run in a triathlon?

[coostoonettle]

i am a complete newby, have done a couple of 8 minute interspersed runs so know nothing and only joined thread yesterday but i definately think that nail varnish is compulsory for men neilsboar.

whoknows no prob at all i was going to lurk for a while. i have been done some interpersed with walking but have divulged my secret to my pt so i expect more running is imminent.

jellibell thanks for the welcome

Off to do some power plating and then flaking. I may start my run on Friday morning as instead of grumbling about lack of lie in (dh turn to do breakfast) I thought if i get up and try for 5 minutes i will definately feel much better for it.

I have also downloaded the Couch to 25k app so might try that too.

For now tara. Good luck with running and shredding

[NeilsBoar]

There's hopefully a nod to radio4 in my nickname too; but that may be more subtle (or just me being odd).

The run is 5.6k so couch25k is pretty much the perfect program for it. There's just the matter of a 400m swim and 26k of cycling to do first... Tonight I cycled straight to the running track from work (8k) so hopefully I'm getting a feel for doing the different disciplines back-to-back.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

I'm more of a 5Live person so Radio 4 references tend to pass me by...

Hoping to get out and run on Friday myself, I've got a chesty cough but it is getting better, tomorrow is too busy anyway but I don't work on Friday. Not sure what I will do, I've been alternating 30 min slow runs with Week 1 or 2 sessions used as interval training to increase speed, but have missed my last week or so due to this cough and being busy so am expecting to be a bit off form.

Nettie - have you got proper running shoes? Very important.

[jellibelli]

Pants!

I just wrote a long saga and it has timed me out as i was sooooo long writing it. I am sulking now and can't face reapeating myself.

Except welcome Neils and keep up the transitions work as i think that is key to making it easier less hard (DH has done some tris).

May run in the morning if i get up early enough.

[LinzerTorte]

Morning all,

I'm still here, if not running or sporting anything other than Original Nail Envy (had a lovely manicure a couple of weeks ago, but my nails are in a dreadful state so I'm giving them a rest now). As I told WhoKnows on another thread just now, I really am going to get my knee seen to next week. Although am also wondering whether all my problems would be solved if I got my gait analysed.

Hi nettie, good to see you here too.

Welcome NeilsBoar. Is the Radio 4 reference a nod to a certain pigman?

[NeilsBoar]

Linzer I think you may have got it.

Would toenails do or does it have to be fingernails? At least with toenails it would just be strange looks in the pool

As for the training; I got up at 6 this morning and went and did 400m in the pool - wasn't too bad given I haven't swum seriously since I was a teenager. I did half and half breast stroke and front crawl and did it in about 15 mins so not too bad. My arms are seriously out of shape though, could barely get the cycling jersey on afterwards (took 2 attempts!!) will have to go for one with a zip all the way down the front in future.

The transition wasn't too bad, but I'm going to wait for it to warm up a bit before I start wearing a proper tri-suit and doing the cycle into work wet as it was 5C out this morning!