Couch to 5K- the first day of the rest of your life :)

[cinnamongreyhound]

Come and join us if you're thinking about starting, have started or have finished and are loving running! Lots of support, advice and general cheering on for everyone. Find the old thread here.

Morning all , I have a general question , I really need to lose at least two stone and I am doing mfp . Do you use up any exercise cals or ignore them ?

My instinct is to bank them and not use them but others say I should use them up .

I never did unless it was a specific reason and it didn't affect my weightloss, come and join our mfp thread too :)

Thanks cinnamon , I will do , I could do with all the motivation I can get .

blimey, Avril Lavigne! I used to like her, must dig out that album!

I'm stuck in this morning waiting for a BT engineer. Still snotty, but throad/cough is a lot better. Hopefully can go for a bike ride later, might go to town and check out those running pants.

I try not to eat into my exercise cals too much, but as my allowance has dropped, I find it harder to stick to the minimum! Plus odd days I do eat more, like if we go out - which has been far too frequently lately. I usually burn over 1000 though on a weekday, so I can afford to eat some of them.

1000 cals a day burned with exercise ! Bloody Hell that's impressive , have you always been fit or is this madness a recent thing ?

Wk 2 r 2 done :) so far so good .

I used to be, but got lazy and started using the car all the time! Gotten back into it now again, really need to stick at it this time

Well I am very impressed ! I am trying to get to the gym four times a week but if work and other things fit in I will try for more .

I have definitely got to the point of no return now , fat and over 40 was not part of my plan in life .

Mind you neither was being skint and in a shite job but one thing at a time ;)

Morning all. Have brought kit in and am planning to go for a run after work on my way home :)

Hope all well with everyone. I was planning to incorporate a yoga stretching type DVD/ download on my non-running days? Is this a good idea? Any tips?

Sorry travellingwilbury but that made me lol! Skint is very difficult to do anything about I find, as will be being over 40 . I am a good example that you can do something about being fat and unfit though :)

Quite a few on the thread in the past have alternated with an exercise DVD of some kind so it is definitely doable and I don't see why it would be a bad idea Cristiane. Personally I hated exercise before c25k and I now love to run, I enjoy swimming too but it takes a lot of motivation to get undressed, wet, cold and dressed again and refer to above comment about being skint so don't go very often. I'm now a runner and I run otherwise I sit on my bum

A quick question about stretches - is it better to do stretches before and after running or is it ok just to stretch afterwards? I'm asking because when I was running yesterday I could feel a slight pain in the front of my thigh. I have been having a quick stretch afterwards but wonder if I should be doing more.

yetanotherworry, I only really stretch if I'm doing long 10kish runs. I'd listen to your body and stretch a bit more if you think you need it. I find a brisk walk is plenty enough.

I got some runnign pants! Got the longer karimoor ones, will get the shorter ones when I get paid next and the weather warms up a bit. Can't wait to go out in them, I'll look like a proper runner!

Hello runners your posts are really inspiring.

I am very new to this, always been a walker, dreadfully unfit. I'm using runkeeper to log my times/routes but at the minute just walking for about an hour as often as I can.

Erm. The problem is I bought some fancy running tights/legging things and they keep falling down whenever I break into a run Any recommendations gratefully welcomed.
I really really want to run, I'm walking pretty fast but is like those 'stuck in treacle dreams' I've got the urge to go faster!

I bought karimoor ones from sports direct today £11 and they have a drawstring waist inside. And try couch to 5k!

Thanks Chops!

Hello all and congrats on the progress! I did W5D2 this morning - tis getting serious now - I peeked ahead to W5D3 and saw it is going to be a continuous 20 min run! I am definitely progressing from the days when I was puffing and panting after the 90 second slot, but still some way to go especially when it comes to hills!

I'm planning to sign up for a race for life in mid June - I should be at the end of the programme by then so hoping that will be good timing.

Hi all, hope everyones runs are going well. I did w1r2 tonight, I'm itching to move onto the next week now! fromhertomaternity I'm doing the race for life in June, which one will you be signing up for? I might just manage to fit in the whole c25k programme before then, fingers crossed.

The Enfield one on 16 june - its fathers day which isnt ideal but I can't make the other London dates. Thinking of doing park run too but only if I can manage a decent time first!

Hey all. Did wk3r3 today & really enjoyed it! Not like me! Its def getting easier & more enjoyable. Feel like I need to invest in some proper trainers for running tho, I have the reebok easytone ones with the ball underneath (meant to tone your bum) but I don't think they are the best for running - any recommendations? Thanks

I don't stretch yetanotherworry, I do have very tight hamstrings but they don't cause me any trouble just give dh something to take the p about! Since I injured my groin I've been trying to stretch it regularly but have found it a tricky place to get to. There's nothing wrong with stretching before you go possibly not ideal if you've just got out of bed though. Make sure you are doing your full warm up :)

Just to warn you myself and a lot of others were running 30mins at the end of the plan fromheretomaternity but not 5k. That's not to say you can't but I felt like I couldn't do more. Took me 3 months to attempt the full 5k (I'm a wuss as it was only 4 mins more!) but others have progressed very quickly to longer distances.

Take it steady and you'll manage 20 mins Babybeemama!! My first proper running pair were saucony and I loved them now have Nike. I'm rubbish at saying no and I knew I'd feel way to guilty to go and get my gait analysed and walk out without buying but knew I couldn't afford them from a shop so I researched online, found a video o how to work out if you over/under probate or you're neutral my standing your wet foot on paper and then looked for the right kind of trainers, £40 from amazon. I think they were pro grid 4. This time I went into the shop and ran for the guy who said I chose well previously and gave me 4 to try, 3 suited and I went for the cheapest £67 (others were £100!). Sorry that was a bit of a ramble!

I still can't do 5k in 30 minutes! It still takes me about 35 mins, and my first 5k took me 44mins irrc, around week 6. I managed to up my distances fairly quickly, but not my speed. I was very overweight when I started which didn't help (60lbs, 20 to go).

My dh did manage to do 5k in the 9th week, in 30 mins by following the program pretty rigidly, but he then injured himself (also groin actually!) and has barely run since. He pushes like mad just to get to the end of it, and doesn't really enjoy it I don't think.

Work through the program and see how it goes. I think the c25k is a bit misleading, it should be c2 30 mins, but that's not quite so catchy!

I have Addidas Kanadia trail shoes, which were great in the snow, and great for muddy conditions. these Worth considering if you do want to run off road as well.

I'm going out for my second week 9 run today, having had two weeks off to let my shins recover. Hopefully I will still be able to manage the 30 minutes!

Re stretching, the advice my trainer and my osteopath have given me is not to stretch before, but to make sure you warm up properly. That's why the C25K always starts with a brisk 5 minute walk. i.e you should make it brisk rather than just ambling along for 5 minutes! But after your run that's when you should stretch.

The theory so far is that my shin pain has been caused by over-tight muscles. Even though I've been doing some stretches, they haven't necessarily been the right ones, so I've got some more to do that a friend's physio has sent me.

W5R1 last night. Did 5, 5 and then 10 - just to get my head round the 20 minuter that is looming! My speed is no way going to get me running 5k in 30 minutes, but I have proved to myself I can add bits on, so looking forward to finding out how long it will take - surely less than the hour it would take to walk it, but not much as my running is not rapid!

fromheretomaternity - I looked ahead at that point and was horrified to see that we had to jump to one continuous 20 minute run, and I really didn't think I would be able to do it. But I did, and felt really brilliant because I had managed it. And it wasn't as hard as I thought. You will be fine!

As others said to me, a lot of this is in your head - you need to believe that you can do it.

Thanks for the advice about stretches. I'll stick to what I'm doing then although I've been doing lots of extra stretches throughout the day just to stop my muscles giving up. Just done W2R2 with no thigh pain so this seems to be working for now.

I'm not liking the chat above about it not being a C25k - I've got a 5k race to run in July. Am I going to be able to achieve it at the end of this training. I don't mind what time I do it in as long as I finish before the people walking with children!

You will be able to do it yetanotherworry but you may not do it in 30mins and you will definitely beat the children . I did a rfl with my mum a long time ago and we did it in 53mins it did take us at least 5-10 mins to cross the start line though!