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.

Started running about 3/4 weeks ago in preparation for Race for Life 5K. I was awful to start with. My aim is to run the whole way and in under 30 mins. I am improving each time which is great, but am having issues with hills! I seem to have a mental block when it come to them. Any tips on how I can get over this?

Hmm. I don't do hills because it's all flat around here ignores Wimbledon Hill

How about picking some particularly pacey music that will play when it's time for the hills? I find that the music I'm listening to definitely affects my pace.

That's really nice PennyGallops! We have a boy who's 14 and comes to ours every week, his mum and sister Marshall and he's marshalled himself once. He won the monthly prize for April so they were off to Cambridge today to get him his pair of trainers :)

Well done smellsofsick and wizzler, the early weeks are hard because you have lots of runs to do. As you go on they may get longer but there are less of them

I would carry on with w4r3 FrankellyMyDearIDontGiveADamn or why not pack your trainers and do at least one of them while you're away? I love a change of scenery while running :)

That's an impressive time if you've only been running 3/4 weeks Miller1977, when is your race for life? I joined a club last summer and we do specific hill training, find a hill with markers. Run up the hill as fast as you can to first marker jog down to recover, to second marker and jog down to third marker and jog down and fourth marker. Each one should be further away. We then do 4, 3, 2 and 1 back down, before having a rest and doing it again! Hills are still hard but not as intimidating as I know I can blast up if I need to. My friend who doesn't go to training tends to go backwards as we go up a hill, I do slow but nowhere near as much.

I had planned to try and do a 10k this morning, only made it to 8 but was in 48mins so not bad. Should hopefully manage my race next week in an hour ish as my leg is getting better every time I run. Got a boring meeting tomorrow so won't be running until Tuesday now.

Hello

Is this for me?
I used to run 2-3 miles 3 times a week. Then I had my babies. The youngest is 3 months old.
I think it might be a bit soon for my pelvic floor.
Any views?
I'm feeling fat, stiff and out of condition. Can you fix me?

Yes it is for you!!!! It will ease you back in gently, and definitely help with your stiffness and feeling out of condition. Can't guarantee on fat front as I believe its a lot more to do with eating. I had never run before and had a 15 month old when I started. And it can only help with your pelvic floor. Go out and give it a go :)

Ooops. I seem to have eaten my busy weight in beer and kettle chips :)

But I have been to the gym many times this week so I have probably not lost but I have hopefully stayed the same .

I need to be kicked about having rest days , I get a bit over excited and try and do too much , but I

Sorry , stupid phone . My point was , I need to.do the rest day thing , can someone be my guide and come and remind me because I am never going to complete this thing at the rate I am going .

Here goes. I am going to go running tomorrow morning. Haven't run since PE at school and even then I came out with every excuse I could think of to get out of doing it

Downloaded c25k - check
Phone charged - check
Trainers ready - check
Alarm set for 5am (have to run before DH leaves for work) - check

Am I going to die? Also, will be running along a straight road - do I just turn back and head for home halfway through podcast? Stupid question I know but I'm really struggling to get my head around distances etc, how far do you actually travel (combined walking and running) during week 1?

Also, am prone to,injury (30 day shred, bastard knackers my knees every.single.time) so I'm guessing the 5 min brisk walk to start will warm me up but what do I need to do at the end? Stretches? If so, how?

I'm scared

Thanks cinnamon I'm doing 5:2 as well, so hopefully that'll sort the fat out

Thanks Cinnamon

Grape and Emily, turns out I didn't die after all and am actually quite excited about doing it again! If I can say that with the fitness level of a geriatric sloth then you can definitely do it.

Oops, can't go out tonight as dh not here and I haven't had my tea, and we were late back and I haven't had my tea and I can't run when hungary. (nothing to do with the fact that its 25 minutes at all then UmBongo?) Hmm.

I hope it's not chucking it down tomorrow night.

I am due to start w2 tomorrow and I feel slightly nervous but excited about it too. I am really enjoying it, but then I do have my security blanket of running in my garage. Watching the info on the treadmill helps too.

I am enjoying it so much, I feel quite saddened when it not a running day! OK, yes, I know, I need a life!

OhThis very best of luck!! 5am is very impressive. I have dodgy knees as well - they kind of grind rather than go smoothly. I've been told the most important thing is to build up the quad muscles (eg leg raises), also also do general stretches before & after, calf stretch, hamstring, quads.

I have a neopropene knee support for my right knee which I also find helpful.

I think distance to start with is about 3.5k??

I did W7D1 today and really enjoyed it, I am just hoping and praying my knees hold out so I can carry on. DH said to me on Saturday 'you're always grumpy on days you haven't been out for a run'.

Woohoo I did it! W1R1 complete and I even found it relatively easy :)

Except my knees hurt. They began hurting before I'd even finished the first 60-sec run :( I'm running on roads as no alternative and it felt hard iykwim, I have another pair of trainers here that I think are more cushioned so will try those on Wednesday plus wear tubi grips but this happens every time I attempt and form of exercise and means I give up within a couple of weeks. I really don't want that to happen this time.

I'm reluctant to spend £££ on new trainers if I can hold off until I know I can stick at this - is there anything else I can do in the meantime?

On a positive note I managed a pace of 6k/hr which, given that most of it is walking I thought that wasn't too bad?

Well done Ohthis.
I got up at 6am to do W1R3....was hoping it would be easier but I was still desperate for the 60 seconds to be up each time.
Am really struggling with hills slight slopes

Think I will stick to the evenings if possible as my face is still glowing so much ( 2 hours later) that my makeup has slid off my face.

How is it going Dingle... how is W2?

I have only got as far as downloading wizzler. I was hoping to do it as soon as DD went off to school but I am working this afternoon and have got so much to do before that. I decided to leave it until this evening- probably best, at least I have all day to myself tomorrow to recover!

I am having issues with DDs SN transport, on top of loads of other things such as work records I need to update....rather frustrating but I suppose I must prioritse and organise my time!

Running on the treadmill I don't have to deal with hills!

Well done everyone and thank you for the support. xx

Well, did my first parkrun on Saturday. I suffer from low level social anxiety and actually considered leaving before it had even begun because I assumed everyone would start laughing at me.

Started at the back and took first lap of a three lap course dead easy. It then started to bucket down but funny enough I didn't melt so that was all to the good (mental block about running in rain has been dealt with). I finished it without walking. Ahead of most of the children, just behind the lady with the buggy and I think I was only lapped by about a dozen folk. My time was 27.56!!! Actually cried when I got it emailed through that afternoon I was so bloody proud. It seems to be really competitive with some folk going around 17 minutes (I would need a bike to do 5k in less than 20 minutes). I was 130 out of the 176 runners and it felt bloody good.

Next step is my first 10k run (in less than a fortnight, gulp)!

TravellingWilbury, how are you doing? Where are you up to? We started at the same time but not sure if it was this thread or the other one that was going at the same time (easily confused). I've made it up to W3R2 following a bit of a blip where I couldn't get out for a week.

W3 is surprisingly easy. I struggled running for 90 sec so thought 3 min would be impossible but I'm actually managing it without too much effort.

SilentLurker, well done for completing a parkrun.

Hi yetanotherworry , I am due to start Wk 4 tomorrow which is a bit scary but I am actually looking forward to the challenge .... Weirdo ......

It sounds like you are doing well with it , it is good to have the end goal to aim for isn't it ?

I am forcing myself to have at least one rest day in 3 , I did too much last week and I think the further on I get the more rest I will need .

And I am also going to knock the booze on the head Mon - thurs . I have got in to much of a habit of having one or two most days and it just seems pointless to do all this hard work with the exercise and diet then bugger it up with wine and beer .

Well done everyone that is doing the parkrun , I can't imagine I will ever get to that stage .

W1R2 complete.

I am Paula Radcliffe.

LOL. well done ladies. We can do it!!!!!!

(Ooooo, I hope so, just going to attempt W2r1.)

migrant I run with dog so I did laugh, I can't touch trainers either without her getting over excited
I completed W5R3 today and can't believe I managed 20 minutes, put me on a high. I have found a park run nearby but still too nervous to take part
I used to worry about being seen but now couldn't care less.

Whoooopeeeee! I have just run for 25 minutes w6r3. I am a runner, I do running me! (well it was faster than a walk and non stop even if I did do 1.95 miles!) At that rate it will take me a possible 40 minutes to do the full 5k. Hmm, I think I may have to try and up my speed a bit. Umm, well I think I will stick to surviving for now!

Well done Paula Radcliffe! It is possible, stick with it. I was even, weirdly looking forward to this evenings run.

Sarah I was thinking of you as I was running on a bridlepath, it has been dry here for long enough for the horses to have flattened the lumps out and it was pretty even to run on.

Phew!!! Every time I try to run another part of my poor old body seems to ache....tonight it was my knees. DH has some knees supports might have to try them for w2r2.

Quite pleased with myself, I maintained walking at 4.5 and "ran" at 5.5 covering 2.4 miles and burning 293 calories! Hmmmm, might reward myself with some warm milk and a cookie!

The thought of actually running outside my garage makes me shudder, it's hard enough to schedule in using the treadmill but as the heavens opened tonight I considered myslef very fortunate! Well done everyone, you are all an inspiration, thank you. xx

I wish you could all come to my parkrun, it has wide tarmac paths and lots of slow people so it is not a problem to walk it in about an hour some push prams others bring dogs - noone minds, the tail end runners get cheered on and encouraged and if you start with a slow time it is possible to improve a little every week :) I know not all parkruns are this slow, worth looking at the last few weeks results to see if everyone is speedy...
Well done umbongo, sounds like you are already faster than me. I've done 42 parkruns all slower than 46 minutes I'm going to crack 45 minutes this year though!