Anyone fancy starting Couch to 5K on Monday 5th Aug?

[workatemylife]

I have not run for YEARS. In the last 18 months I have lost a lot of weight through diet and exercise (walking), and, it would appear, breastfeeding. But I'm back at work, LO isn't drinking me dry any more, my diet is not all that it could be, and the weight is sneaking back on. I don't have the opportunity for long buggy walks with a gurgling baby to toddler groups and playparks, but I do try to cycle to work to get a bit of exercise, although probably not enough. A couple of friends do Park Run eack weekend and I'd love to join them, but at the moment I suspect it would be Park Huff and Puff before Collapsing rather than actually a RUN .

I'm planning to start a C25K plan on Monday next week, and would love some (virtual) run buddies until I feel brave / fit enough to run with real people as well. I've seen some positive comments about the plan on here, although I think I'm still a little about whether it is possible to progress like that through the weeks and actually get as far as a 5K. Still nothing ventured nothing gained.

I have running shoes somewhere at the back of the wardrobe, but might need to invest in some suitable clothing, and have a weekend of overindulgence lined up. So Monday is the day I think. First Monday of the month, and counting. I'll put a big ring around a late Sept Park Run on the calendar and start counting.....

Anyone care to join me?

lurking, maybe you just really got into your running? I still struggle not to focus on counting down until I can walk again, but I do find I have a better run when I just go with the flow.

workate I've been using the RunDouble app on my android phone. As long as you turn GPS on, it tells you after every run/walk what your pace was for that run, how far you've run, and then your average pace so far and total distance covered so far. And then when you get home and check it you get a little graph of your speed and a map of where you went and which bits you ran on. Obviously don't know what it does in terms of updates on the longer runs as I haven't got that far yet.

And I just stick my own music on so I've got a selection of cheesy pop music that keeps me going. Nobody else can hear it so that's okay!

Posting while I walk the 2 mins left til I get home so will Post again later when I've got the babies to bed but couldn't wait to say I DID IT! W6R3 25 mins!!!

Covered 5.12 km in the 35 min session averaging 6.5 mins/km or 10.5 mins/mile and could've carried on further at the end once I'd got my pace

Bring on week 7!!

Sorry for gloriously self congratulatory post, prob trampled through lots of dog muck now

Workate - I've got the app Get Running which cost about £1.99. It is the same as the NHS C25k plan, tells you what all the sessions consist of, when to do them (I.e. will tell you when your next run is due), when to run and stop, when it's half way and how much time you have left to run in chunks of time (e.g. "You only have 60 seconds left until you can cool down"). It pauses your own music to speak to you so you can listen to stuff that works for you. I liked "Laura" from the podcasts but hated the podcast music so I converted in week 1 I think and didn't look back.

I run it alongside the free Map My Run app which not surprisingly maps your run, tells you your distance pace, time and calories and lots of other stuff. They're serving me well

Anyone run today? Awfully quiet...

Yep, me! Just got back from W5R1 and had a really good run! It was my slowest yet but that was deliberate as I'm preparing for the 20 minutes that's coming up. Slowing down really helped - I felt I could have gone on for longer (although I didn't!). Bring on the next run!

I've been so bad what with going back to work this week (I'm a teacher). I should be a few weeks ahead of where I am but keep making excuses! Very ridiculous so here I am, pledging to sort myself out and run tomorrow and then 3 times a week NO EXCUSES!

Ah tinwe, so sorry to miss your moment of glory yesterday. Very well done! 25 minutes, phew!!! this really is Proper Running. And how encouraging for the rest of us to know that it actually is possible to do 5k. Yay!

I have not been out today but am gearing myself up for W4R2 tomorrow morning. Hoping it's as manageable as yesterday's was. Will try to up my speed a tiny bit and get up to 4k this time.

Am surprised to note that I'm really looking forward to it (Eek! Am I actually looking forward to exercising on a Sunday morning? Have I been possessed? )

Anyone else planning a Sunday morning run?

Well done Slev! This week is the really exciting one for you. I think you've done the right thing slowing down and with the super speeds you were covering you'll still be racing along I reckon! What was your timing today?

Ellie - don't worry, you've had a lot on and at least the plan is still on your radar, that's a good start. You might find it helps you de-stress when you get into it too

Thanks for the encouragement Lurking! I'm fancying a run tomorrow (afternoon though) but I'm not due until Monday, will see how things pan out. Good luck

So I finally went back out... W4r1 (5 min warm up then 3 min run, 2 x 4 min run, 3 min run, 5 min cool down - obviously with walking breaks in between). So after nearly dying doing 3 minute runs last week (I haven't been out for a week) I found the first 3 min run easy(!!) but I failed on the first 4 minute run. I only managed 2.5 minutes. I decided that having gone for a run at 7.30 on a Sunday morning that I couldn't fail overall and walked the rest of that run and the walking bit. I had a song I really liked ready to play for the start of the second 4 minute run and pressed play just as my phone beeped for me to run. Ok so it was flat/very slightly downhill but I succeeded and found it easy (couldn't even have run that far on that road a few weeks ago so v happy). I found the last 3 min run a challenge but I didn't stop. Overall I am really pleased and happy. I know I failed the first 4 minute run but that's ok because I can do it again next time if I need to. I saw quite a few other runners too although nearly all of the time it was when I was on a walking bit!

Hope anyone else going out today is happy with their efforts! I know if I keep plodding on I will get there!

Well done Ellie! I'm really impressed that you kept up the session (seems different to my week 4) and "got back on the horse", especially after having had a long break before you started. I know I would've been really tempted to just walk the rest if I had stopped, which would've been daft as you only missed a minute and a halfs running out of the whole thing in the end! If it's run 1 then I imagine you have another 2 goes to perfect that session. Great going

What a lot of good news! Well done tinwe on the 5k distance - great to hear.
thanks for the advice on apps too. I might try and get hold of mapmyrun and use it for distance etc while having my own music on the mp3. Although I can imagine how the stats that you all get can bring out the inner geek!
waves at thelurking and applauds ellie.

Thanks! I use an app called 5k runner and also map my run. I'm tired now though!! My distance has very fractionally increased but I'm assuming when I'm running for longer at a time I will naturally increase anyway! Good luck everyone!

Hi all, sorry for the radio silence, I'm rubbish at updating this but have been reading your successes and also running so not totally useless!

Away this weekend at the in-laws but still went out this morning at 7.30 in the mist and rain, was actually really enjoyable and I did run off my slight wine head from the night before! Guttingly I accidentally pressed w4r3 on the app which I've already done and didn't realise til half way through so repeated it when I didn't need to! Agggh! But it was fine so at least I really know I'm ready for week 5, I was so looking forwadd to being in week 5 though!

Sounds like everyone is doing so well, well impressed with all of us!

Work ate - I also use run double app, It's fab - you get access to all their plans (5k, 5k improver, 5k to 10k etc) for 1.99

Just read upthread - Woop tinwe on doing 5k!

slev!! ellie!! dotty!! well done all of you!

I was out for W4R2 this morning and found it pretty easy again. Well, I say easy ... manageable is perhaps more accurate . But it really was manageable. The 4-minute runs were fine and the 6-minute run was long but didn't make me want to sob.

I checked the app and it seems that for this week it only expects me to run for 3.5K. I think it's to get me used to running for slightly longer. I went a little further and a little faster than last time so I'm just going to stop over-analysing and will just trust it to get me there in the end.

This morning the sun was shining and I was running a new route through a lovely leafy suburb with big houses and interesting gardens. Felt safe, there wasn't too much traffic and it was all very uplifting. Have stopped aching like a kicked donkey after my runs, too, so progress is definitely being made

Back out on Tuesday for W4R3 so will check in then. Good luck to everyone who makes it out on Monday xxx

Well done Ellie - I have no doubt you will move on easily. No harm in repeating a run either but when people do it's usually down to a confidence thing rather than stamina, which is why I urge people to try to move on. Sounds like your confidence is up which is great

Well done Lurking! Sounds a lovely run. I've got a couple of nice routes but I'm getting a bit bored with them and daren't face the HUGE hill which is my other option. I'm out running tonight but it's been raining mostly for 2 days now so I suspect it won't be great weather tonight and after a couple of days off I need encouraging not deterring

Lurking - definitely trust the plan. You're only half way, there's still time to build speed and distance. I think weeks 4-6 are about building endurance and 7-9 increasing speed, as they're almost the same runs over and over.

Thank you to those who recommended the mapmyrun app - you have turned me into a stats obsessive and also improved my mood no end because it seems that I was undermeasuring my usual run, so in fact I'm going further / faster than I thought. Wooohooooo.

In a totally unreasonable bragfest (but I have no one else to share it with!), I did week 7 run 1 today, which is a 5 minute walk, 25 minutes run, and 5 minute walk. In the 35 minutes that I was out, I apparently covered 3.31 miles!!!

The lovely breakdown at mapmyrun suggests that this is what happened:

The 5 minute warmup gave a distance of 0.36m

Mile 1 of running took 9 minute 37 secs
Mile 2 of running took 9 mins 40 seconds
I ran for another 5 and a half minutes or so, to get me to the 25 minute total for the running section of the outing, and had covered another 0.62 miles, which is probably about the same kind of speed as the first two miles

I walked back to the car and collapsed! But this whole running 5k in 30 minute thing looks a bit more feasible, assuming I can actually run ever again for 30 minutes. tinwe, my inspiration as ever. Keep showing us what is possible please!!!

Yasssss! Many congratulations to you, workate. A 25-minute run! Eeeek! All you people a couple of weeks ahead of me are giving me hope that it's going to be possible. Please don't disappear from the thread when you're done, leaving me on my own for the last two weeks or I will have no one to cheer me on .

I too am utterly obsessed with stats and keep looking at the graphs on my app. I have so far resisted the temptation to create a colour-coded spreadsheet on my PC too ...

Work ate, you star! You ran W7 R1 ahead of me... You're the new pacemaker!

Was this your first 25 min run? Is your programme different to the NHS one which has a 25 min run at the end of week 6