Couch to 5k- Cage your inner chimp and get started!

[cinnamongreyhound]

A thread for those thinking of starting, just starting, making good progress or finish the c25k. For all abilities and stages, come and join us for support and advice, we're a lovely bunch!

Old thread

Littleoak, your plan sounds hardcore! My w5r3 is 8r 5w 8r, which plan are you using? I'm on the 10k runner by clearskyapps for iPhone, a 15wk plan to 10k. I don't get to 20mins continuous until wk7. Is yours a condensed plan? I had the 5k version of the plan I'm doing now and it was the same, I think, up to about wk 8/9.

w5r2 ticked off today. Wasn't going to, was going to do other things at the gym but did a bit on the x trainer and the treadmills were giving me the eyeball so I couldn't resist. 7k combined on the x trainer & the treadmill, I feel lie I've earned my Sunday roast now. Starving!

How many runs do people get in a week, on average? I'm probably doing 4x a week. Is everyone sticking to their plan or adding/subtracting runs to fit in?

Well done littleoaktree! I think 7min/km is a very reasonable pace at this stage :) that's a 35 min 5k which is faster than my first one!

The nhs podcasts have a 20 min run for w5r3 UsedtobeNDP. I ran every other day when I did the c25k so 3 times one week and 4 times the next.

Ah, thank you, cinnamongreyhound. The NHS podcasts sound like a more intense route to 5k.

I'm struggling to get out ATM - my families social lives are far too hectic!

I should manage Monday, Thursday and my 3rd Parkrun on Saturday this week. I'm still using the 5+ podcasts and used the stamina podcast on my 2nd Parkrun last week and the quicker pace was great to get sub 30 minutes.

I'd love another pb at Parkrun but we'll see!

Thanks guys. Scuppered my first parkrun efforts! Not so bad now as I have done no running for 10 days. Walking only to keep the calories burning. Will be starting back on Thurs.

NDP I run Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Now I've finished the NHS programme, I sometimes skip a run if there's too much going on. But I love following instructions so make sure I always have at least a day between runs.

I'm the same Bollard !

I did the week 9 30 minute run tonight. I only went 4.5 kms - I thought it felt good and it seems that's why!! Must push on a bit faster on Thursday to get up to 5kms.

I'll put the fast stamina run podcast on for Parkrun and start about 7 minutes in so I get to the fastest bit at the end!

@ your love for instruction Bollard.

I laugh but I suppose it's a similar thing to my list making thing (I'm known to write things on the list after I've done them just so I can cross them off). It's a structure / planning thing.

Unfortunately, I've got some foot pain this week :(
It's weird though, localised to my right foot but in a very specific area (right at the back, outer edge of my mid sole, just before my heel -cuboid area but feels soft tissue-ish, not bony). Exquisitely tender, rolling it on a tennis ball last night sort of helped (in an agonising sort of a way) to massage it out but I'm a bit worried I've overcooked it.

I think part of the problem might be that I've got a quite high arches and so not a lot of my midfoot/sole touches the floor when I walk (obviously that is different under the high impact of running) and so there's a lot of pressure going through a small surface area (even smaller than usual).

My left foot is fine. I don't think I fit the criteria for PF, pain wise. Is it just enthusiasm ?!

Iwish I think that's pretty fast. I'm working towards 5k in 30mins. At the moment I can do about 4.25k. I ran for 35 mins today and did 4.6k.

How are people building up their speed? Just keep doing the same thing or using a specific podcast? The NHS C25K+ looks good.

NDP sorry about your foot. tbh I'd not run on it if it's that sore. Do you need to get new trainers?

Maybe. My trainers are comfortable and in good nick but this foot trouble suggests that they may not be that supportive in the sole for my foot shape. There's an excellent running shop about 10 mins from my house so maybe I'll drop in there. Have avoided it thus far because the shoes are £££ and you need to undergo gait tests and whatnot in full view.

There's a running shop near me that does gait analysis for free if you buy their trainers, or £10 otherwise. I've seen recommendations on here to buy last year's colour online for significantly less, so I'm planning on doing that whenever I get around to going into town when the shop is quiet, and I can go through my intensive pre-running peeing protocol

I would suggest getting your gait analysed UsedToBeNDP, you don't have to buy shoes from the shop that you have it done it. There are three main types of shoe, you can assess it yourself from wetting your foot and standing on a sheet of paper and look at the footprint if you really don't want to go to the shop then look it up online :)

See soggy foot test at the bottom.

Thanks both. I had a quick chat with a work colleague (a tame orthopod) who suggested the wet foot thing and orthotics and/or new shoes. I'll try it out.

Yes it's the NHS one I'm using whoever asked, it wasn't actually that intense just a sudden jump up from 10min to 20mins in wk 5.

I went out today to do wk6r1 but ended up not listening to the instructions at all I decided I felt fine so just carried on running until I'd done 4k which took me 27.22 mins which I was pretty pleased with

I'm going to find it difficult over the next few weeks to find time to go out so thought I might as well make the most of it while I could.

Sounds good littleoaktree!

I've done the wet foot test. Almost none of my mid sole is visible at all, it's all ball & heel. It's 99.9% underpronation, as suspected. New shoes it is.

Glad to have been helpful :)

Hi all, hope you don't mind me joining. I've just done week 1 of the ct5k plan and loved it.

I actually lost a bit of weight earlier this year, through changing my diet and exercising, so decided to start running in the summer. Loved it immediately and slowly started to build up. Then I got this horrible pain in my hip around September time, which just got worse and worse, so stopped running. It never really went away and I desperately wanted to get back to running, so decided to do the ct5k and see how it went. Hip pain still there but not as badly. I'm also taking supplements on the days I run to see if it helps. Week two starts tomorrow and I cannot wait to get back out .

Appreciate any advice about the hip thing, if someone knows what might help?

I had hip pain when running a couple of years ago and went to my GP who reverted me to a physiotherapist. In case, my core strength was rubbish after DS was born and this had caused me to have lost back problems which I was feeling as pain in my left hip. I had to do lots of basic core exercises and after a few months my pelvis was less wobbly and the pain went away.

I would advise going to a gp.

Ok, thanks for the advice. Strangely, my core has been the strongest it's ever been, but I do have a lot of back problems, which is what got me started on core training in the first place!

My GPs are so dismissive of anything like this though, with my recurrent back problems they just told me to go away and do Pilates. Didn't work, although the HIIT core exercises seemed to help a bit. I've lost the motivation for that though, I just don't know how to fit it all in at the moment (have a 2yr old at home and a 9yr old at school), and as I can manage a run early before everyone gets up, I'm opting for that at the moment. Went to see a family friend physio recently about knee problems and he told me to stop doing high intensity workouts and concentrate on cycling . My knee got better once I got the right shoes, I might add, so I don't really trust his advice anymore. Sorry for rambling! I don't have anyone else to talk to about this stuff and I've come to it a bit late in life so am clueless!

Sounds like you need a good physio! GP's advice is often to just stop doing the activity where you first noticed the pain but that may not be the cause and often stopping can make things worse. My hips are the first place to ache after a tough run so I think it's probably a place I'm weaker than others.

Been running for the first time in two weeks but did 3k in 17 minutes exactly so wasn't too bad. Plus I didn't check my time while I was running at all so was just going at that pace rather than speeding up when I knew I was going too slowly .

Am thinking about asking for some new trainers for Christmas as have been using the same ones that I got from eBay 4 years ago. Not actually been running all the time though so they haven't had 4 years of wear.