Couch to 5 K Its not about Speed (5!)

[addictedtosugar]

So, we seem to have filled up the 4th thread. Anyone want to join me here?

Congratulations :-)

Thank you :-)

Congratulations.

Congratulations RJ! Yes doing that first 20 mins is so good!

The plan does work. Have done 3 half-hour runs this week and 2 were 5K! Including this morning when I felt pretty slow and tired. So it's more than a one-off.

And well done everyone who's out running.

Deianira sorry about your loss. I hope you're still managing to keep running now and again. Take it easy if you need to, the time will build up again later.

Thanks rowing DontDoIt and Glow - your support is much appreciated. I think exhaustion is absolutely right - I do feel physically drained and tired a lot of the time at the moment, and it definitely has a big impact on my runs. Went out again today (only managing once a week, so not great there) and did about 30 minutes but with two gaps of a minute or two walking, and only made it 15 minutes before I had to walk, which is not good. Will try and do that 20-minutes again during the week this week I think, to reassure myself that I haven't lost ALL my previous progress.

Congratulations RJnomaaaaaargh - that is such a big one, and so good to have made it through!

DontDoIt are you doing a specific 5k->10k thing to get to your consistent 5ks, or have you just been running the same (ish) time and slowly increasing the distance? Sounds great either way!

Nmg I think you are right, it was probably just the sun that made you feel tired. I find my legs are dragging along when the weather is warm. Sometimes later in the day is better. Do you have problems with your legs, or is it the running?
I hope it all gets sorted out by your osteopath. When my knee was sore from running, I put ice on it and took ibuprofen (was told I had to) and had a day off then I wore a horrible knee truss thing, which did help too. The sweat it generated was horrific. Not that I know much about this sort of thing, but my partner does.
Do you feel better having vented?
Deianira I think you are doing well to run 15 minutes. It probably helps to get away from the stresses and just have a little run regardless of how long.
Take care!
Dontdoit well done on the big runs. Are you pooped?
Glow do you think your secret competitor came out when you ran your leg? We're you trampling everyone. :0)))))
Weasel the zombie running app sounds great. I will look into that. I think a few people have mentioned.
I just finished week 8 and now I'm out there in the wilderness. I think I will keep playing the final run of week 8 until I am ready to leave the nest. Tweet. Run 1 of week 9 tomorrow. Flap flap!

Hi I'm still here, been running a bit less: last time was Weds, since then been a bit under the weather with some virus that left me a bit worn out, and been recovering from a wisdom tooth extraction on Weds, so the two together were not a good combination. I'll see how i do tomorrow, must keep moving...

RJnomaaaaaargh congratulations!! Enjoy the feeling!

rowing ha ha I bet she overtook me, her team probably finished before i even got to set off! I did overtake a few people, two were walking, had obviously raced off too fast and could not keep going to the end. But really it was all the fast runners, chosen to go last for their teams, overtaking me

I didn't have problems until I started running, seems to of eased now, the Osteopath spent a little time working on my knee and ankle and they seem to have eased. Didn't run Saturday to give my legs another day to recover but went out yesterday and managed to do the 28min run and did 4.25k which I am pretty happy with. I am hoping by the end of the week I will be doing the 5k I need for the charity run. Yes I feel better venting... nobody I know is really at my stage of running so I don't think they know how hard it is to progress from nothing to 30min and how annoying it is when you feel like you take a step back. I have a chronic medical condition and anxiety and depression that comes along with it, I like to have a 'project / challenge' to focus on but then I do end up beating myself up if I have a bad day. My last one was to concur three fears and now I am doing a 5k... Bit worried what I will choose next!

Yay success! 5k no stopping (if you discount jogging up and down for two big traffic lights). Slow and steady (32+mins) but really no walking, after two weeks or so of not being able to cover the distance in less than 3 separate legs.
The weather is perfect - good running everyone!

Aww yay that is great Glow well done :-)

I did it I did it I did it... I managed to keep going for 5k. 36 min not the quickest time but I am so happy I know I can do it now :-) Thanks for all your help everyone it is much appreciated.

nmg85 brilliant, congratulations! Today is obviously a good day for it.

Hi all
Nmg and Glow well done! You guys rock, running all that distance and in really good time.
Glow what is the weather like where you are?
Nmg I'm glad you are feeling a bit less achey.
It's been sunny here, but not too hot so it was ok for running. I managed to stay in tree shadows too and people's shadows and dogs shadows - that last one was the hardest.
Did the 5k part of my app, not the distance I hasten to add. It did a warm up and 30 minute run with a 'you are half way' and a 'you have one minute left' then a cool down, so it isn't quite as lonely and silent as I thiught it would be.
Probably need to get an app that measures distance next? What's the best one?

Hi Rowing... I like 5k runner as it has the encouragement etc but also measures your run and maps it out to show where you walked, ran, cool down etc.
I thought my ankle was going to go at one point but just kept plodding. It was sunny with no shade for the last 1.5k so struggled, I was desperate to find any shade at all so was running as close to the trees as I could. :-).

Today I didn't use 5k runner and just put on map my run which tracks it and tells you your split time every km.

Congratulations on the 5ks, that's excellent!

I use Runkeeper for tracking mine, but I am getting a bit fed up with it because I can't work out how to exclude the warm-up period from the distance/time tracked, so might try out map my run instead for a bit. I do find Runkeeper's GPS is very accurate though, so that is a plus.

So mad at myself... After my success of reaching 5k on Monday I couldn't even do 2.5 today without stopping. Now so worried and angry at myself. Any ideas?

nmg85 don't beat yourself up about it. You will have good and bad days and if you're still relatively new to running it will take a while to build up the stamina. If you do have to walk, at least make sure you cover the distance as a whole, at least what's what I've been doing. I also found that a bout of walking did not add much time to the total, as it was either walk and then run better again or keep going at a much slower pace, end result virtually the same...

Lots of factors: how cold it is, when did you last eat, what did you last eat, are you hydrated, are you rested or did you strain yourself too much on Monday, are you in the right frame of mind. Is it a different route? Grass (I find that much harder) or pavements etc etc.

WHY did you think you had to walk? I ask because I've been there for weeks, much much walking. In my case my calves and ankles hurt, really hurt. I was not tired nor out of breath... On Monday for the first time I reached 10 minutes and they did not hurt, so I kept going. By 30 mins I was tired and glad to stop when I reached 5k. As soon as I stop to walk it exacerbates the problem and I can't keep going for any length of time at all. I think there is some technical explanation to do with build up of lactic acid or something, but I also know that for me it's all in the mind.

Your next run will be another day, and for the fun run at the end I am SURE you will make it, you've proven it. As long as you keep practising up to then you will not lose anything you've gained up to now.

Thanks glow. I don't know why I had to stop I just didn't feel good today... Hot, tired and legs hurt and breathing heavier. it was like I had gone back about 3 weeks. I will try again maybe on Friday and hope it gets better. To be honest I didn't feel 100% before I ran but hoped would be OK. Just get mad at myself really easily.

nmg85 just keep persevering! I did 4k yesterday, really had to make myself keep going past 15mins but then it was okay. I had to cut it short because of time pressure those extra 5mins meant I could squeze in a shower before picking up DD from her class. It's a shame because i was doing good time (24 for 4k) and would have come close to 30mins. Urgh it was the first time probably in years that I have run early evening. II prefer to avoid people, no such luck here: Queueing traffic at junctions, people having a drink in the sun outside my local pub, parents picking kids up from after school club. Have to keep telling myself that I am running and they are not (well some of them are of course) and that they don't care in the slightest!
I'll be back to (not quite so early) mornings at the weekend!

just completed my first 10k today. only started couch to 5k in June and just added on a km per week once I completed it. I'm 44 and had never run before (apart from at school, hated it) so it really does work

Wow mojitomo that's amazing, congratulations! I finally managed 5k again on Sunday. I don't really have the time or ambitions to push further but I am determined to keep going through the winter, even if I only get outout once or twice a week. I'm 45 now and would not have dreamt at 25 or 35 that I would be doing this now, having been fairly non-sporty all my life.

thanks GlowWine, I was never sporty either. I'm dreading the winter cos I'm a bit of a fair weather runner, hate wind & rain, and I live in Scotland!

Hi al
Mojito that is great, adding on the 1km. Did you set out to run a 10k before you started the c25k?
One thing I am really loving about running is that it is getting me out of the house when I might have stayed indoors, even in wind and rain. It's quite liberating to just go out anyway and get all soggy. Not sure how this will go in the winter. It's we the runners and the dog walkers - the hardcore. I'm never the hardcore, it's great!
Im completely unambitious, just want to keep fit. Is that your aim Glow?
Do you guys notice a difference in general life since you have started the programme?
I feel hungry quite a lot, probably eat too much. I noticed I could run up stairs much better than before today. I'm more tired as well. Zzz
Today I actually ran home too fast and ended up running round the streets n a bid to stick to 30 minutes, got fed up and went home at about 28 minutes.
Has anyone else mistimed their run like that?