New Years Resolution couch to 5k thread

[wuglet]

Sorry to the ongoing couch to 5k thread but I am looking for others just starting out (and it looks like there might be quite a few of us on popsycal's thread).

So...anyone starting week 1 this week?

llareggub- Are you me? I just received a text message from a friend asking if I'd like to do a 10K race in March. That's weeks away I was toying with the idea of doing the 10K Corsa de Natale in December.

I did (3 min run + 1 min walk) x 6 at the gym today, with speed increased from 7 to 8 min/km. It was not easy but doable. Definitely not like the first time I did (2 min run + 1 min walk) x 3, when I felt like collapsing.

wk 1 done - as am I!

yes, am enjoying this - particularly from point of view of thinking i couldn't run. clearly I can - it's difficult to actually walk anywhere at the mo!

did a 3 mile run non-stop today - ran a bit too far and would be late picking the kids up if I'd stoppped for a walk - good incentive

3 miles! Wow, well done...

thanks - am knackered now and ate two chocolate bars - wonder why I'm not losing any weight

if anyone had said to me a month ago that i'd be able to run that far without dying, I'd never have believed it

Blimey Sanfairyann, well done, 3 MILES is fab.

Well done everyone else, wk 4 isn't too bad is it?! How encouraging!

I've just done my first day of wk 4 5 min R + 3 min W x3 and found the first 5 min the hardest - particularly the first min of the 5 mins, but from then on it was ok. In fact some of it was GREAT!

I ran/walked for just over 5K in about 45 mins, so not bad but need to pick up the pace a bit.

Those of you contemplating 10K GO FOR IT - I think its great, you'll have something to aim for. And you can walk some of it surely?

Hello also to new people, I love this thread. It's so encouraging.

Not weighed myself this week but am hoping to have lost another kilo. I have mainly given up alcohol which has been BRILLIANT. I feel so much better. Not that I am a lush, I hasten to add. I just found that I was drinking every day and wanted to see if I was better without it. And d'you know, I am.

I've decided to go for the 10K but I am SCARED!

I can't believe how far I've come in 4 weeks. Everyone I know has been amazed because I've always said that running is not for me due to 2 moon-sized norks. But I've found with my weight loss and 2 sports bras I am nicely contained!

But the best news of all is that my DH has decided to break his couch potato lifestyle and join me in the 10K. He has 5 months to get from complete beginner to running 10K, so only 4 weeks behind me. He went out for his week 1 day 1 of the Bupa programme on Monday night. We shall be arguing over who gets to run and who gets to look after the children at this rate!

Have finished week 2! Am very proud of myself as it's bitterly cold out there and running around the muddy Heath in a biting wind is not fun.

Hi all, and well done everyone, keep it up.

Am about to do W4R2, really dragging my feet because although I've done it once I know it's going to be HARD. And it's cold. And this is probably the stage where I typically give up on things, just as I'm getting somewhere. My fear demons kick in ...

But I WILL do it, and report back in. I'm losing no weight - think it's because I reward myself rather too well after a run!

OK done week 4 run 1. Ankle was ok after the fall on Sunday but my knees ache, ouch. It's not too bad but very noticeable iyswim. not sure whether to 'run though it' or rest completely. Any ideas anyone?

Run was ok, not great though, last 5 mins I was a bit 'heavy' lots of thumping onto the pavement in tired legs manner (which won't have helped the knees!)

Hello to all the new joiners to the thread and well done to everyone, it's great to feel that there are lots of us doing this together!

CJ - just read your last message - hope it went well. Am very similar to you, I ate 2 biscuits on returning without really realising!

Good luck with the run, I'm feeling the difference with week 4!

Hi Hairy - well done.

I'm not very pleased with myself. Managed the first 3 and 5 minute runs but my right leg muscles got really, really painful so I stopped. Almost hobbled home. I know this is probably sensible but it also feels like giving up.

I think Week 4 is much, much harder for me. I might repeat it next week (assuming I do the normal run on Friday and it goes ok) before moving on to Week 5. Next week is half term so I won't get the chance to run as easily anyway.

Oh god, I feel like such a pathetic loser.

what a shame, cjcregg and hairymaclary. def don't run on if you feel injured - better to recover than have weeks off through injury. I'm knackered today - need a rest
dh and I are both signed up for the great north run so we've got to get fit by sept or we'll be mortified

Hairy - Why would your knees ache? Do you have proper running shoes?

Well done on W4D1 everyone. I haven't started W4 yet as I had gym on Tuesday (incl. running on treadmill) and will be running with a friend tomorrow but she won't be interested in 5 min runs, I don't think. I'm aiming for W4D1 on Saturday or Sunday.

Meanwhile, I've lost another few hundred grams and now weigh... 62 kg . The absolute lowest I have weighed since first pregnancy five years ago.

hi everyone
can I join in?
have just done day 2 Week 4, it is v v cold (but lovely and clear)...5 mins was quite a challenge, worse than on day 1. My right hip felt quite stiff but is OK after a shower. When I got back I looked at W5, it is scarey!

Hurrah for Cote and her teeny weeny size.

I managed to gouge a hole in my foot yesterday by ripping it on a sticky-up-nail on our crappy old decking. Man it is SORE. I am hoping that the pain will fade by tomorrow when I am due my next wk 4 run.

Am mightily pissed orf as I really want to go today.

CJ strange about your leg? Can you rest up for a couple of days?

Hello to shallishanti, welcome, happy running.

Morning all - no running so far this week for me as have been wiped out by flu - but feeling semi-human today so will aim for a gentle 20 minutes treadmill run at lunchtime to get back into the running swing of things. Am so impressed at all these people signing up for 10ks and Great North Runs - I have forsworn signing up for runs as it appears I magically fall pregnant just before doing them Also v impressed at CoteDAzur's weight loss - I sense there may be an almighty shopping trip coming up for new clothes to show off that svelte figure...

HairyMclary - I assume you've got properly fitted running shoes for your gait, if not may be worth checking it out. It may be that you were running in a funny style to favour your ankle which caused you to ache in different places. I had that when I started running again after twisting my ankle a few years back and found that the inside of my knees started to really hurt. What helped was basically really slowing down when running (and I wasnt going really fast to start off with) and reducing the distance and focusing on making sure I was using proper running technique (so foot hitting floor properly, rolling through the foot etc.) - once the knee pain shifted I was safe to run again normally - and my ankle didnt hurt either.

Hi Everyone

Well I have done 3 5k runs this week now and feel totally done in now. The first two I did in exactly the same time, 33 mins. I have just ran today on a new route. I really didn't enjoy today's run though. It was blinking cold and gusty and my right knee is also starting to ache a bit. I really wasn't feeling it today and was expecting it to be a rubbish time but I actually did it in 30 mins. Whether it's because it's a new route and so slightly shorter (although have mapped it and doesn't seem to be) or just because I was desperate to get home...

I am finding that actually. My run on Tuesday i really enjoyed and I felt like I was running faster than the time before, yet it was exactly the same time. And today's when it felt like I was slower was apparently faster.

But also as I mentioned my left knee is really aching quite a bit. I first noticed it after tuesdays run and yesterday it was noticeable but not uncomfortable. Now after todays run it is more noticeable but still really painful. Although I haven't completely thawed out yet so still bit numb. I do have proper running shoes so I'm assuming it's just the toll of running so much.

Hello to Dinky, good to see some other faces from the other thread!

Oh, and Cote, I am very very envious of you!

Whatever, think I will take it easy for rest of week and poss skip running at the weekend. Don't want to over-do it!

Sorry, I meant noticeable but still not painful.

Also, have been given a really good link to a site called Mapometer. I'm finding it better than Google Maps which is what I was using before.

It is snowing in Monaco!

And I did W4D1 today with my friend, under the rain and braving the cold. Waves were huge and people in cars were looking at us funny. We did joke that it was so cold the rain might turn to snow, and now it has. You have to know the mild climate down here to really appreciate how bizarre this is!

Anyway, I'm surprised that those 5 min runs were very manageable. The last one was up a ramp, too.

Re dress sizes - I only went down from large to medium, so now popping the champaign just yet but thanks for the applause

am impressed by all those doing 3 runs a week! Im having afew days off, feel under the weather but not sure what it is - dizzy and grumpy

Hello all, hope its ok to join you, I have just come over from the other thread too, thank you rollergirl .

Ive just had a look at the couch potato regime, and I think Il start at wk4 if thats alright, as Ive been jogging for about 3/4 weeks anyway.

Am doing the race for life in a few months, so hopefully I will manage to jog through it, instead of fast walking.

I start wk4 tomorrow!

Hi everyone, I'm back from 2nd run of wk4. All good, in fact I really enjoyed it.

Rather disappointingly though I did 5.5 k in about 45 mins, on The Biggest Loser (God, I watch some shit) last night, they did 10Ks in just over an hour! I know they are being thrashed to get fit, but they are all huge, even the biggest most unfit girl there did it in 1hr 30m, which seems pretty good to me.

I think I'm gonna have to up my pace a bit.

I've had a rest from running. I was supposed to go yesterday but my whole body was aching so I decided to have a rest. I may go later but I feel quite stiff; perhaps my body is trying to tell me something? Anyway, I'll be back into the swing of things tomorrow at the latest.

Hi everyone. I had another running session in the gym today: 5 x (3 min run + 30 seconds walk), with runs at 8 min/km. Towards the end, I was pretty tired but not dead

Meanwhile, a girlfriend and I decided to register to this 10K race in May. Completely flat but end of May might get very hot down here. Now we have something to aim for, which is a thrill.

A question for those of you putting your names down for such races: This one asks our 10K time. Hard to come up with a figure, since we have never even run 5K yet. Do I make up a number (errrmm.... 55 minutes?) or just write "No 10K experience yet, just put me in the back of the line"?