Couch to 5k: whether you're picking up the pace or just starting the race

[QueenRunningGeekMum]

Through rain and snow and skies of grey
We will keep running the C25K
Though lack of sleep and time do test us
We wil not let excuses best us
For 2012 will be the year
For weight loss, fitness and good cheer
Nine weeks of running isn't that long
So come on ladies, get those running shoes on!

Welcome to all runners, joggers, speed walkers and waddlers! All levels of fitness are welcome here on the Couch to 5k support thread. For more information see the NHS website

Link to the old thread

:( well after doing 3 runs this week of 30 mins i feel i'm going slower than ever, i'm able to do the running ok but somehow thought i'd be going faster and i'm even slower on hills (all of my running so far has been done along a disused railway track now cycle track/walkers path and its dead flat) i guess i'm gonna have to add hills and just work up to going faster. is anyone else :( at the speed they go. maybe i'm expecting to much of myself.

Well I did w7 r1 tonight but really didn't enjoy it. I think I definitely learnt a lesson around not eating too heavy a dinner before a run, especially now I'm doing longer runs. I found it really tough & thought there was a possibility I might be sick in the last 10 mins! Got a really bad stitch as soon as I stopped running too. However, on the bright side, I didn't stop & completed it all

I leave for work at 7am so running before work isn't really an option. I'm not home until 6pm so need dinner then - aside from my hunger, I need to see DD for a while & she normally goes to bed around 7.30pm. After she goes to bed is my only chance of running so it looks like I need to change what I'm eating for dinner - maybe something light, then more when I get back?!?

Or put yours to the side and eat it when back littledolly? A friend of mine goes to zumba and because of timing she eats half her dinner before she goes so she's not starving and the other half reheated when she gets home after a shower.

I think the majority of us are :( at the speed we go milewalker!

I feel the same milewalker

cinnamon not running with the buggy anymore as DS started complaining. I wouldn't be soi frustrated if that was my buggy speed.

don't worry about speed everyone! make it a goal to achieve!
elite athletes train for months just to get seconds off their time.
don't be so .

hoping to get out later for 25min run.
only posting that - as it sort of forces me to do it now!

My weeks start on Friday, so I made myself get out yesterday, so as not to incur the wrath of our new task master nomorescarycake. I did something I've been meaning to do for ages and combined a run and a swim - parked at the swimming pool and ran from there, then changed and into the pool. Did 28 minutes and 28 lengths - nice symmetry! Thanks for the encouragement/kick up the arse, everyone.

managed 5.2 k in 30 mins yesterday! Yippee!

I am going to increase my run by one while minute tomorrow..... but I am concentrating on increasing the speed and soon I will have to tackle a bit more uphill . I have been sticking to the canal path because I can take the dog but am wondering about going up on the hills next time.

milewalker - yes I am at the speed I do. hence trying to up it. I know of old that I tend to be slow anyway - I can do miles and miles but never very quickly. My 12 milers would take most of the morning I often think when I see nippy runners, that they actually must stop and gasp for breath when they are out of sight....

Been out! We camping so just did 2.4 miles but still went! Sun will do 3 miles minimum

Well done rusmum I managed 3.6Km yesterday (time limit rather than ability) so your run sounds good to me :)

Milewalker my speed is so slow that speed is not actually a description. But more importantly you have not share
d your slimming tips following your amazing pictures.

bigbadnomorecake I see you have moved on from scary to motivational. Do you
do this professionally?
dotty you are showing off - you won't impress scarycake by showing off
omrian one minute extra is genius I'm going to copy you (not dotty she's too hard)
And am so pleased our little community has managed to to motivate us all.rusmum well done!! Should we produce our own 'moving on from c25k ( when you need a kick up the arse) ' we could call it scarycake
pledging here to run tomorrow. Did wk A moving onto wkB. scary managed to get me running more regularly than I did on the plan!!

Hoping for help. Training towards first 5k run but now (unrelated) I seem to have hurt my back. GP just recommended painkillers but it hurts and I am miserable not to be training :-(
Anyone done anything similar. Chiropractor? More pills? How long did you suffer for? Any help much appreciated.

but i must correct you, i think you'll find I'M the slowest runner on the thread. i think i would take me 50 mins to do a 5k, if i could ever run for that long!
But I will keep going, as i want to change that fact.

I never run in the rain, but went out tonight in the rain- i blame all of you .
managed 25mins, stopped once. must do run no.3 over the weekend, hopefully without stops.

oh yehudiwho! . flattery gets you NO where...i have my beady little eyes on you!

well done rusmum! ooo running on holiday, get you!

wow, very impressive dotty just need a bike and you'd be a triathlete!

Just checking in to confess that I will not run today. Went out last night and feeling 'tired' today.

WILL go out tomorrow instead though.

Running group this week we are all going to time a 1 mile run so we can measure our progress as time goes by.

Hello! Have name changed for this thread but I might keep it, as it sums up my new attitude to life in general

Got to about week 5 last time I tried C25K earlier in the year, but then I went off on my own tangent and managed about 30 mins (4k?) running to my own tunes.

Meeting my old running buddy this week to get back into it and I'll be checking in here to motivate me. Also stocking up on Berocca and pro-biotics in a bid to sort out my general sluggishness and dodgy digestion!

Look out for a new me come the summer....

Sorry wolfiefan, now advice my dh would probably say keep active and take lots of drugs!

Make sure you do cece . I'm going to a running group Monday evenig with ds1's teacher will let you know how it goes!

Well done doingitformyself!!

Went out for wBr3 today and surprised myself by managing 5.25k in 35 mins (30 min running rest walking). Was hard going at certain points but feel great now I've done it and getting closer to a 30 min 5K. Plus I hae completed my pledge to run 3 times a week :)

popped in mainly cos i'm all excited about the 18 mile's i'm waiting to start but its still an hour before i make my way to the start, anyway i feel loads better knowing i'm not the only slower runner out there.

not many tips for my weight loss-i was quite ocd about it (i'm sure some would say obsessed :o ) i ALWAYS walked a minimum of 30 mins everyday and only had 1750 calories everyday. i eat loads of fruit/veg and only weighed once a week (sat morn)
in the last month i've joined a gym and now do weights to tone me up as well as the cardio machines and i run 30 mins every other day one way then turn and walk back home (i work afternoons so i do this for 1 hour mornings)

i have a protein shake after i've done weights and have noticed if i eat rubbish food instead of what i usually have i really feel rough the next day and don't feel i exercise as well.

well i'd better go pack up the bits i need to take-i'm gonna try and run the first 3 miles, walk the next 4 maybe 5 run another 3 then see how i feel as to whether i walk the last 7 or walk 4 run 3. at the moment my minds saying yeah i'll do what i've just written, come to it my body maybe saying hey you've run 3, walked 5 now lets just keep walking.
i'll report as to how i do. am i allowed to post a link to my giving page so you can see pics?

last bit-wish i was doing it in fancy dress now

Wow wow wow milewalker! 18 miles.
I'll check for updates later.

GOODLUCK!!!!!!

dont tell scarycake but due to a terrible nights sleep I didnt go out this morning - glad cece fessed up first we can wait outside the headmistress' office together.
will definitley go out tomorrow and Tuesday but then (claps hands over eyes) will not manage 3 in the week as am away from home wed-fri. promise to restart again next Sat.
milewalker inspiring tales of weight loss- I do like the 30 min walk every day - will combine with omirians extra minute every run - 18 miles might be a bit much just yet though

been absent for a bit, but graduated today! Did wk9 r3 outside along the coast. It was great. Now I think just 5k ish runs for me for now on. No desire to beat that distance! Can't believe I've finished!

Well done FunnysInLaJardin, it's great to graduate. I'm also happy with 5K just want to be quicker! Keep visiting the thread though, some of us post grads are encouraging each other to keep running as we'd lost a bit of momentum.

i'm back home. i'll admit now i didn't run any of it but did complete the 18 miles in 3 hours 25 mins AND i was the first home by about a mile and a quarter so i'm mega pleased. think i may have a day off tommorow

well done funny on the graduation

fab effort milewalker on the 18 miles - yes have a day off

I have been out this morning and have actually managed to run for a whole 5 k; think it is my first time for running the whole 5k. So feeling pleased. With my warm up and cool down walks i did 6k. Surprised myself when I measured it out back at home. So I am thinking the interval training has helped.

well done funny congratulations- nomorecake re motivated the graduates by making us pledge to carry on running at least 3 times a week - for 15 mins if we get busy just have to go out
milewalker excellent you deserve a break now
scarycake you can call off the dogs now- went out and did 30 mins - well 30mins 34 secs- didnt quite manage that extra 1min. but fastest run - sub 8km an hour all the way through- when I hit 4k I will celebrate!