Couch to 5k thread

tmabr · 25-06-2016 3:22pm

Hi all. Im just getting into week 3. I'm 42 and haven't exercised since age 18. Off the smokes 4 months and eating everything in sightðŸ˜Š Downloaded a random c25k app and following it. 30 minutes is getting me about 2 miles walking and running. All going well except my Achilles are really painful the day after. Really enjoying the exercise. And up 70€ a week.

kazmcdonald · 25-06-2016 3:45pm

Well done, keep it up! The smoking is a big one. Off them 3 years after smoking 20-30 a day for 15 years. Just finishing week 6 - I love it! Was pretty tough at the start especially day one when I thought I was going to keel over! Looking forward to my 1st 5k soon and am going to treat myself to a new pair of runners. ï¿¼

Edit: I'm sorry I can't help with your problem but well done again on the smoking and running.

The Muppet · 25-06-2016 5:58pm

tmabr wrote: »

Hi all. Im just getting into week 3. I'm 42 and haven't exercised since age 18. Off the smokes 4 months and eating everything in sight Downloaded a random c25k app and following it. 30 minutes is getting me about 2 miles walking and running. All going well except my Achilles are really painful the day after. Really enjoying the exercise. And up 70 a week.

Well done on your progress. Take it nice and easy with the running parts and drink plenty of water every day to keep yourself hydrated .

positron · 28-06-2016 2:52pm

positron wrote: »

Last Saturday I was supposed to W6D3, instead I did the Oldbridge Parkrun and loved everything about it. I finished behind dozens of little kids, retired folks etc but well, I was glad to finish my first 5k - time was around 32 minutes - well pleased.

I did W7D1 today and hope to run Oldbridge Parkrun again this Saturday. Great program.

As a follow up, I did W7D3 also at Oldbridge Parkrun. And shaved off nearly 50 places by the finish line.

Okay, that's not entirely true. There were only half the crowd there, so relatively I am my second run was more or less same as first run, I took 31 minutes or so. I was trying to come in under 30 minutes, but it was not do be. There is always another Saturday.

In the end, I ended up taking a long walk after the run and ran another 20 minutes, hopefully I will move towards 10k in a few months (or years) time.

oleras · 29-06-2016 12:28am

positron wrote: »

As a follow up, I did W7D3 also at Oldbridge Parkrun. And shaved off nearly 50 places by the finish line.

Okay, that's not entirely true. There were only half the crowd there, so relatively I am my second run was more or less same as first run, I took 31 minutes or so. I was trying to come in under 30 minutes, but it was not do be. There is always another Saturday.

In the end, I ended up taking a long walk after the run and ran another 20 minutes, hopefully I will move towards 10k in a few months (or years) time.

SO ?....

Keep it to under 2 lines ?

Penfailed · 30-06-2016 11:10pm

oleras wrote: »

SO ?....

Keep it to under 2 lines ?

Eh?

oleras · 02-07-2016 12:08am

Penfailed wrote: »

Eh?

I am as confused as you ?

I must have been replying to something else ?

positron · 11-07-2016 1:48pm

I thought you were new incarnation of 'Bowerick Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged'.

Anywhoo, C25K done and dusted. i am delighted that I can run 30m plus non stop. This program works!

Now to 10K and beyond.

Ivefoundgod · 24-07-2016 1:02am

Hi folks

New to the world of running in a sense but am an active soccer player. I'm doing some preseason work at the moment to get ready for the season and am wondering can someone point me in the direction of a slightly more intense training programme i could follow? I'm not really at the "couch" stage so starting with the plan here is too easy for me and I find myself barely stretched, however during the soccer offseason I basically take a long break with only games of tag and 5 a side to keep me active before going back to training 2-3 times a week and a match on Sundays so my fitness does dip quite substantially I think so don't want anything too intense. My goal is to eventually work up to running at a decent pace for around about 50-60 minutes. Thanks for any tips as most soccer plans i've looked up are HIIT based which is something I'll be doing when team training starts again.

MrStuffins · 21-09-2016 3:42pm

Thread bump!

I attempted this approx 2.5 years ago and, i'm not sure what stopped me, but I never finished it!

However, i'm abut to give it another go.

I live 5.2km from work. And Most days I walk to work. So i've decided to kill two birds with one stone and do this on the way to work each week.

I did Week 1 Day 1 on Monday and it was fine. Today, I brought clothes and shower gear to work with me so I can "run" in tomorrow in shorts and a tshirt and sort myself when I get to work.

This is my plan. And it should work because i'll have no excuses, seeing as I HAVE to go to work every day.

Wish me luck

Dodge · 21-09-2016 3:59pm

Best of luck Mr Stuffins. I completed it last year and it's one of the things I'm most proud of.

My knee has been injured for a while and it's killing me not being able to run. I defo caught the bug

positron · 21-09-2016 4:50pm

Best of luck MrStuffins, should be no problem for you. You are so lucky to live the correct distance away from work, and to have shower facilities at work etc. A lot of us have to find time to run on top of an hour long commute! Make the most of it. And by next summer you will running to and fro, doing your fartleks and timing your runs and what not. The only downside to the your plan is that you will have to find ways to handle that much more attention from the opposite sex at work...

SmallTeapot · 21-09-2016 5:05pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

Thread bump!

I attempted this approx 2.5 years ago and, i'm not sure what stopped me, but I never finished it!

However, i'm abut to give it another go.

I live 5.2km from work. And Most days I walk to work. So i've decided to kill two birds with one stone and do this on the way to work each week.

I did Week 1 Day 1 on Monday and it was fine. Today, I brought clothes and shower gear to work with me so I can "run" in tomorrow in shorts and a tshirt and sort myself when I get to work.

This is my plan. And it should work because i'll have no excuses, seeing as I HAVE to go to work every day.

Wish me luck

Best of luck McStuffins. I started it last year and have been running ever since.

I like how you have incorporated it into your work commute. Also, quick tip - leave a set of gear in work, in case some morning you're running late (geddit!) or not organised enough in the morning.... you can then run home in the evening instead

pcuser · 23-09-2016 12:44am

I started this last week, I made the mistake of jogging/walking around the local village. Any time I came across other people I jogged much faster and by the time it came to the 5th run I was completely out of breath and finished the training session walking.

2 days later I started again and decided to run/jog on a quiet local country road. It was much easier as there was very little traffic and no one else on the road. I was able to complete the 8 runs no problem.

Day 1 went well and was quiet enjoyable, Day 2 was much easier. Day 3 was fantastic. I ran much faster for the last 4 runs and felt great after it. I also measured the total distance that I traveled for the last run and it was 4.1 KM in 30 minutes.

Tomorrow morning I start week 2. 90 seconds jogging followed by 60 second walking for 31 minutes. I know it will be a little tougher but im looking forward to it. Its a great program. Im so glad I decided to start it.

MrStuffins · 26-09-2016 12:51pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

Thread bump!

I attempted this approx 2.5 years ago and, i'm not sure what stopped me, but I never finished it!

However, i'm abut to give it another go.

I live 5.2km from work. And Most days I walk to work. So i've decided to kill two birds with one stone and do this on the way to work each week.

I did Week 1 Day 1 on Monday and it was fine. Today, I brought clothes and shower gear to work with me so I can "run" in tomorrow in shorts and a tshirt and sort myself when I get to work.

This is my plan. And it should work because i'll have no excuses, seeing as I HAVE to go to work every day.

Wish me luck

Did Week 1 Day 2 on the way to work last Thursday (I think) and then I went out in the lashing rain on Saturday to get Week 1 Day 3 done.

Brought all of my gear to work this morning in prep for Week 2 Day 1 tomorrow morning on the way to work.

Actually looking forward to getting into the longer runs int he following weeks.

pcuser · 26-09-2016 6:12pm

Well done MrStuffins.
I finished Week 2 Day 2 today. Just remember to keep jogging slow and the 90 seconds will soon pass. I will run day 3 this Wednesday and I will start week 3 this Friday.

Il keep this thread updated.

The Muppet · 26-09-2016 6:59pm

MrStuffins wrote: »

Did Week 1 Day 2 on the way to work last Thursday (I think) and then I went out in the lashing rain on Saturday to get Week 1 Day 3 done.

Brought all of my gear to work this morning in prep for Week 2 Day 1 tomorrow morning on the way to work.

Actually looking forward to getting into the longer runs int he following weeks.

Well done and running in the rain in your first week too , could be you've caught the running bug. Keep at it and believe in the programe ,It's brilliant . Good Luck

wavehopper1 · 27-09-2016 12:54am

Week 1 Day 1 done. Thanks to everyone posting on this thread, it was very motivational to take that first step.

I have a question, if someone could help. It's been years since I exercised regularly, and went to a gym. Back then, the gym trainers were very clear that I should warm up, stretch, exercise, warm down, then stretch again.
Today, I was following the NHS podcast, and there was no mention of stretching at the beginning or end. I know that techniques and theories change - is stretching not "a thing" now? Great if it isn't, cos it ain't the most exciting thing in the world.
Do people here following the programme stretch or not?

The Muppet · 27-09-2016 7:59am

Well done on getting going. There are different views on the value of stretching .

On the premise that stretching cold muscle is not advisable I only stretch after runs .

positron · 27-09-2016 8:37am

'Dynamic stretching' seems to be the more recommended practice these days. When I did C25K around I felt the need to stretch at around Week 5 - that is after the run my calf stayed tight, sore etc - and I ended up googling about it started doing calf raises / dips, and eventually bought a form roller especially for the shin.

MrStuffins · 27-09-2016 11:24am

Did Week 2 Day 1 on the way to work this morning. Weirdly, it felt like I didn't do as much running this time. 4 x 90 seconds with breaks of 2 mins in the middle.

I did find the 90 secs slightly tougher, but not too bad!

pcuser · 28-09-2016 12:55pm

I finished Week 2 Day 3 today. It was not too hard at all. On Friday I start Week 3 .

wavehopper1 · 28-09-2016 11:09pm

Thanks to Positron and The Muppet for the info on stretching.

Week 1 Day 2 done. Thought I'd be running in the rain for the first time, but it cleared up to a beautiful night.

Monday I did the NHS podcast, and as a change I did the Ullrey podcast tonight, which a lot of people mentioned in this thread. I actually found it a little less clear when to start and stop running, Ullrey didn't always seem to say "Go" or "Done", whereas the NHS lady was very straightforward. But I wasn't keen on the electronic music in either.

Found a different Podcast with a rock theme, will try that next time.

Ososlo · 28-09-2016 11:14pm

wavehopper1 wrote: »

Thanks to Positron and The Muppet for the info on stretching.

Week 1 Day 2 done. Thought I'd be running in the rain for the rain for the first time, but it cleared up to a beautiful night.

Monday I did the NHS podcast, and as a change I did the Ullrey podcast tonight, which a lot of people mentioned in this thread. I actually found it a little less clear when to start and stop running, Ullrey didn't always seem to say "Go" or "Done", whereas the NHS lady was very straightforward. But I wasn't keen on the electronic music in either.

Found a different Podcast with a rock theme, will try that next time.

Good on ya! I found the NHS woman really good too. Whatever gets you throughout it! It'll be TOTALLY worth it:D But don't be afraid of running in the rain, as it's really hard to avoid it, especially over the winter, and it can actually be enjoyable!
Keep us updated!

The Muppet · 29-09-2016 11:31am

Ososlo wrote: »

Good on ya! I found the NHS woman really good too. Whatever gets you throughout it! It'll be TOTALLY worth it:D But don't be afraid of running in the rain, as it's really hard to avoid it, especially over the winter, and it can actually be enjoyable!
Keep us updated!

I miss Laura, she was always so positive you just knew you could get through the session with her help.:)

+ 1 for running in the rain, before I ran I always though people out running in the rain needed their head examined. Now I really enjoy it myself , I do most of my best runs when there's a cooling drizzle.

pcuser · 29-09-2016 2:26pm

For my run yesterday it was overcast and warm, Horrible conditions to be running in. I was hoping it would rain but no such luck, That doesnt happen too often in Ireland

The Muppet · 29-09-2016 4:26pm

pcuser wrote: »

For my run yesterday it was overcast and warm, Horrible conditions to be running in. I was hoping it would rain but no such luck, That doesnt happen too often in Ireland

Yesterday was strange weathe wise ' dull but unusually warm , today was much coolerand the wind was a killer when running onto it . Unpredictable weather is one thing we can be sure of here.

Captain Slow IRL · 29-09-2016 8:39pm

I got back into this towards the end of the summer, got up to week 7 and then an ingrown toenail and a pulled muscle put me out of commission for a fortnight. It was bloody tough some days going out but I managed nearly every run (bar 1 or 2). Last summer when I tried this for the first time, the biggest thing holding me back was my mentality I found - the only reason I'd stop was because I told myself I'd had enough. I ploughed through it this year a lot easier.

Since I've gotten back after my little misadventure, I've ditched the app and just go for a peaceful jog down the local woods, I've distances marked and am gradually building up day by day.

One final thing, I found stretching only useful after a run and if I was a bit sore. I just start a run cold and suffer it out until the muscles warm up!

pcuser · 30-09-2016 11:19am

I started Week 3 Day 1 today.

I was anxious that I would gas out before the end of the 3 minute jog and possibly not finish the second 3 minute jog. I should have more faith in the program. I found today's run to be one of the most enjoyable yet.

I felt like I really achieved something today. Still small steps but a month ago the thought of jogging non stop for 3 minutes would have scared the ****e out of me never mind 2 X 3min jogs and 2 X 90s jogs.

positron · 30-09-2016 11:53am

This morning Mrs P went out to drop the kids to school with a very grim look on her face.. as her plan called for a W5D3 run today. She had struggled thru W5D2 second 8 minute run couple of days ago, and she was very upset that that C25K plan now expected her to run 20 mins straight. She was sure that there was no way she could do it.

An hour ago there she came back in to the house beaming ear to ear - she surprised herself and ran all of the 20 mins non-stop. I can see she is clearly feeling that sense of achievement, and she's loving it. The old running bug catching on. And what a beautiful morning for it too.

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