Jump to content

Menu

Couch to 5K, any other newbies within the 12-weeks?


Recommended Posts

I just started week one this morning. I have been walking only a few days in my home (treadmill, Leslie Sansone) per week for the past couple of weeks. I moved up to walking a .90 mile walking trail at my local park for the past 3 days and felt I was ready for the C5K program this morning. I did much better than I thought I would!! I expected to be laying beside the trail halfway through. :lol: I actually completed it. I was listening to Robert Ullrey's C5K podcast and it made the walk/run so much more enjoyable.

 

As with other accountability threads, I'd love to hear from others who are in this program. How's it going? Are you able to stick with it? Is it moving too fast from week to week? What was your fitness level like before beginning?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats to you for starting the program! I'm on week 8. I was in horrid shape when I started. There were days I could barely lift my legs to walk by the afternoon, I was that sore. lol. I'm doing much better these days. I'm running 3 miles, some days I even run twice! I don't do 3 miles both times though, I usually do 1.5 miles in the am and then 3 miles in the pm, or whichever. I have done a couple of the weeks twice. I think I'll do week 8 for another week. I'm sucking wind pretty good by time I'm finished. :p I'm not really losing any weight, which has suprised me greatly. I do think I'm shrinking though. We shall see. I'm planning to sign up for my first 5K this fall, just waiting to see which race will work best with dh's work schedule. I still can't believe I can run 3 miles!!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been doing this Off-and-On since last Fall.

 

The first 2 weeks were the hardest. I thought I was in decent physical shape, but was still challenged. I took much longer than 1 week to progress to the 2nd week. I waited (6 weeks?) to progress to Week 2 until I felt like I could manage Week 1.

 

At my peak, I was running a full mile before walking. Then LIFE interrupted my exercise time (via a massive ice storm & cleanup) for quite some time!

 

But I really have felt the improved physical condition, and I'm comfortable varying the walk/jog combination (depending on how long it has been since my last outing)!

 

Anyway, I highly recommend it. I have 5 kids & my exercise time is limited & sporadic. I don't want to join a gym--this format has worked for me.

 

At the beginning, I carried a timer in my left hand (because I couldn't estimate well) & a stick in my right hand (to fend off dogs)!

 

Best wishes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just started mid last week. I have completed the 1st 2 days of week 1 and although it wasn't pretty I was able to finish.

 

I'm using the C25K app that they have for the Ipod touch. It's so cool it gives the prompts like the Robert Ullrey one, but it plays over my own music so I don't have to listen to what he picked. It's nice to listen to what I want and every so often have a nice voice come in and say "Walk" or "Run".

 

It has made it much easier than figuring the time myself while on the treadmill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had never run or jogged before that. I was able to keep up with the program until the last two weeks. i had to repeat those.

 

I needed to be reminded that you're supposed to focus on speed or distance, but not both. I think I got discouraged in the last couple weeks of the program since I was trying to focus on both.

 

I started out struggling to jog for one minute. Really. I've always been the type that really has to work up on building endurance. Yesterday, I jogged a little over 30 minutes. Now, I didn't job too fast, but I was able to jog the whole time.

 

I found the tips on the site to be helpful. Breathing rhythmically with the jogging was a big help. So were the tips on stretching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just started week one this morning. I have been walking only a few days in my home (treadmill, Leslie Sansone) per week for the past couple of weeks. I moved up to walking a .90 mile walking trail at my local park for the past 3 days and felt I was ready for the C5K program this morning. I did much better than I thought I would!! I expected to be laying beside the trail halfway through. :lol: I actually completed it. I was listening to Robert Ullrey's C5K podcast and it made the walk/run so much more enjoyable.

 

As with other accountability threads, I'd love to hear from others who are in this program. How's it going? Are you able to stick with it? Is it moving too fast from week to week? What was your fitness level like before beginning?

 

I'm in week 3 right now. I wasn't doing any kind of exercise before I started, so I literally went from the couch to the program. The first two jogs of the first week were hard for me, but I saw a big improvement on the third day of that week. Then week 2 was pretty easy, which was encouraging. Now I'm in week 3, and running for 3 minutes at a time was difficult the first day, and I'll be anxious to see if it gets easier tomorrow. It still doesn't seem possible that I'll actually be running for 20 minutes in just a few weeks, but I'm trying to just focus on the current week and not worry about what's coming next.

 

I'd really like to listen to those podcasts, but my dh hasn't been able to make the files work for me yet. Hopefully he'll figure it out soon! Looking at and resetting my stopwatch constantly is getting old!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm using the C25K app that they have for the Ipod touch.

 

Yeah, that is cool. I don't have an iphone or itouch though. Luckily for me, I really like Ullrey's music choices. Besides, I can't help but sing aloud when I hear my own music and I don't think I can run and sing at the same time. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been in and out of shape my whole life, from highschool onward. 18 months after my 2nd baby was born, I was still carting around all of the extra weight I gained. I decided to do this program and ended up stopping about half way through and instead just used it is a way to plan a workout. I found that doing the interval training that the middle of the program requires (more than just running a straight 3 miles towards the end) was much better for my fitness. I ended up losing close to 30 lbs in 6 months. Wahoo! Now I am pregnant again, gaining the weight right back again, and plan on doing weeks 1-8ish and then stopping around week 8 (but then doing variations of such for extended periods of time) as my normal workout. I am thrilled that it worked before and I am quite sure that it will work again this time. YAY!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...