Welcome Couch to 5kers Group(now closed)

As Jenn summed it up so nicely........here it is............

We will be doing Couch to 5K, starting August 4th, ending the week of October 6th. We will be doing the first week TWICE to help us get started, thereby making a nine week program last ten weeks.

We will be weighing in on Mondays, with an optional weigh-in on Friday for those who want to.

Everyone will be doing the platform of their choice (elliptical, treadmill, street) and will choose their own days on which to run, due to varying schedules."

Here is the group...

lulufit

must_lose20

tlc0219

tankerraid

bluemisscutie

elizajk

ajazzymama

lynnhaslost

sarahjo36

pumpkin314

tryingtoloseit

xxmushxx

Wow.  Yesterday was REALLY an off day for me.  Not only did I forget to post...but I made a REALLY stupid mistake with my run.

So, I told myself that from here on out, I would run outside to prepare me for my 5K on the 12th.  Well, that means that I would run after work instead of before because it is getting DARN cold at 5AM!  So yesterday, I planned to run after.  BUT, I forgot that another effect of the seasons changing is that it gets dark sooner.  Oops.  I didn't get out of work until after 6, and sunset was supposed to be about 6:30.  I contemplated just going to the gym, or postpoing...but we are supposed to get rain later this week, so I was afraid that it might legitimately be my only chance to run outside this week.  So I changed super fast and headed outside.  I usually run on this path/logging road behind my house.  It's in a forest, and with all the trees, it was already pretty dark when I was leaving.  I tried to ignore the fact that it was getting darker and darker...but by the time I was half-done, it was seriously NIGHT.  I was too scared to run back along the same path (partly because the road is very uneven and I was pretty sure I would turn my ankle, and partly because it's SCARY to run in the woods alone at night!!!), so I ran back along the highway...which is scary in a different way, because people drive like crazies down that highway and I was, stupidly, wearing ALL BLACK!!  D'OH!

Well, on the plus side, I didn't need any extra motivation to finish my run.  I was so freaked out I was basically SPRINTING home.  On the down side, though, I ended up running over 40 minutes, I have no idea how far I went, my knees (and feet, and neck) were killing me, and it was basically the most traumatic exercise experience of my life.  Well, at least I'll know better than to do that again!  Looks like I'm back to the treadmill :)

Anyway, I got it done.  Yesterday I weighed 121, but today I'm back up to 123.5.  Who knows!

And Lulu, to answer your question about speed versus distance:  When I started measuring by distance I actually slowed down my speed (since I knew I would  be running longer and I didn't want to make it so hard I would give up) and then gradually increased it over the course of that week.  When I bumped up the distance, I would keep the speed steady from the last run the week before and then bump the speed up a notch again for the second run of the week.  For me I think it went like this:

25 minutes - 5.9 mph

2.5 miles - 5.3 mph

2.5 miles - 5.5 mph

2.75 miles - 5.5 mph

2.75 miles - 5.6 mph

2.75 miles - 5.7 mph

3.1 miles - 5.7 mph

3.1 miles - 5.8 mph

3.1 miles - 5.9 mph

That isn't quite exactly how I did it, but you get the idea.

Well, I hope you are all having better experience running than I had yesterday.  Congrats to everyone for pushing yourselves even though the excitement has waned.  We should all be really proud...and we're almost there!!!

Mmmmmm. Pizza and beer. I love pizza, and I love beer. GOD I would love to have a pizza and beer night.

Wow, I have been really stressed out with the stuff going on with the economy etc. Spent most of last week tethered to my computer and emailing/calling/faxing/writing my representatives. It was exhausting...

My weigh-in for yesterday was 166.8. I did W9R2, but had to stop and do the brisk walk for about 30 seconds at one point. Like I said, I've been drained.

Wow pumpkin.....you need to be careful at night, thats for sure. I agree...you are Speedy Gonzales. So if your aerobics teacher is still giving you grief, you can tell her that we (of course, the only people whose opinion really counts ;)    ) think you are super fast.

Tank, take a deep breath and relax. Things will eventually turn around soon with the economy and the market. They always do. You have to look long term.

Tomorrow is week 9 run 2 for me. I am kind of looking forward to it, but kind of not. I am disappointed in myself for all my stress eating, which I think is undoing all of my weight loss efforts with running. I still feel that with how hard it is to run for thirty minutes, and how hard I am breathing and sweating, I should look down at myself and be skinny! I have a long way to go before I see that! In the meantime, slow and steady for me.

Hi all!  Hope everyone is doing well.  I did W9D2 yesterday. It was really a little hard, but I was trying to go a little faster.  When I got home I kinda felt like I was getting a cold, and I was tired and sore all day, but today I feel better.  It was the first time I felt really sore after a run, but it wasn't too bad.  I am exited that tomorrow is the LAST RUN for me!!!  I feel really good about it, but it also makes me feel like celebrating.  I am really trying to stay focused on eating well, but I want to eat sweets pretty bad.  My oldest daughters birthday is on Sat.  So I have been looking at all these pictures of different cakes!!!  I think I am going to make her a rice krispie treat cake, as she is mostly interested in frosting rather than cake, and rice krispie treats disappear pretty quickly so I won't have to fight the urge to finish off the entire pan for too long!

Aww, thanks guys!  I wasn't feeling very speedy today...this run (W9D2) was really hard and I had to push the speed down twice and still felt like I was going to die.  It's so nice to have this group, though, and get support from all of you.  :)

Lulu - Sorry to hear that you've been stressed out and not seeing the results you want to see.  You will, though.  Just be dedicated and stick with it.  Slow loss is better than no loss.  I know it must be really hard to focus on health and fitness with so much else going on in your life...but you are really important and you deserve to be happy with yourself.

Tank - I hope you don't spend too much time stressing out over the economy and all the complicated nonsense that entails...but I am really impressed with your civic-mindedness!  I have been such a lump... trying to ignore the problems and hoping they go away.  Maybe you can be civic-minded for the both of us.

Sarahjo - good luck with your run tomorrow and with the cake this weekend!  Cake is my weakness!  Stay strong!

Just finished my second run of the week and boy was it HARD! Haven't been feeling great today, but did it anyway. Had to slow way down at the end, was hardly faster than my walk. Not exactly inspiring. I hope to feel better by Saturday when I "graduate" from the program.

Happy running!

I just finished my LAST official run of C25K!

After my dismal run on Wednesday (I'm with you, Jinxozzie, the second run of the week was awful), I was dreading the run today, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish my first 5K this Sunday.  So, to boost my confidence, I decided not to worry about speed and just to focus on the distance just to prove that I could do it.

Well, I reach the 5K mark at just under 34 minutes (pretty respectable, I think) and then I just kept running.  I ran for 50 MINUTES, just over 4.5 miles, just to show myself that I could do it!  And it felt great :)  I feel much better going into my "practice" 5K this Sunday.

Also, today I weighed in at 122, which is low considering that last night I had to bake for a fundraiser and I probably ate 10 pounds of chocolate chip pumpkin bread...just to make sure it was okay ;)

Well, next time I talk to you all, I'll have done my first (unofficial) 5K.  I'll let you all know how it goes.

Great job guys....and good luck with the race Pumpkin. I am going to have to play the "repeat" week card for week 9.  I just didn't get it in this week, except run 1 on Monday. I want to finish so I am going to repeat week 9 next week and finish.

Once I get my treadmill (which is finally ordered!) I think it will be much easier for me to run three days a week. Now I have to pack the kids up and head over to my moms, or I have to squeeze it in while the kids are at nursery school. I want to keep going. I don't feel like a runner yet. Well, I still have to finish week nine so maybe that will make a difference. The first 30 minute run was ok. Hard, but I did it. So I know I CAN do it.

I DID IT!!!  I did my final run yesterday, and it went well.  I still fell a little cold trying to get me, but I am resisting.  Tomorrow is my daughters birthday party and both of the girls will spend the night at my parents house!!! I have not had much of a break in the last few weeks so I am looking forward to it , and I don't want to be sick!!  I think that I am just going to continue 30 minute runs for the next couple weeks.  I am running my 5K next weekend, and after that I am thinking that I will do the podrunner "Gateway to 8K" program and see how it goes.  The podcast thing really helped me, so I am just going with that!

Congrats on finishing Pumpkin- 34 is a good time!  Good luck on your race, can't wait to see how it goes!

Lulu- You can do it !! And I bet you are right!  When you get your new treadmill it will make it a little more exciting!

Congratulations Sarahjo! What a great job. You did it! So, do you feel fantastic about it? Where do you find the Gateway to 8k program? That sounds like a great next goal to work on. Anyone else interested, for the near future?

My first goal is to continue running 30 minutes for the next couple of weeks, and during that time I'd like to increase my pace. Then maybe I'll check out that other program! (First I need to finish this one, though!)

Well...haven't got my run in yet. Will try and get it in today. Lulu I'll be running with you next week regardless.

I'm in a weightloss plateau which has me bummed. Still 203.8.  I was much more excited to run when I was seeing results.

Going to get my run in tomorrow (hopefully!). I want to do all three just to finish off on a good note. However, we went to a pumpkin farm today and the boots I wore gave me BLISTERS!!! How did you guys deal with blisters? So far, I haven't gotten any during the program and I don't want it to stop me from running tomorrow. I don't want to get any farther behind than I already am.

Jinx, I am glad you are with me. Don't want to feel all alone!  We will get to our weight loss goals, eventually. Other people have done it, so I don't see why we will be any different. (even though, sometimes it feels like it will never happen!) Guess we just hang in there.

Hey Lulu:

I had blisters in Early September when I wore new shoes. I bought this stuff called "New Skin". It's liquid and stings a little bit, but it has this stuff in it that's supposed to promote healing. It dries kind of like glue. Then I put the flexible fabric type of band-aide over top. The plasticy kind just falls off. Worked for me. I had serious blisters so this might sound a bit like over-kill.

Hope your run goes well tomorrow. I'll be running too, since didn't get my run in this weekend.

Hi all,

I ran in a 5K yesterday.  It went fine - I finished, I wasn't the last person, and I didn't die :)  My time was 32:45.8...not too shabby, but I know there is room for me to improve.  I'd like to do better in my first "real" 5K next weekend.

My aerobics instructer was there, running, too.  She was encouraging in her own kind-of-abrasive way.

The only problem was that it was *really cold*...it was only a little above 40 degrees, and my hands were very cold the whole time.  I need to figure out better clothing before next weekend.

Well, I'm not running today, but I'm going to do my runs on Wednesday and Friday.

Weigh in for today: 121.

ETA:  I don't know why I forgot to mention this, but right around the half-way point of the "race," I got to thinking about this group and all of you and about how proud I am of all of us and all the progress we have made and I almost started crying.  Not super helpful while running, but I was just overwhelmed with pride and I want to thank all of you for all the support over the last 9 weeks.  Let's keep it up!  :)

Way to go Pumpkin! You ARE a runner. Congratulations!

I did week 9 run 2 today. It was so hard. I had to stop and walk fast for awhile, but I am still going to count it as finishing run 2. It was probably so hard because I haven't run since LAST monday. So, I am going to shoot for run 3 on Wednesday and then repeat on Friday for good measure. However, to finish the progam I just need to get Wednesdays run in. I have to tell that to myself to make sure I do it!!!

I hated the running today. I want to love it. We'll have to see what happens. Sometimes, I like it-almost. Sometimes I hate it. I want to keep at it though, because I think once I break through all the doubt and get my endurance and speed up, I think I might actually like it. I hope so. I want to be able to run a real 5k. Thats the goal after this.

**EDIT** OH yeah, my weight is back up to 174. On Friday it had gone down to 170.5 so I gained some over the weekend. Not a big surprise. It seems I keep fluctuating these 3-4 pounds on and off. I hope I can finally reach 160's soon and just go down from there. We'll see.

Congrats everyone on their running and moving towards finishing this baby up! And congratulations to you Pumpkin on completing your 5k!

It's been a tough couple of weeks. I spent about two weeks writing, phoning and calling representatives regarding the bailout. It was exhausting. There's just been so much stress, and I have been reading way too much and steeping in it too long. We're going on vacation to Yosemite this weekend, and I need it SO VERY MUCH, just to get out and away from the computer and news channels and all that. Anyways, I hope everyone is doing okay despite all the financial chaos.

I finished Week 9 on Wednesday. I am still shy of the 5K mark, though, so I think this week I am going to start running 5k and working on improving my time. I am coming up anywhere from .5 to 1 mile short!

My weigh-in today was 166.2. I have my period coming today or tomorrow, probably, so I'm definitely retaining water. Bleh. ;)

-tank

Congrats on the 5K Pumpkin!  I am so proud of you!  I am proud of all of us!! I took the weekend off from running because my foot has been hurting.  Also, I just had a crazy weekend with the birthday party and all of that.  So today I went on a 30ish minute run.  It was weird because this was the first time in a long time that I listened to my own music.  I thought about quitting early, but then by the time I got to the point that I had given myself permission to stop at I wanted to keep going.  I felt like I went fast, but I am interested to see how I do next weekend at my 5K!

My weigh in for today is 160.5.  Feeling good about that.  I didn't log my calories for the weekend, which I don't do very often.  I was having my TOTM, and I was feeling very tempted by food.  I decided that I needed to give myself a little break.  It felt good, and now I am going to have a healthy day!

Congrats Pumpkin.... I'm impressed. So did my run today. Hadn't run since Thrusday and I guess it showed. I had to walk for the last 3 minutes of the run. I think I'll give it another go tomorrow night.

It would be so nice to be able to run 30 minutes no problem. I guess the only way to get there is to keep on running.

You'll do it, jinx, don't worry about. All it takes is time. I finally started running 5K and it took me 40 minutes, so I was running for 30 minutes, just really REALLY slowly. I figure it will take me a while, but I'll get to a 30 minute 5k at some point.

Sarahjo, I saw your other post about next steps after C25k... do you have a link for the road to 8k someone mentioned? I was doing the Ullreys podcasts, and can't see that he ever did a follow up series to the C25k.

-tank