Bit late, but an introduction...

[lizfish]

Been commenting on loads of people's blogs, but never got round to writing one of my own.

So here it is.

I am 31, not overweight but very unfit cardio-wise. People never believe I'm not fit because I'm relatively tall and not a big person, but just get me to walk up a hill and you'll find out.

Found the C25K podcast by accident after signing up for a 3k run with a friend. She (in her own words) is over 40, overweight and asthmatic with various back pains, and I thought if she can do it, so can I. I want to increase my cardio fitness, get the weight-bearing benefits and also use it to lower my stress and raise my mood.

I love the format and pace of the podcast. I find Laura's encouragement really helpful. The music is really naff, but her calm voice makes up for it! Weeks 1 and 2 were very very hard. Even running a minute or 90 secs became almost impossible after the first 3 or 4 sets. But I completed each run (with a week off for illness) and did the rest days that I was supposed to. Now I've just done week 6 R1 and it was alright. On track to do a 3k in under 25 mins, which is dead slow but we don't care. We are just aiming to get through it.

I run every week or so with my friend, but mostly on my own round my local park. I never did take to running on a treadmill, and I find the distraction of being outside makes it much easier. (I had to use a treadmill for the first time while away and I nearly fell off while on it, and then nearly fell down the stairs after because my legs & and head were so wobbly!)

This is the second time I've trained like this, but I didn't get this far 5 years ago and this will be the most I've ever actually run in one go. I found the most surprising thing is that the hard breathing is difficult, but after 5 min or so it stops getting any harder. So as long as you can wrap your head around working hard at breathing for an extended period of time, it's actually fine. Half the battle is the mental one. Firstly to get you out there, secondly for you to believe you can actually run for 5 or 8 or 20 minutes at a time!

Good luck to everyone else, no matter what stage of your journey you are on.

[PastyMan Graduate]

"I found the most surprising thing is that the hard breathing is difficult, but after 5 min or so it stops getting any harder. So as long as you can wrap your head around working hard at breathing for an extended period of time, it's actually fine. Half the battle is the mental one. "

Couldn't agree more! That completely surprised me too. Once you get to that point then you will also find that if you are getting a bit out of breath it probably means you are going too quick and you will also find that there is a (slower) running pace, not walking, which lets you get your breathing back to normal.

Good luck with the rest of the C25K ... it gets even better!

[lizfish in reply to PastyMan]

Normal breathing while running? Really? I'll take your word for it! I shouldn't be surprised though, I am already much better than I ever thought I would be. I'm actually currently training for a wee 3k next sat, so the 25 min point I'm at should be fine, I think a park run will be next as everyone is tired of me asking for fundraising!