W9R2

[LeeU]

Things didn't start off too well on my well planned trip to the office, I had a gym induction planned for yesterday, 2pm, I went down to the gym in the basement of the office only to be told the guy was off because his son was ill; ok not a big setback but one of the options for running had gone.

Got to the hotel, asked about the gym opening times, 24 hours, ok, great, but between 6-8 am they are usually queuing up to use the equipment, slightly deflated.

Anyways, up this morning, 5:20, off down to the gym, there was one other guy in there, we exchanged pleasantries, I did my stretching and got on the treadmill, it was in MPH, mines KPH!, quick calculation in my head , Laura kicks in through the Bluetooth running headset and I'm off. Warm up walk completed I'm then off jogging.

The mirrored walls are great, watching myself jog along makes me smile and passes the time really well because the next thing I know Laura is telling me I'd done 10 minutes, I'd missed the 5 minute marker.

A couple of other people come and go, a couple of gym rats come in and stand around and a couple of ladies come over and use the other treadmills, morning life in a hotel gym I suppose. Even though it's a hotel chain the gym is open to membership for locals too, I think that's where the gym rats came from.

So I carried on, plodding away, slow and steady, thinking Oldfloss would be proud of me, with only one discrepancy to my name but maintaining the slow and steady pace, no slowing down for me today though, breathing steady heart rate steady and acceptable, i.e. it's still beating

Laura tells me I'm doing great and that I only have 5 minutes left, great, I know I'm sweating and I know I'm capable of completing this run, so on I plod.

Laura then tells me I've got 60 seconds left, I'm tempted to increase the speed but don't want to risk damaging something and not being able to run on Friday.

So my 30 minute run ends and I start the warm down walk, nice brisk pace, 5 minutes and then I'm done, I'm quite sorry it's finished I was enjoying myself, a middle aged fat guy in a gym with a lot of other thinner people!

Anyway, I stopped the treadmill and grabbed all my stuff and stepped off, the gym wasn't that busy after all, they weren't queuing for the kit and out of the 4 treadmills only 3 had been in use while I had been jogging, I could have had another hour in bed!

Just as I was heading over to the residents entrance to the gym, the guy who was in the gym when I got there stopped me and asked me if he could ask me a question, how long had I been running? Story is that he's a little overweight and had been trying to shift it following some internet posts and was struggling to lose the weight. I put him onto the C25K, he looking a little worried when I mentioned the 5k part, so I explained the program, the 9 weeks and the types of runs that you do, he seemed much more comfortable with that explanation

Sooo, I now have 1, yes that's ring OOOONNNEEE run left to do, I'm not sure if this is a dream or heaven but if it is then I'm happy and I'll stay.

I really can't believe I'm one run away from graduating, 26 runs ago I was struggling to do 8x 1 minute runs, now I'm feeling like I can continue way past Laura telling me it's time to stop!

I still have a few short term goals to reach, the 5k mark is one and running outside is another, I have plans to reach both and I will do, I've really only just started running and I'm not planning on stopping any time soon.

Thank you all, knowing the forum family is there is a major driver and source of motivation.

[Hidden]

Great post LeeU. Good that you are feeling so enthusiast and committed. Nearly graduation 👨‍🎓 Perfect.

Hope your new gym friend reads your post and joins our running club too,

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I hope he does, I doubt I'll ever see him again though as I rarely get into the office for more than a day at a time and then the meetings start around 11 to give me time to get in, it's a 180 mile drive and I refuse to leave before 7am, before that is running time

The program has helped me achieve so much, I was confident before I started but I now have a different kind of self-confidence, it's hard to explain really.

One more run before I start it all over again!

[dapsmith281 Graduate]

I know where your coming from, this forum is great. Great advice, great support.

[LeeU Graduate in reply to dapsmith281]

It's got me this far, there's no way I'm going to ignore any of it now.

[Shelby1973 Graduate]

Well done and great for telling another fella about c25k 🏃 x

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Shelby1973]

I've been asked a few times about my weight loss, I always put it down to C25K, if I listed everyone I've told about it there'd be quite a list.

I'm trying to get one of my cousins to start, I'll keep you all informed on that.

[Shelby1973 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

Have u lost a fair bit of weight . I haven't lost owt but that's my fault as I like rubbish x

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Shelby1973]

Since the middle/end of May I've lost somewhere in the region of 3-3.5 stone, according to my Garmin my calorie burn for my 30 minute run this morning was 636 calories.

I know it seems high but that's wearing a chest strap HRM that came with the watch, it knows my height, weight, age, RHR, etc, so I trust it's calculation.

I due watch what I eat, my daily aim is 1500 calories but the odd time it does go up to 1800 but never less than 1300.

I aminly watch my portion size, this is where I've failed on every other diet to be honest, I've also binned chocolate, wine gums, etc but may make a small concession for XMas

While you are over-weight, as a rule, you burn more calories per work out but as you slim down this decreases, it might be worth you looking at a cheap HRM and targetting workouts that hit the fat loss heart rate zone on rest days, walking briskly is a good one but you need to ensure your heart rate stays in the right zone.

Take a look here:

runningforfitness.org/faq/h...

The fat burn zone is normally the 50-60% one I believe.

[Shelby1973 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

That's great going well done . I've been following world but is free carbs which for me is no good as am rubbish at portion control . I do want a garmin watch and I've promised myself one as a reward on completion for f this app so 3 more weeks and hopefully now the longer runs or kicking in my weight will go down . I also swim x3 a week roughly 50 lengths a time plus dog walking so it's gotta be my calorie input . Thanks leeU 😀

[Shelby1973 Graduate in reply to Shelby1973]

Slimming world **

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Shelby1973]

The Garmin is actually a treat for finishing this program, I've been allowed to use it early but I only had 3 runs left at the time, I've never had a Garmin, etc, before this, I did look the Vivofit HR, I think it was but getting to try one on was a real pain.

It's amazing really, you go into PC World and within 3 minutes you have someone on your shoulder asking if you need any help, UNLESS you are a middle aged fat guy stood near the fitness trackers, they don't come anywhere near you!!

In a visit to Matlock I found a specialist running shop and the guy in there got a ForeRunner 735 off the shelf, undid the box and let me try it on! When he offered it me for internet prices, around £70 less than what he normally sells it for, I had to buy it, what it doesn't tell you you really don't need to know.

My watch feeds into/takes from My Fitness Pal, so I can see what I've consumed, what I've burnt and whats remaining.

[Shelby1973 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

Brilliant just what I need , I was worried running would be a fad so didn't want to spends loads on a watch but really think I'll benefit from one even with the dog walking 🚶 of nowt else . Thanks again leeU 😀 looks like off shopping come Friday

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Shelby1973]

No problem, to be honest, I've hardly spent anything on running, the watch has been the most expensive thing I've bought myself in quite a long time.

The downside to weight loss though is more shopping, I've dropped over 4 inches on my waist and have needed to buy more clothes and I hate shopping, Mrs LeeU thinks it's brilliant, she's always pointing out things that would, in her opinion, look good on me.

[Shelby1973 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

And she'll know best 😂 as we woman always do 😂 happy shopping

[Razouski]

That was a great post however not all of us regular gym enthusiasts are rats, honest. 😉

I'm so impressed that you could stay on the treadmill for 40minutes. I started C25K on the treadmill as I had been doing interval walks as my gym workout warm up. However after a first reluctant run with my daughter who refused to run inside, I got hooked with the great outdoors. I used to save the treadmill for rainy days, but now I find I even prefer to run in the rain than run outside. We're all different and I'm always in awe of people in my gym who can persevere on the "dreadmill " as some forum members have been known to call it. 🤓

Looking forward to reading your graduation post. 👨‍🎓

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Razouski]

I run on the treadmill at the minute as I can't regulate my pace outside, my body thinks it can run faster than I can actually maintain for any length of time, I haven't actually tested how long I can maintain this pace for in a while so I may try that next week. I do want to change to running outside as there aren't many Park Runs done on treadmills

I have limited experience of out door running, when I was between treadmills I ran on my local country park BUT made the mistake of taking the path with the 45% hill, I managed about 1 mile before I nearly died! So I can't really compare it to running outside, yet but I'll get there.

[Kimchoc08 Graduate]

Wow!! What a wonderful post and it looks like you've managed to recruit someone to the C25K program!!

Well done Lee and with only one run left to do, I bet you're feeling amazing!!

Slow and steady as Oldfloss says and you will achieve!! 😊😊

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Kimchoc08]

Kim, I can't praise the program enough, when I tried 'running' about 4-5 years back I looked at it and discounted it, what I fool I was. If it were up to me I'd make it compulsory in schools, this method is so much better than the 'you're running the 1500 meters today, get on with it' method that my old PE/Games teachers used to do

I've achieved more in about 10 weeks (I delayed one or two runs for various reasons) than I did in nearly 6 months trying it on my own.

30 minutes non-stop and the feeling that I could continue if I wanted, it's amazing.

You're doing great yourself, not far for you before you reach the podium.

[Nickycatwoman Graduate]

That's brilliant, roll on graduation! 👍👍🏃🏃

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Nickycatwoman]

Thank you.

[Hidden]

Well that is awesome & inspiring indeed 😊 keep up the good work 😊

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Claire, as I said in my other post, you'll be back running soon and I'm certain you'll get to the end of the program. Your dedication to running WILL get you through to your goals.

I'm not sure about awesome and inspiring, more like adequate and perspiring

Thank you.

[Hidden in reply to LeeU]

Haha 🤣😂 it is inspriring to someone like me who has never ever been able to run...not even at school!!!still cannot for the life of me see how i will ever get past running for 90 seconds haha 🤣😂

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Claire, I hated PE/Games at school, hated running, that's why I learnt martial arts so I didn't have to run.

You will surpirse yourself, don't get me wrong, the early weeks were a killer, I was trying to go to fast, Oldfloss sorted me out with the advice to go slow and steady.

Just believe in yourself and trust the program, it works and will get you to the end.

[Hidden in reply to LeeU]

Just need to shift this pesky virus which is still full on 2 weeks later!!!

[Hidden]

Brilliant you're close to graduating and recruiting newbies too.... runner par excellence!

[LeeU Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I'm trying my best I keep trying to get my youngest daughter to start the program but she's reluctant at the minute. I don't want to try to push her too hard, I'd rather she do it of her own accord.