Started at last!

[LandRoverMad]

Did first day of first week last Saturday 30 March. 2nd go today. Think I might do first week twice before moving on.

My goal is to join a friend on sponsored 5k for water for Africa on 8th June

[greenlegs Graduate]

Congratulations on getting started - the hardest steps! If you want to redo the first week you can, but if you manage it without too much trouble, you will be ready for week 2, even if you don't believe it! Best bit of advice - if in doubt, slow down - it solves lots of problems.

Having a 5k run at the end is a really good motivation, but don't worry if it begins to look later on as though it is going to take you longer than 30 minutes - lots of people (most) still go slower than that by the end of week 9 - I finished two months ago, and it still takes me about 45 minutes. But I can run all the way!

[helleb Graduate]

Well done, totally agree with greenlegs. I started these podcasts thinking I would repeat each week twice before moving on.I'm 5 stone overweight and recovering from surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon.Following the advice on these blogs, I kept going and didn't repeat a single week, just knowing you can if you want helped me. Going slow was the best bit of advice I had.I am now much slower than anyone else on the treadmills at the gym, but I keep running longer than them!! I am about to head out for W9 R3 !! I can run for 30 mins ok, but am still a way off 5K.That will be my next goal.Trust the programme, it really works

[greenlegs Graduate in reply to helleb]

Very interesting that you haven't needed to repeat weeks. Slow and steady.

[con-brio Graduate]

Great goal. Enjoy your C25K journey.

If you find you need extra days to recover, take them. It's not a race.

[Stefliser Graduate]

Well done on getting started!!

I agree with the above - the great thing about this programme is that you can tak it at exactly whatever speed you want to. But if you get to the 3rd run of a week and you can manage it more easily than you could the first time, you're probably OK to move on to the next one. For me, every week for the first 4 or 5 weeks followed the same pattern: First run was hard, but I enjoyed the fact that I somehow got through it; Second run was easier, and I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't hurting as much as last time; 3rd run was almost comfortable and I enjoyed that, and the thought of a new challenge in the next week.

The programme really does work - there's literally thousands of us in this forum who can bear testament to that.Not one of us had ever really run before, and loads of us are now happily blogging about 'just a nice easy 5K today'.

Again, well done for starting, and let us know how you get on