And it was a little harder that I thought it would be (perhaps I was being over confident about my fitness).
I thoroughly enjoyed it though and the feeling of overcoming that first hurdle of actually going out to run was a buzz. I cycle quite a lot but running is a whole different discipline. I used to run every day as a young man but I suppose twenty odd years of not doing it is longer that I thought. Great feeling though and looking forward to continuing the program. I might even set myself a challenge of a half marathon next spring, you never know!
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bikerjohn
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It's an excellent program, I can't give it praise enough. Have faith in it, do exactly what it says on the tin and in 9 weeks you'll be running for 30 minutes non stop.
The only thing I would say is that the majority of people that do it and are regularly tracking their weight, ie: dieters often report a weight gain of a couple of pounds during the program, no doubt due to additional muscle. So if you experience that don't worry, in reality you'll be more toned and slimmer, and of course fitter!
Once you then get on to do regular longer runs, you'll then find it a great aid to weight control. According to Fitbit/MyFitnessPal I've earnt an additional 1100 calories today from my 12k run this morning
I've loved the programme and have kept up with running since I graduated at the start of August. I'm just about to head out for a long weekend run, which I am still amazed that is what I want to spend Saturday morning doing
I found that starting the running did mean my weight loss stopped for a few weeks, although i could tell i was losing fat as my clothes were getting looser. I kept going with running and suddenly the scale caught up and I lost about 3kg over a couple of weeks! So don't worry if it seems like you stall on the weight loss - you will be probably be making progress even if the scale doesn't show it!
Thanks for the encouragement guys. Really looking forward to my next run. When I used to run years ago I found it was brilliant for de-stressing, now though I have family commitments so I'm thinking my running time might be better early mornings before work, what do others do?
Well done I'm just getting back into running as I was out due to calf/shin injury. As its very hilly where I live, I'm back on the treadmill at the moment.
I'm quite lucky where I live as we have Sustrans routes everywhere. In fact there is a dis-used railway line now converted to a cycleway/walkway which wends its way into countryside and across a river in one direction and leads to an extensive canal tow path system in the opposite direction (running through the city centre where I work).
This is perfect for me as loads of joggers, cyclists and dog walkers use it every day with the added bonus (for now at least) that it's relatively flat (ish).
2lb of muscle in 9 weeks is more than realistic especially when you consider that the majority of the participants on C25K are/were none runners hence the reason for doing it in the first place.
I started couch to 5k 3 weeks ago and havnt finished week 2, its great but i missed a couple of runs and its now turned into 2 weeks!!! Help I need motivation I really thought I could stick with this!!!
Hi nifty50, if it were me, I'd start at week 1 again and forget I didn't get to complete week 2.
I've just been out on day 2 of week one and it feels a little more comfortable already. Just remember the feeling of accomplishment after that first run.
Hi Bikerjohn I did consider this but went out and completed week 2, oh and bought new trainers instead of using aerobic shoes so no stopping me now. thanks for positive feedback.
Hi there I was the same I got stuck on week four as I was too I’ll. it now I’m on week 7 and have jogged for 25 mins. Non stop. The feeling of elation and self satisfaction is unbelievable. We all have to start from somwhere and my story will continue with jogging as it just gives me so much more energy, and this is from a person who has three slipped disks. X
Gaining 10lbs of muscle is hard, but 10lbs of muscle is massively different from 2lbs, the two figures are worlds apart.
I can guarantee I did not eat anything extra when I did the C25K program because I log all my food, yet I gained 3 pounds in weight during the program. If you visit the C25K community you'll find dozens of new runners with similar stories, it is a topic that is regularly posted over there.
Running being a cardiovascular exercise has nothing to do with it. Like I said nearly everyone doing C25K are new runners, and they are stressing muscles through exercise, in a lot of cases stressing those muscles to points they've never been stressed to before and because of the way the program is structured they are then resting those muscles regularly between runs. It's then more than feasible to see muscle mass and tone improvements.
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Couch to 5k
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Couch 2 5K
Couch to 5K
