Riverotter

the first 5 weeks seem to be about endurance, not speed. When you hit week 6, it seems they want you to pick up the pace. I started doing this the first week of June. It's been 12 weeks, and I haven't even finished week 6 yet! But I've done days 1 & 2 in week six and haven't had to repeat! First week since week 1 I haven't had to repeat a day! I've gotten my lazy butt out there 3 days a week. Now a couple of times I had to stop my run after a few minutes because of pain in my foot once and hip once, and one day it just seemed like I was just unable to do much, but those days were few. I've run a slow as I could. When I hear that "1 minute left" message, I try to pick up the pace and today (week 6, day 2) I tried to pick up the pace for most of my jog.

Took me two weeks to complete week 3. Took me 3 and 1/3 weeks to complete week 4. Took me two tries to do week five day 1, but did day 2 in just one try, and did day 3 in just 2 tries! Jogging 20 minutes straight, and for about a 1 and 1/5 mile straight is huge considering I could barely run 3 minutes straight at the beginning of summer!

Week four kicked my butt, but I did it! It took me three tries plus another day before I could complete the assignment, but I did it! Week five has been much easier so far. I did day one in two tries and day 2 in one try. This morning was Day, where I was supposed to run 20 straight minutes. I jogged 10 before I had to stop and walk 1 then jogged 4, walked 1.5 then jogged the remainder, so I jogged 17.5 out the 20 minutes, which I feel pretty good about. Signed up for a 5k two weeks from today. I know that unless I get some superhuman powers, I won't have finished C25K by then, but I know I can beat my baseline time I set back in late may of 39 minutes.

it took me 3 1/3 weeks to finish week 4 (walk 5, jog 3, walk 1.5, jog 5, etc), but I did it. Being able to do that second 5 minute jog was a killer. I also had to repeat week 3. It took me two tries to finish day 1 of week five, and I did day 2 in one try. Trying day 3 tomorrow. Stay with it! I knew after week 2 I probably wouldn't finish this in 8 weeks, and am now on more of a 13 week schedule.

I took your advice and did not worry about breathing through the nose. It seemed to help! Did 3/3, 5/5, 3/3 then ran 3/5 of the last "run" before I had to walk for 30 seconds or so before jogging the last 85 seconds. Did not wheeze like had had been! I think I'm now on track to finish week 4 on Friday and start week 5 monday!

Had to call a mulligan on today's training. About a minute into the first 5 minute jog, I had to come to a complete stop for reasons out of my control and could not start running again until about a minute later. I do need to work on breathing. I'm literally wheezing when I have to stop during the second five minute jog interval. As I said before, I had childhood asthma, but haven't had an episode since I was 6, 42 years ago. As far as repeating days and weeks being "normal," I don't buy that. If that were true, then wouldn't this program have been adjusted? Wouldn't it have been made into a 10 week program or the days in each week be steps up, not the same? For example, week four day one is jog 3, walk 90 seconds, jog 4 walk, jog 3 walk, jog 4, then day 2 is run in intervals of 3, 5, 3 and 4 then the final day be the 3 5 3 5 day? After my first attempt at week three, I knew there was no way I could do this in 8 weeks. I started this in the first week of June and have trained 3 days a week since then. My goal is to run a 5k on labor day. That puts me on a 13-14 week schedule, which given my repeat of week 3 and third attempt at week 4, seems to be a reasonable goal. I'm proud of the progress I've made so far and will keep running. I just don't think the 8 week goal was realistic for a person my age and level of inactivity prior to starting.

finally managed to run 5 minutes straight! I did it on day 4 of week four. jogged, slowly, for both 3 minute intervals and five minutes for the first five minute interval. For the second 5 minute interval, I only lasted 90 seconds before I had to walk for a minute then jog again, walk then jog the last minute. Day 5 of week 4 was a carbon copy of Day 4. Day 6 I managed to jog about 2 minutes the last interval before having to walk. Tomorrow I'll be starting the week 4 training for the third straight week. If I was jogging any slower, I'd be walking. I run on a flat surface and am never sore. I try to breathe in through the nose and take deep breaths, pushing my diaphragm down and exhaling through the mouth. After repeating week 3, I thought I'd have to repeat week four, but having to repeat it twice is rather discouraging. I'm not even close to jogging 5 minutes twice in one session ,but I'm going to keep at it. Still accepting advice. Again, I'm never sore; I just get very winded.

did day 3 of week 4 today. jogged 3/3 minutes then 2 min 40 seconds/ 5 before I had to walk a bit. Then 2 forty again/3 then about 2 30/5 before I had to walk. Not even close to running 5 minutes non-stop. Ugh I knew week 4 would be a struggle and I'd may have to repeat and I am. I started C25K 5 weeks ago, and I'm going to stick with it, (heck, I'm even going to run in New Orleans on Wed when I'll be there for a visit and be surrounded by delicious food, a lot of it fried, and many delicious libations! My goal now is to run a 5K on labor day which is 8 weeks away. I hope I can finish this program by then. That would put me on a 13 week schedule to finish this. Hate that I have to lower the bar so much though. Fingers crossed that week 4 is the last week I'll have to repeat. BTW, I'm never sore. Does that mean I'm not pushing myself or that it's more of me getting winded. I had childhood asthma, but haven't had a problem in 42 years.

"you want to make sure your legs are in such a position that your foot lands directly over your toes." What the heck does that mean?

thanks!

If I go to the forum page on the app, I'm stuck there. I can't get back. A couple of times I accidentally clicked on it while I was training. I had to stop, turn the phone completely off, and reopen the app. How do you get out of the forums and back to the home page?

I run in the mornings. I live in the deep south, so in the summer, the heat index is in the high 90s by 10 am and triple digits by noon. I wake up between 5:30 -6:15. Have a banana, drink some coffee then start hydrating. I have a tablespoon of honey and some salt prior to leaving the house or training. drink a sugar free sports drink (Vitamin Water Zero) during my run and continue to hydrate afterwards. I don't run. I jog and not a fast jog. I try to breathe in through the nose and exhale through the mouth and breath with the diaphram. I'm not tired prior to or after my runs. I may be winded when I get through with my final run, but not tired. Again, I'm 48, 6'0 and 190 and was not in shape when I started, so I realize I may not the poster child for doing this n 8 weeks. I'm going to stick with it and hopefully week 4 will be the last week I have to repeat. I'm already a week behind schedule and it doesn't seem like I'll be able to finish week 4 in 3 days. Again, I realize this is not typical as I'm probably older and more out of shape than the average person who does this. I'm going to stick with it. Just looking for tips on how to get through a these weeks without repeating them. Don't want to be the kid who has to repeat a grade!

I finally finished week 3 after two weeks. Started week 4 and didn't come close, so now it looks like I'm on track to repeat week 4 like I did week 3. I listen to music and don't check the time when I run. I only check the time after I stop running to see how much I fell short of the set goal. . I'm looking at at least 10 weeks to finish this if not 13 weeks. I have yet to miss a day. I go out 3 times a week and have done so since i started. Now I'm 48 and weighed 190 when I started and was out of shape, so I'm obviously an outlier. If a lot of people couldn't do this in 8 weeks, I'm sure they'd have tweaked it or turned it into a 10 or 12 week program, and this is why I feel frustrated with how I'm struggling. I did weeks 1 and 2 with no problem, but week 3 hit me hard, and week 4 did not start off well. Yes, I have more stamina now, but I'm falling further and further behind the goal of finishing this in 8 weeks.

I don't run, I jog slowly. Today I jogged for both 90 second intervals and the first three minute interval then only did 2 minutes 10 seconds of the second 180 second interval, which is my best day yet. I don't eat much before I jog/walk. I have a banana, coffee, sports drink, and a tablespoon of honey and some salt. I sip on a sports drink while I walk. I usually go jogging an hour or 90 minutes after I wake up. Today was the only day I started to cramp. It was on the last jog. Going to try again Friday to finish week 3!

I had no problems with weeks 1 & 2, but week three is kicking my butt! I could not jog a full 3 minutes once in any of the three days of week 3, so I restarted today. I did finally jog 3 minutes, but it was downhill after that. I couldn't even do the 90 second jog, and couldn't do even 2 minutes of the second 3 minute jog. I'm going to try again Wednesday. Any tips on how to increase my stamina and get closer to week 4? I'm no closer now than last monday!