Ariel Detonation

Congrats on finishing!! I've been doing a bit if research on increasing speed and most of what I've read suggests that the best way to increase speed for newer runners is to increase the distances that you run at a steady pace. That way you can push a bit harder on the shorter distance for a race. The runner's world website is great for tips and tricks

Thanks Tara! I've not updated in a bit, but I have been sticking to the running! I have completed Week 6, and I finally smashed my first goal of a sub-40 5k today! I took one walking break of about 1-2 minutes at 2.5k, running the rest of the way and finished in 38:53! The next goal is to complete it in 37 minutes (an average pace of ~12min/mile). The plan of attack for next week's 5k is to take the short walking break at 3.5k. Onto week 7 starting Monday, it just amazes me to no end that I have made it through 6 weeks of training and there are only 2 weeks left to "graduation"!

What an amazing story! I love reading success stories, and your's is awesome, thank you so much for sharing! I have 2 weeks left to go on the C25K app, and I'm considering continuing on to the 10k app once I've "graduated". I've gone from a massive dislike of running to really enjoying it and looking forward to my next run.

I just finished week 5, and I did my weekly 5k (which is normally done with the intervals for the week I just finished) today. I ran the entire 5k with no walking breaks!! The last 1k wasn't fast and the last 500m weren't pretty, but I did it!! 42 minutes and 5 seconds of nonstop running! Crossing that finish line today was the most amazing feeling, knowing that I did it all, I actually ran a 5k.

Sooo.... I did it!!! 20 minutes running, without walking! We would have kept going, except we got a bit lost and needed to check the GPS to see how to get back to where we started lol. That felt absolutely amazing, if you would have told me 6 weeks ago that I would be running for 20 minutes straight there is no way that I would have believed you! The stats from strava were inspiring too, we did 1k in 5:55 and 1 mile in 10:05! My weekly 5k is tomorrow morning, and the 2 friends that I ran with today are coming with me, as well as my 2 older kids and boyfriend. Bring on that sub-40 time!!

Gah!!! 20 minutes non-stop?!?! I'm over 1/2 way through the C25K program, and I can't actually believe that I made it this far!! When I started out I was covering 2.0 - 2.1 miles on a flat field in the half hour sessions, now I'm covering 2.6 miles including hill running. For today's run (I never thought I would make it to W5D3!) I have enlisted some of my friends to come out with me this evening. We are going to do a nice long warm-up with some intervals thrown in up a steep 1/2 mile path up a large hill, taking a few minutes to take in the gorgeous 360 degree views, then starting the 20 minute run down the gentle sloping path on the other side and then around a slightly hilly path at the bottom. Wish me luck, I'll report back when I finish!

Anything is possible! Just remember, any day that you get out there, you are lapping everyone that's sat on the couch! Keep it up, its surprising how quickly the weeks go by, and how much you are capable of.

Welcome! Modern technology is a fantastic enabler for getting and keeping fit. I love Strava for tracking my running (and I think that it might sync with fitbit, not too sure as I run it as a GPS tracker on my runs). Best of luck, you got this!!!

Getting your metabolism going, and keeping it steady throughout the day will help. Try to eat breakfast within half an hour of waking up, and try eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day instead of 3 large meals. Also tracking what you eat is a big help, I use MyFitnessPal, and found it extremely helpful.

That's fantastic!!! Way to go you!! I'm just starting Week 5 today, and you sir, are my inspiration!

So I didn't get my sub-40 time, but I did smash my personal best by 1:47 (and my first time by 4:50)!! I ran intervals of 4 minutes with walking for 1 minute 45 seconds, and ran the 300 metres or so which should have been a walk, but the end was so close I just continued running. The official time was 40:45 Next week I'll be repeating Week 4 on my hill run until I can complete the first 5 minute interval (the uphill bit) before moving onto Week 5. Although, I think that Week 5 Day 3 is going to be ran in my little flat field lol!

Congrats on completing week 1!! Running is great for stress relief. Keep up the good work!

Today's W4D3 run was AMAZING! I am on such a buzz after it! I ran the woodland trail that I mapped out yesterday, and boy was that a steep incline on the way out. Strava (a running and cycling gps app that has amazing analytics) showed that it was a 6% incline! I only managed to run 4:30 of the first 5 minute interval, as it was on the steepest bit. However, on the way back down I was feeling awesome and when the voice prompt said 1 minute left, I figured I would just keep running until I couldn't. I managed to comfortably run the entire cool down plus a bit until I got back to my starting point!! That was an entire mile that I ran, non stop. I've decided to repeat week 4 on this hill route next week before moving on to week 5, but I gotta say, I love woodland running!! Tomorrow is the 5k parkrun, and again I'm aiming for a sub-40 time

Awesome! Welcome to the forums, keep at it and keep us posted on your progress

So, W4D2 was yesterday and because I had an ill kid home from school I couldn't go out to the forest to run as I had planned. So instead, it was a crap run (literally), I started running in my little field, but they had started to muck the bottom end with pig manure, so I ended up running through it (it was dried, so not as gross as it sounds). I grew up on a pig farm, so it didn't really bother me all that much until the tractor came into the field to spread more half way through my run. I didn't really feel like a crap shower, so I ran my short little legs off to find the gap in the hedge to escape lol! I didn't want to give up half way through, so even though my knees don't agree with road running, I gave it a go until I got to a grassed area in the village, completed my run on that, and walked back on the sidewalk for my cool down. Today, a couple of friends and I met up with our dogs to do the 7.5k hill hike that I did last week, and we had a blast! I've also mapped out a section of the hike that's about 2k and on a slight incline to run an out and back route for W4D3 tomorrow.