Ariel Detonation

Great work on starting C25K! To help with the swelling try RICEing your knee R- rest, I- ice, C- compression, E- elevation. For my bad knee I take an antiinflammatory, like ibuprofen or aleve, ice it for about 20 minutes, put on a compression bandage and prop my foot on the back of the couch while watching TV. Something like that should help ease the swelling until you can see you doctor. As for walking the app, I would think that walking at a nice brisk pace so that you're slightly out of breathe on the running intervals and easing to a leisurely pace for the walking intervals would be a great start! Keep it up! You got this!

Hey KellyAnn! I live in England, in beautiful rural Cheshire. Although, I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. Beach running sounds amazing, I might have to head out to one of the beaches nearby to try it out. I ran W3D2 this morning, and the 3 minutes intervals were a lot easier mentally this time around. I wasn't telling myself constantly "just up to that next tree/pole/turn". It probably helped that there were butterflies everywhere so it was a really serene morning run!

Thanks, Trish! I completed W3D1 this morning, and the 3 minutes were totally doable (at a slow pace lol). Running on sidewalks has really had an effect on both my knees, so I've kept to running off road in a field with a public footpath near my house. I like my little field (it's about 0.8k per lap), but I'm now on the lookout for new places to run off road. I've found a 7.5k countryside route that goes up to an iron age lookout, I'll be doing that on Thursday (my rest day) but as a hike with my dog instead of a run. I've also found out about a 55k walking path that starts a couple of villages up from mine that I'm going to have a go at different sections over the upcoming weeks. I've fallen in love with running outdoors, and as an added bonus, my tan's coming along nicely

That's fantastic! I just finished W3D1 this morning. I kept quite a slow pace as my left knee was niggling, but completed all the intervals without needing to walk! With only 4 sets of running it seemed to go by a lot quicker too Keep up the great work!

So I started this running malarkey when a friend introduced me to parkrun, and a local weekly, free 5k run. I showed up with zero training, and managed to do it in 45:32! I figured I better start actually training as the rush of crossing that finish line was amazing (even if I was dead last!) Week 1 went well and at the end I ran the 5k again and my time was 42:02, 3 1/2 minutes quicker! On Friday, I finished week 2, albeit with some inner knee pain on my left knee, but its not been too bad. I can still move it and run relatively pain-free. Yesterday, I completed my 3rd 5k parkrun with a time of 42:24, I didn't beat my previous time, but it has been raining heavily on the days leading up to it, so I dodged puddles a majority of the run so I think that added some time on. I used an interval timer and set it for 90 seconds running and 120 seconds walking as week 2 had me do, but the last set when my timer dinged for the walking interval I could see the finish, so kept running and finished right as the timer dinged for the next set. Meaning I ran a full 3 1/2 minutes... Week 3 is not looking so scary anymore What started out as me never being a runner and hating any length of running, has turned into something I really look forward to doing. So much so that I'm disappointed that tomorrow is a rest day hahaha

Awesome work completing Week 2! It helps me each time I do a longer interval to slow my pace right down the first time I do it, that way I'm pretty sure that I'll complete it. Once I've finished the first longer run I can gauge how much more I can push my pace for the next one (if I can push my pace, sometimes its a slow jog again lol). You got this!

Week 2 completed!! My knee was feeling significantly better today, so I put on a knee support and went out to the field to run my sets. Since it was still niggling a bit I did take it easy with the pace. It started twinging again on my way home (I have to climb over a gate to get out of the field and that set it off). I RICEd it as soon as I got in and its felt better since. Tomorrow is the weekly park run 5k. I've set up my interval timer for 90 second and 120 second intervals and I'm aiming for a sub-40 minute time since I didn't meet that target last time.

Awesome work! I've just finished Week 2 Day 3, and I found that the 90 second intervals get easier each day. Keep up the great work!

Yesterday I completed W2D2, it was a toughie as it was very windy and I was running uphill and into the wind for my last 2 sets, but I did it! As it had rained hard through the night, I decided not to run in the field by my house, but to go through the village I live in. After the run my left knee was acting up (an old injury that plays up every now and again) and it think that was because I was running on pavement instead of grass and dirt paths. In the evening I joined my friends for Bridge Club, but was only able to complete 1/2 of the sets before my knee was really hurting. I sat out the rest while everyone else finished, and when I got home I RICEd my knee (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation). Its eased up a bit this morning, but I'll continue to RICE it today and tomorrow (my rest days) and hopefully it'll be better by Friday.

I wear leggings a lot which don't have pockets so everything gets popped into my bra. My boyfriend coined the term brocket because he thinks its hilarious, and I've just kept using it

If you scroll the bar so that week 1 day 2 is in the centre you should be able to press on it for a second or two and it should check it off. As for MFP, I haven't synced the two up, so I'm afraid I can't help.

I'm also a mum of 3 (2 biological) and I have PCOS, too. Over the past couple of years I have lost about 5 stone (70 lbs), although I still have another 50-60 lbs to go. As far as kick starting your metabolism, eating breakfast and have 5-6 smaller meals a day instead of 3 large meals will help attain a more even metabolism level opposed to peaks and troughs. I don't calorie count but I try to make sure that the amount of carbs in grams I have in a day approximately equal to the amount of protein+fibre in grams a day. Go for complex carbs as much as you can, too, things like brown pasta and rice, granary bread etc. This helps with the insulin resistance part of PCOS. About an hour before I exercise (running, roller derby, or circuit training) I try to eat some complex carbs (usually 1-2 slices of granary toast with some peanut butter and sunflower seeds) for energy during my exercise. I then follow up the exercise with some protein to help build muscles, something like a hard boiled egg, a chunk of cheese or some chicken breast chunks. (Disclaimer: this is just what I do, and not medical advice lol) Hope this helps, give me a shout if you want

You got out there, and that's awesome!! Just keep at it and you'll smash those 60 second intervals in no time

Wowza! That's amazing, go you!!!

So I was running this morning, listening to my music on shuffle on my phone and Cottoneye Joe came on. The tempo matched my pace perfectly and it made that part of my run feel amazing! Obviously, when I got home I googled the BPM of the song (132 BPM) and have now made a playlist made up of 132 BPM songs to go running with tomorrow. I can't wait!!

I use MapMyFitness, although on my iPhone 4s its not the most accurate for distances... I'm getting a Motorola Moto E 2nd Gen later this week, so I'm hoping its more accurate.

Today I ran Week1 Day2 and it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. My first set of intervals I started at a slow jogging pace, and found that I could push to a run for the following intervals! MapMyFitness says that I did 4.4k. As a bonus yesterday, at Roller Derby I go a PB on my laps - 27 3/4 laps in 5 minutes! My next goal is 28 laps. I'm loving the fitness that is coming from running and am actually starting to enjoy running and look forward to going out each morning

Wow! That's some inspiration! I love the bit where even if you've had a bad workout, you're able to look at the stats, see your improvement and count it as a victory. Gotta love technology, I've just ordered a new phone because mine struggles to run the apps that I want while running. I'm on the side where I can't look at the time left, otherwise I focus on counting down, instead of my breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. Keep up the awesome work!

Awesome job! Keep it up! I keep my phone in my brocket (bra "pocket" lol) so I'm not tempted to look... Although I've only just finished week 1, so I don't know how tempting it'll be to sneak a peek at the longer intervals :/

Today was my 2nd 5k park run, and while I didn't hit my sub-40 minute goal, I did shave off 3 minutes and 30 seconds from last week for a finish time of 42:02! I used an interval timer to match the intervals from Week 1, the beginning was really easy and I was actually running, but the last ~1k my feet were feeling tingley and I was feeling tired. I did manage to jog each of my high intensity intervals, but it was a slow pace. I just kept repeating my mantra of "keep it up to be a better jammer". I think that my phone's GPS is acting up... MapMyWalk seems to think that I did 6.78k :/ I'm hopefully getting a new phone this week and fingers crossed it'll be a bit more accurate Tomorrow is 3 hours of Roller Derby training and Monday I'll be onto Week 2!

Awesome job! My next run is going to be W2D1, and I'm a bit apprehensive, but I'm just going to go for it It's nice to know that someone else has completed it!

I love playing roller derby, its the first sport that I have ever felt at home playing! To be fair, its the first time I've ever been done anything active since high school some 15 years ago! Today I completed W1D3, I found it more difficult than the first two days, but I managed 4.5k again! Tomorrow I'll be doing my next park run 5k and am hoping to complete it in sub-40 minutes this time. I'll post up tomorrow with my results

Hey everyone! I have just started running to help improve my endurance for roller derby, and thought I would use this post as somewhere to record my progress, as well as keeping me accountable. After a friend told me about a local park run, I "ran" my first 5k on Saturday (with zero training - what was I thinking?) and finished it in 45:32. It was such an amazing feeling to cross the finish line that I knew had to start training to actually run an entire 5k. When I got home I started looking for couch to 5k training apps, and this is the one that looked best for my needs. On Monday morning I did W1D1 light jogging in a field next to my house, and according to map my walk I did 3.5k in 31 minutes. Yesterday (Tuesday) morning I did W1D2 I ramped it up to running for the 60 second intervals and managed to cover 4.5k! in the 31 minutes. In the evening I joined a few of my friends for my second session of "Bridge Club" which is circuit training over a foot bridge with steps and ramps that crosses a dual carriageway. I only walked a small portion of one circuit and ran/jogged the rest (a massive improvement on my first session). Today and tomorrow are my rest days, Friday I'll be doing W1D3 and on Saturday I'll be doing the park run 5k again with an interval timer set to 60 seconds run/jog and 90 seconds walk to echo Week 1 C25K. I'll be posting my progress on this thread as it happens