I finished C25k on April 7 this year! I was completely unfit, as in I'd walk a far bit but hardly do anything to get my heart rate up except for running around in short bursts with the dogs. And that was a tad uncomfortable!
My rationale for taking up running was I needed to get active and lose weight and I wanted to look after my cardiovascular health. I'm not a sporty person, I'm uncoordinated, a little self-conscious and I'm just not the best team player.
So I needed something I could do that was challenging and allowed me a bit of solitude whilst I was discovering what I could/could not do.
Absolutely the best thing I've ever done. The first week was 1 minute runs, followed by 90 seconds of brisk walking. It was soooo difficult for me, but it was still attainable, so despite the huffing and puffing I felt so motivated to keep going and so excited when I had finish. For me, every week followed on perfectly even when I thought I'd struggle big time, I pulled through in the end. A lot of it is mental.
My one 'stumbling block' if you could call it that was the week that you did 5 minutes run for the first time and I was starting to feel sick and run down. The first day I attempted it, I completed it but it felt absolutely crappy, so I toyed with the idea of waiting a few days and returning to the previous week. In the end I just made that week last a bit longer after I had recovered from my head cold (sorry I'm a sook - I won't do anything more than walk when I feel crappy) and I was good to go.
The twenty minute run at week 5 was my personal highlight - it made me so proud to think that only a few week prior I was struggling to run for 1 minute! The program does work, for sure.
Take it as slow as you need to build up your endurance, listen to your body and don't be afraid to extend/repeat a week or take an extra day off. I think this is important when you are building this into a routine if you've never run before.
I find that once you get up to the longer sustained runs (I talk in five ks right now, not half-marathons), the hardest bit is the first 10 minutes because I start questioning myself as to why I'm running. I could be home doing a million others things and do I really want to put myself through this again?? Once I get over that little mind game, I feel strong and capable.
I personally run in the morning, but I am the type of person that will get up at 4 am, eat breakfast, hit the gym and the streets for a run and then walk the dogs (I usually reverse this order is summer, because at least the gym is air conditioned lol) I will run in the evenings if my schedule requires it, but I just feel better personally if I do a morning workout.
I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread, but I'd also like to ask a couple of running questions to those with much more experience than me.
Do you ever take a week off running? I'm experiencing a really full on week of uni (everything under the sun is due NOW) and I'm trying to figure out what to do with my exercise schedule this week.
I have just started doing Bridge to 10k (finished Week 1 last week - so weird going back to intervals!!) and I've been adding in another 5k run during the week.
I'm thinking of just going to the gym 2 or 3 times and doing my strength training, plus tagging on an interval session on the treadmill to save some time this week. I feel awful because I'd much rather be out there running. I'm also running on empty though - lack of sleep is not doing me any good and I'm just not feeling very energised. Is it ok to take it easy for a week? I feel so slack.
Also, is four days running too much at this stage? I've been very lucky and haven't sustained any injuries since starting up running and I have no pre-existing ones either. I'm worried in the excitement of this new-found love, I'll start to go overboard lol.
Edit - I used the Get Running (sorry not Runkeeper) app on my Ipod which allows you to play your own music if you want, but I have been starting to not play music depending on what takes my fancy in a particular session.
Edit - sorry, another highlight that made me feel much fitter was when I ran from my neighbour's house to mine in a short burst to give them their mail that I was collecting. Obviously it wasn't far, BUT I didn't huff or puff and I didn't raise a sweat lol. Previously that would've just exhausted me, that's how unfit I was.
