Couch to 5K (Sorry - LONG)

Yall, there is something wrong with my brain. When I met with the fitness director at my gym, we talked about walking, jogging, running. I had not actually jogged or run in YEARS. Even when I worked out a lot, I was not a runner. And I had not done any regular exercise in years either. He randomly tossed out that I might be able to run a 5K after two years. So this is where my brain comes in. He says, "Two years." My brain says, "Oh yeah? Two years, my butt. It won't take ME two years!" He wasn't challenging me, he was just kindly providing information, and that was his best guess at the time it would take me to get from zero to 5K. But my brain turned it into some kind of challenge. Now mind you, he literally tossed this out randomly. We weren't even talking about running. He was more trying to give me an idea of the timeline I'd be looking at to get into decent shape, say, to run a 5K. I have never wanted to run any kind of race. Generally I'm not big on competition (OK except poker...). Exercise is a solitary indulgence for me. I didn't start working out recently to become a big athlete or anything. Just to be fit and healthy. But all of a sudden, I find myself wanting to challenge myself physically. The idea of running any kind of race has never entered my mind, because it was completely beyond my capabilities for most of my adult life. Sorry to be so long winded. All of this is to say, I have run across a pretty cool program called COUCH TO 5K. Has anybody posted about this here? I am bad about checking back beyond the first page of posts. Anyway it's a 5K training program where you alternate walking & jogging in bigger increments until you are up to 5K (about 3 miles) - it's a TWO MONTH schedule. It's online here. If that doesn't work you can click thru to it at coolrunning.com. I'm thinking about this & thought I'd share. I'll come back and let you know if/when I decide to embark on the training program. Anybody else already doing this? Chime in!

The C25K program is pretty good.  I did a similar program from "The Idiots Guide to Running".  The great thing about C25K is CoolRunning has some pretty active message boards, one of which is the "newbie Cafe" where you can compare notes on the program progess with other newbies. Good Luck.  The key is to stick with it.

Hi Tek, thanks for your reply. I will have to check out the message boards. I am pretty sure I'm going to take this on, but will not get going on it until after my wedding & honeymoon next month. It's great to know others have had good experience with it! Since my post, I've noticed that several other groups have "C25K" programs that vary in several ways, length of time, training philosophy, etc. But I know the Coolrunning program gets high marks. I'll be back to post all about it once I dig in! Kathy

Hey Kat, I love the coolrunning program! I have used it many times in the last 2 years. I was running the 5K in 32 min. and then I had to have hernia surgery. I have taken up long distance bike ridding at the present but have told myself when school starts back next week, I will start this program again. You can make it even more challenging by doing it on the treadmill at a high incline. Talk about burn.....but it feels so good. I even copied the program out on index cards with the exact times that I would be switching from walking to jogging. I know, I should be able to keep up with it in my head but somehow I get sidetracked. Could be because I'm blonde too I guess. Nah......I just get sidetracked.lol! enjoy the program! I'm going to check out the message board Tek spoke about. Sounds interesting. Later, Pam

Hi Pam, I have actually been working up to jogging on the treadmill, and I was listening to a training tape that said to set the incline at 1.5 to best mimic conditions found on average in running outside. So I have been doing that, and it DOES make a difference, even just that bit. I know what you mean about writing things out - sometimes I zone out and forget to watch my time or distance, and next thing I know I'm all off my plan to run .25/walk.25 or whatever. So far I can jog up to a half mile at a time, which is like a freaking miracle, let me tell you. It's fun, and I think I'll enjoy the challenge of preparing for something like a real race. However I'm going to wait to dig in until after my wedding & honeymoon next month. Got enough on my plate at the moment! Thanks for your reply. Maybe I'll see you on the coolrunning msgboards :-) Kathy

Hey Kat... Tomorrow is W9D3 for me... yup, the LAST day of C25K!!! whooo hooo! And coincidentally it happens to be my first 5K... I sure got lucky on that one. I really enjoyed the program... I can't say that running is a passion, but I do enjoy the post-run euphoria, AND the physique changes that have come with exercising and a solid, nutrative eating as a postie. I hope this 'race fever' that sooo many people refer to will hit me tomorrow! Good luck and let us know how you're doing! slowgal (refers to my running pace! lol)