Couch to 5K

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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Anyone who's at CSU or who lives in Fort Collins planning on doing the Fast and the Furriest 5K sponsored by the vet school?
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thedogisgreen said:
Thoughts? :confused:
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Just do it. :p Seriously, it's so easy to make excuses (I'm pro at them) but you've still got three weeks. And think how much easier it'll be to get back into it once you move, rather than starting from scratch. Besides, who says you won't necessarily have time? Sure it might be hit and miss, but you might be able to grab a run here and there. I'm horrible for telling myself "Things are too crazy now, I'll just wait until x is over." And then x comes and goes, and there's y. Then there's z. So if you want to do it, get out and do it. :)
 
I agree with Coquette! I am also a queen of excuses. I find having a set schedule down really does help me stick with it. Right now I am kind of hectic with my running schedule and it is keeping me from being motivated. (As those can see on the running board)

You will be surprised to see how easy it is to fin about 30 min, especially if you do it in the morning right before showering. Plus, even if you are traveling, it is a great activity that you can do anywhere. I have run numerous times around the same block in a new area just so I wouldn't get lost. I also ran up and down the street at a friend's house to avoid getting lost (I have NO sense of direction).
 
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Packen said:
I agree with Coquette! I am also a queen of excuses.
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Man, I wish I were smart like you guys. My excuse usually consists of "eh... it's so hard to get up from the couch/computer." At least you guys find valid things to do. :)

Even my dog knows I'm lazy. I was sitting at my computer last night and she walked quietly up behind me, stuck her nose between the armrest and the back of the chair, and chomped on my side. And then stood there and looked at me with her head cocked to the side. Jerk.

Anyway, Week 3 Day 2 complete. Stilllllll going (slowly)!
 
Bleh, I've just been trying to SURVIVE the past few weeks. Taking 19 credits my second semester senior year sucks but such is the life of an UG transfer student. Anyways, after only getting 3-5 hrs of sleep for the past few nights despite my best efforts to get my work done as quickly as possible...there is just too much of it. I'm kinda nervous about the credit load in vet school because of my experience the past few weeks...but I keep promising myself that this summer I will start really good running habits that I won't even be able to reconsider in vet school. Yay.
 
Finished Week 2 today! I also got out of class a little early so I had a lot of time to lift weights, use the machines, etc. before I had to move along to my next class, so I got a good workout in today!

I've really settled myself into a nice routine. I've got about 1.5 hour break in between classes on MWF that my C25K run and some weight lifting and stuff fit into super nicely. It's great because I'm on campus anyway so I don't really make excuses. I'm just like well...I might as well, I'm already here! As opposed to waiting until after class and really wanting to go home more than I want to go to the gym.

I'm super excited for next week! After Week 2 the runs really start to progress and I feel like they go by a lot faster than the first couple of weeks when there's so much stop-start-stop-start crap.
 
Hey guys,

Just popping over to say hi from the allopathic board. I was wondering if you guys had any website recommendations regarding running form? I just started the C25K program and it's surprisingly hard. I'm not even close to being a gym warrior, but I go to Spin at least 2X/wk and usually swim 5 miles at least once a week, so I'm not sure why I'm dying on week 1 day 1 lol. Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Or it could easily be that running is just that much harder than spin or swimming, but I alway though the three were supposed to be around an equal amount of cardio.

Thanks!
 
Zarika said:
Hey guys,

Just popping over to say hi from the allopathic board. I was wondering if you guys had any website recommendations regarding running form? I just started the C25K program and it's surprisingly hard. I'm not even close to being a gym warrior, but I go to Spin at least 2X/wk and usually swim 5 miles at least once a week, so I'm not sure why I'm dying on week 1 day 1 lol. Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Or it could easily be that running is just that much harder than spin or swimming, but I alway though the three were supposed to be around an equal amount of cardio.

Thanks!
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drunk-doc1.jpg
 
Zarika said:
Hey guys,

Just popping over to say hi from the allopathic board. I was wondering if you guys had any website recommendations regarding running form? I just started the C25K program and it's surprisingly hard. I'm not even close to being a gym warrior, but I go to Spin at least 2X/wk and usually swim 5 miles at least once a week, so I'm not sure why I'm dying on week 1 day 1 lol. Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Or it could easily be that running is just that much harder than spin or swimming, but I alway though the three were supposed to be around an equal amount of cardio.

Thanks!
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I have found that running is ALWAYS the hardest for me to do (even when i was fit). Don't be discouraged - just keep going and you'll find that your body will catch up to you!
 
Finished Week 2! This week could be challenging, because I'll be at Dad's house in the middle of nowhere for part of the week. There's no good place to run, no sidewalks, no nice neat loops, so I'll basically be stuck running up one side of the road and turning around and coming back again. Hopefully it'll just be one day though (Wednesday).
 
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Zarika said:
Hey guys,

Just popping over to say hi from the allopathic board. I was wondering if you guys had any website recommendations regarding running form? I just started the C25K program and it's surprisingly hard. I'm not even close to being a gym warrior, but I go to Spin at least 2X/wk and usually swim 5 miles at least once a week, so I'm not sure why I'm dying on week 1 day 1 lol. Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Or it could easily be that running is just that much harder than spin or swimming, but I alway though the three were supposed to be around an equal amount of cardio.

Thanks!
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I grew up swimming competitively and running track. Even when I was in shape for one sport, switching to another was hard! There are just certain muscles and movements that are used differently in different sports. It definitely helps that you're athletic. There's probably nothing wrong with your form, its just that you're not used to running. Id take it slowly, act as if you don't do another sport. Doing 2-3 days/wk of running you should start to feel better after a couple of weeks.

I'm training for running races and a tri right now. I'm no where near ready for the swim, my arms feel like jello and I run at least 3-4 days and bike 1 day per week.

A little off topic: are you really swimming 5 miles once a week?? That is an insane amount of swimming!
 
laitmanvet said:
I grew up swimming competitively and running track. Even when I was in shape for one sport, switching to another was hard! There are just certain muscles and movements that are used differently in different sports. It definitely helps that you're athletic. There's probably nothing wrong with your form, its just that you're not used to running. Id take it slowly, act as if you don't do another sport. Doing 2-3 days/wk of running you should start to feel better after a couple of weeks.

I'm training for running races and a tri right now. I'm no where near ready for the swim, my arms feel like jello and I run at least 3-4 days and bike 1 day per week.

A little off topic: are you really swimming 5 miles once a week?? That is an insane amount of swimming!
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Thanks for the advice! To graduate my high school you had to either run or swim a 5K. I obviously can't run, so I swam. Then I just kept building from there in college. But, I don't really think it's that's much. Lots of ppl run 7 or 8 miles 3X/wk, I just swim 5 miles once per week lol. I really should do it more, I just can't make myself. The pool at the gym is small, so it gets really boring to do so many laps.
 
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Just Google "running form." In general though, you want to remain pretty upright and have your hips and shoulders in line. For me, this is conformationally prohibitive as I'm built kind of funny and physically can't run like that. But just try to keep your shoulders relaxed and back so that your chest is open. Don't let your shoulders creep up towards your ears, and if you find this happening, give your arms a few shakes to loosen up. Your arms should be bent at 90 degree angles and move forward and backward, not crossing your chest. Hold your hands in very light fists, not clenched but gently like you're trying to hold a potato chip in each hand without crushing it. Keep your head up and eyes looking forward in order to keep your trachea open for air to pass through. Your feet should strike the ground about the middle of your shoe, and the goal is quick turnover of your strides.
 
<<<<< now this thread is right up my ally!

I ran in college. I am qualified for nationals a few times and am an All-American. I freakin love running!!!! good for all of you trying the c25k! you can do it! I raced an 8k today in chicago. . . didnt go too well. I run everyday, but also work on a dairy farm and the work load has increased infinitely since the snow has melted here in wi. been running on tired legs everyday since im on my feet for up to 12 hours, but i still get 'er done. i love competing and hate hate hate getting back in shape so i never take extended time off from running, even during the winter.

so happy running every! -brooks
 
Got back into it after a 2 week hiatus. W1D3 done. I gotta force myself to a schedule no matter what!
 
EllieGirl89 said:
Just Google "running form." In general though, you want to remain pretty upright and have your hips and shoulders in line. For me, this is conformationally prohibitive as I'm built kind of funny and physically can't run like that. But just try to keep your shoulders relaxed and back so that your chest is open. Don't let your shoulders creep up towards your ears, and if you find this happening, give your arms a few shakes to loosen up. Your arms should be bent at 90 degree angles and move forward and backward, not crossing your chest. Hold your hands in very light fists, not clenched but gently like you're trying to hold a potato chip in each hand without crushing it. Keep your head up and eyes looking forward in order to keep your trachea open for air to pass through. Your feet should strike the ground about the middle of your shoe, and the goal is quick turnover of your strides.
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Ellie:

Couple clarifications, if you please? I'm not following two things (undoubtedly my fault, but if you don't mind indulging me....):

Hips and shoulders in line ... how? Vertically? Perpendicular to the direction of travel?

What do you mean by "quick turnover of your strides"?

On another note.... Week 3, Day 3 complete. Rawr. I think I can almost outrun my first-grade teacher now, the old battle axe.
 
What do you mean by "quick turnover of your strides"?
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I think you're supposed to go for 160-180 strides/min. Maybe I've heard that somewhere? That might specifically be for the longer distance runs, though. Or maybe it's a standard to aspire to.

Note: stride = footfall. So count all the times your left foot hits for 15 seconds and multiply by 8. For example.

And for the greater good: If you're running a hilly race, hill train and don't be disappointed when you go slower than you thought you should. Hilly marathon yesterday taught me a lesson yessir.
 
This thread is inspiring....

Back in my cross country running days I thought nothing of a 10k run. This weekend the weather was pretty nice, so I figured I'd just run a few miles at a nice slow pace.

I *barely* made it around the block! :(
Yikes!
 
Well, the rotation schedule and sickness thwarted me last week. I hope this week will be better. I plan on running today after school if I don't get out of there too late.
 
My dog and I did W1D3 Saturday, and just got back from doing W2D1 a little while ago. It felt great. The new shoes seem to be doing their job. No pain!

For anyone considering starting, do it!

I have had the most out of control semester of my life. I didn't feel like I would find time to add exercise to my overbooked schedule, but I am so glad I did. I finally have something that I can say I am doing 100% for myself. For once, there is no grade, no competition, no nagging. Just a nice half hour outside with my dog.
 
Hello, wagon. I'm getting back on.

w1d1 done - for the second time!
 
W3 done and did the first day of week four, which for some reason seemed the hardest. I was completely out of breath after running for five minutes straight. I might be staying at week four for a while.
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
W3 done and did the first day of week four, which for some reason seemed the hardest. I was completely out of breath after running for five minutes straight. I might be staying at week four for a while.
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Dammit, I start week 4 tomorrow. That wasn't what I wanted to hear. :) :)
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
W3 done and did the first day of week four, which for some reason seemed the hardest. I was completely out of breath after running for five minutes straight. I might be staying at week four for a while.
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Also consider slowing down your pace a bit. I did Week 3 Day 1 today and was a little more out of breath than usual. When I looked at my location after the three-minute run (I run on a 1/8 mile indoor track) I realized that I had been running about a 9 minute mile pace. My "natural" pace is about a 10-11 minute mile. It's pretty slow, but it's where I'm comfortable and that's what's most important when beginning this program. I slowed down for the second 3-minute segment and felt much better. Speed can come later, when you can run the 3 miles at a gentle pace without much difficulty.
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
W3 done and did the first day of week four, which for some reason seemed the hardest. I was completely out of breath after running for five minutes straight. I might be staying at week four for a while.
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Yeah, I looked at week 4's workouts and did this :eek:. It looks intimidating. I am doing wk4d1 tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.
 
First attempt to run outside this reason....not so good mileage wise, but it felt good to run outside! I have to get used to running outside again. I may do this workout 4 times this week to see if I can improve my mileage. It was 1.7 miles today, but on the treadmill I was easily doing at least 2 miles.

Trying for 2 miles next time:)
 
EllieGirl89 said:
Also consider slowing down your pace a bit. I did Week 3 Day 1 today and was a little more out of breath than usual.
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Thanks EllieGirl,

I was trying to keep the same pace of the running time, but am definitely going to slow it down for the five minute intervals. I mean I thought I was jogging slow, but maybe I was trotting too fast. :). Now I am going to do one of those western pleasure jogs like here ::D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6m3JcPcTDs
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
Thanks EllieGirl,

I was trying to keep the same pace of the running time, but am definitely going to slow it down for the five minute intervals. I mean I thought I was jogging slow, but maybe I was trotting too fast. :). Now I am going to do one of those western pleasure jogs like here ::D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6m3JcPcTDs
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Yes! Get yer nose down in the dirt a little ;-)
 
Niteangel said:
First attempt to run outside this reason....not so good mileage wise, but it felt good to run outside! I have to get used to running outside again. I may do this workout 4 times this week to see if I can improve my mileage. It was 1.7 miles today, but on the treadmill I was easily doing at least 2 miles.

Trying for 2 miles next time:)
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My pace on the treadmill is always faster than the road, it can be depressing after running on the treadmill all winter and then hitting the road!

Countdown to 5K: 6 weeks:eek:
 
When I looked at my location after the three-minute run (I run on a 1/8 mile indoor track) I realized that I had been running about a 9 minute mile pace. My "natural" pace is about a 10-11 minute mile. It's pretty slow, but it's where I'm comfortable and that's what's most important when beginning this program.
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For the record, running is one of the only places where you will be told to run slower than you feel like you should for an easy pace. I train around a 10-minute pace for my long runs, and my marathon race pace is about 9:30.

Packen said:
My pace on the treadmill is always faster than the road
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My pace on the treadmill is never faster than the road. Different strokes for different folks.
 
Niri said:
My pace on the treadmill is never faster than the road.
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Me too! It's one of the many reasons I HATE running on a treadmill. I thought of it this way-when I ran my first 5K I had a time of 32:57. Round that up to 33, divide it by 3.2 miles in 5K, and I was running a mile in about 10:19. That is about 5.8 miles per hour. If I set the treadmill to run that fast I'm DYING. I can't do it. I feel horribly out of breath and like I'm running a million miles an hour. My limit on the treadmill before I'm begging for mercy is about 4.5 mph, which is about a 13:20 mile. I don't know what's up with that, but personally, I'm far more efficient on the road.
 
Thanks again for the advice about slowing down!! The first day of the fourth week of C25K, I was running at a 5.5 mph pace and was struggling to get my breath. Today, I did the second day of week 4 at a running pace of 4.5 and it made a world of difference! I know that it is literally like jogging in place, but I actually enjoyed the fact that I didn't get out of breath!! Hopefully the speed will come once I build up the endurance.
 
Question for everyone: What, if anything, do you do to protect your eyes from the sun while running? I am really enjoying running in this gorgeous weather but I feel like I am squinting a lot so I would really like a way to protect my eyes and not create wrinkles:rolleyes: I have a feeling running with sunglasses on would drive me insane....
 
CarMelknl said:
Question for everyone: What, if anything, do you do to protect your eyes from the sun while running? I am really enjoying running in this gorgeous weather but I feel like I am squinting a lot so I would really like a way to protect my eyes and not create wrinkles:rolleyes: I have a feeling running with sunglasses on would drive me insane....
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My boyfriend wears Oakleys that are apparently really comfortable for running. He has two different pairs of lenses. One is dark and polarized for running during the day. The other set is light so that he can wear them during the final hours of light in a day/when it's kind of dark.
 
Looking forward to W2D2 tomorrow, although my ankle is acting a lil funny since the last run...think it's my tendonitis kicking in again. bleh.

Also, I looked at week 3 and it's freaking me out. How am I supposed to run for 3 minutes non-stop?!:confused::scared:
 
@ CarMelknl - I run with "foakleys" some knock off I picked up at TJMaxx. They work well enough for me that I don't even notice them.

WTG everyone!!
 
teatime said:
Looking forward to W2D2 tomorrow, although my ankle is acting a lil funny since the last run...think it's my tendonitis kicking in again. bleh.

Also, I looked at week 3 and it's freaking me out. How am I supposed to run for 3 minutes non-stop?!:confused::scared:
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You can do it! Just take it nice and slow and don't psych yourself out. In my experience, the majority of running is mental. If you start to get tired, don't think "Oh, God, I can't do this, I'm so tired, I'm going to have to stop." Instead, think "I can do this, I'm fine, I can breathe, not much longer, one more step," etc. Don't panic, and keep You'll be so surprised at what you're capable of!
 
EllieGirl89 said:
You can do it! Just take it nice and slow and don't psych yourself out. In my experience, the majority of running is mental. If you start to get tired, don't think "Oh, God, I can't do this, I'm so tired, I'm going to have to stop." Instead, think "I can do this, I'm fine, I can breathe, not much longer, one more step," etc. Don't panic, and keep You'll be so surprised at what you're capable of!
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That's what I'm doing now at the 90 second run mark, haha. It's kind of weird thinking about doubling that time overnight, but I guess you have to push yourself or you'll never get anywhere.
 
teatime said:
That's what I'm doing now at the 90 second run mark, haha. It's kind of weird thinking about doubling that time overnight, but I guess you have to push yourself or you'll never get anywhere.
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wk3d1 really sucked for me but by the end of the week it wasn't bad. When I ran for the 3 minutes in wk 4 it was no sweat! You can do it, you just have to push yourself. Remember, there is no shame in walking if you need to catch your breath. I think I walked for 10 seconds or so the first time I ran the 3 minutes.
 
teatime said:
I guess you have to push yourself or you'll never get anywhere.
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Yes. Fact.

When I was in my marathon this weekend, a nice 50yo guy paced me for a couple of miles (I know, right? And he beat me, too), and he was telling me that running is all about the amount of pain you are willing to endure. He said for him that the pain has varied depending on if he wanted to qualify for Boston or not, but this past weekend was a comfortable race.
 
Niri said:
Yes. Fact.

When I was in my marathon this weekend, a nice 50yo guy paced me for a couple of miles (I know, right? And he beat me, too), and he was telling me that running is all about the amount of pain you are willing to endure. He said for him that the pain has varied depending on if he wanted to qualify for Boston or not, but this past weekend was a comfortable race.
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:scared: ummm.... none? no pain? is that a viable option?
 
The dog and I did W2D2 this afternoon. The weather was absolutely perfect for it (cool, but not cold). I'm still in the bad habit of overdressing. Anyway, it was also nice to get my mind off of studying for just a little bit.

I have definitely mastered the super slow jog now. I think we only covered 2 miles in the 30 minute "run" (including the warmup/cool down). I did miss one of the cues to jog completely though (it must have happened as we were passing a lawn mower), so that may have been a factor.

Now I just have to figure out where my Friday run will fit in during my 8-hour drive. (That thought makes me feel like a runner :laugh:)
 
teatime said:
That's what I'm doing now at the 90 second run mark, haha. It's kind of weird thinking about doubling that time overnight, but I guess you have to push yourself or you'll never get anywhere.
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Don't think of it as doubling the time. It's doubling the time you'll run at once, but you're actually running LESS time than you did week 2. The first week you run 20 minutes of 1 minute running 1.5 minutes walking. That ends up being 8 total minutes of running. When you reverse that for week two, you run for 12 minutes. Week 3 you run two segments of 3 minutes but your total running time comes down to 9 minutes when you add in the two other segments of 1.5 minutes. You've probably done it already by the time you're reading it and done awesome!!
 
Oh, also, I did W3D2 today. Felt great, and I fit into a pair of pants that I thought I had no chance of fitting into today!
 
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