Hi! I'm a lurker in the LHR and have been following some of your questions. Just thought I would give you my experience. I was only a few months away from my 50th birthday when I did the C25K program - and I had never run before - except in school when we had to. At that point, I had been exercising consistently for about a year. I went on to do OHR and then ended up injured due to trying some over the counter orthotics. Spent 3 months in PT, got custom orthotics and ran sporadically last year. Starting in March of this year, I decided to get serious about running. I started running every day - something I had never been able to do. I also started using the run/walk method for all my runs. My HR was high - and after doing some more reading, I decided to start slowing down and trying to keep my HR lower. I find MAF nearly impossible if I want to keep running - so I started just trying to stay in the 140s as an average. Once or twice a week, if I feel particularly good on a run, I may let it drift higher to see what I can do, but most runs I keep below 150. Currently I'm doing a 2:1 ratio (although I started at 1:1). I'm on a 4 week cycle - I try to modestly build mileage for 3 weeks and then I cut my mileage back by 25% every 4th week I try to do one medium and one long run each week - and am gradually trying to increase those. My medium is typically about 1/2 of my long run. The rest of the runs are all about 2 miles at a very easy pace. My log is public - go ahead and look. My HR is coming down - my pace is gradually getting better - and I feel great. Today was day 65 of running every day. If I go out and feel really sluggish - I only do a mile. But, I find that doing something keeps me from getting stiff and sore. As far as shin splints - I used to get them frequently. Toe taps on a regular basis have basically eliminated that issue for me. I also have "the Stick" and a foam roller - I use them daily. Good luck!

No problem. Good luck to you! It does get easier.

I thought I was going to die the first week of C25K when I had to run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds. This week I hope to complete my first 10 miler. My medium runs no longer scare me. And my 2 milers (formerly my rest days) are no big deal. I don't know if you do any cross training, but biking is a great cross trainer and much easier on your joints. I did a lot of biking last summer (1300 miles) and most of it was below MAF - which I think also really helped. I have some time constraints right now, so have not been on the bike more than a couple of times this year, but hope to pick that up again in June. How are the shin splints? Toe taps - several times a day - really helped me. I also stretch my calves as soon as I get back from each run. Stand on the bottom step of a stairway and let your heels drop. Lean forward for even more of a stretch. Good luck!

I'm four weeks into this now.

I was doing Run 20sec, Run 30sec, and now am up to Run 40sec /Walk 60sec

 

Looking forward to reaching Run 1, Walk 1 minutes without injury and while increasing milage