Easy days? (Read 1037 times)

Welcome to running! I think you should check out the Couch to 5K Program. A lot of us on here have found our way to running through this program.

Welcome to running! I think you should check out the Couch to 5K Program. A lot of us on here have found our way to running through this program.

Yep, as of sometime after noon on Oct. 5 I will be a marathoner who started with C25k about 2.5 years prior. There is also a great C25k and One Hour Runner group here.

Like many others I have never used the c25k program, but a lot of new runners in this web site have and they all rave about it.........Its a program designed by professionals to take people like you that have not been runners thru the beginning stages........all new runners in RA that have used it have really liked it......definately you should check it out...........and ask lots of question in here - the people here give great advice....

Confession: When I first read the C25K program I thought, OK the first 4 weeks are kind of wimpy (at the time I could run something similar to what you outlined, like quarter mile intervals). Then I got thinking and realized every time I attempted a running program on my own like that, I failed. So I started C25K, and you know what? It works. It eases you in so you don't get too burnt out. And before you know it, W5 comes along and suddenly you're running for 20 minutes straight. I had a few bumps along the way, a knee injury that set me out for about a week and recently my schedule has been hectic and it's taken me longer than a week to get through each program week, but overall it's been a success and I'm now running for longer than I ever have in my entire life (25 minutes last night, I'm in W7). It really is a good program for beginners.

Ditto on the C25K. It is a great program.

last year I tried to do too much. I was even doing some fartlek runs. I was out of shape and just getting back into running after 20+ years of falling farther and farther out of shape. As a former decent runner I fell into the trap of thinking I could do more than I really should have tried. this year... I do almost all easy runs. once in a while I run a 5k or tempo run but nothing crazy. I am doing much better and improving slowly. to run you need to improve a little at a time and don't overtax your body. If you go from 5 miles a week to 15 you probably will be risking injury. If you start trying to run sprints... you probably will be risking injury.

If it's the same C25k on CR, I don't like it and never have. The only reason is that it has you run for x minutes and walk for x minutes for a total of say 20 minutes. While this if fine for someone doing intervals, it's not so great for a beginning runner that needs to go slow anyway. I understand it is a successful program, but generally the next thing we had to tell people that had completed the program was slow down since the program had no instruction as to what the correct speed was for a beginner. The old CR forums had tons of threads where the C25K grad would have all sorts of aches and pains but what to do next. We would just tell them all to slow down and keep running. Sometimes they even listened. i say slow down in the first place and just run for 20 minutes. My many seasons of starting over in the past tell me this is very possible. Just pick a pace where you are not breathing hard. That way, you are more likely to stick with running long term, if that is your goal. At first you will have running at an easy pace, that will be a 'hard' day. The easy day will be rest. It's very straight forward really. You are 16, join the cross country team at school. Tell the coach you are just running for fitness and not speed, and practice with the team. If you feel up to it, run in a couple of meets. You don't have to take the sport seriously to join a team. You also will probably help keep a cross country team from getting cut. Also, I see in the profile that running is something the OP wants to use to make them 'feel less guilty about eating.' You should feel the same amount of guilt over eating that you do over breathing. My point? You need to eat to live. If you feel guilt over eating, running will not help you. Seeing a doctor and discussing this problem you have with food with them might help you. Running might help control weight or it might send you to the hospital when combined with an extreme diet. Let's try to be healthy about food, excersize and our bodies. 5 foot 4 and 128 is not huge in anybody's book. Being 16 tells me you are still growing. Worry about eating later and concentrate on healthy food now. Never feel guilty about something you need to live.