Yeah nothing out of the ordinary tiny sore feeling.

Accidentally deleted W3 off the ipod when I synced it so I went to w4d1 - had been on w4 3 weeks ago but couldn't actually make it through the 5 minutes without slowing briefly to a walk. Made it through W4D1 without a break!!! Maybe I'll just stay on w4 and not go back to w3... I was really proud - maybe my body just needed those 2 weeks off Foot still ok. Thanks for adding me to board Wingz.

Congrats on breaking the 5 minute barrier! You have every right to feel proud. (You may find non-runners just can't appreciate what's so special about being able to run for 5 minutes, but anyone who's not been able to and then worked their way up to being able to understands...) Since you've been off for a few weeks and have had an injury, you might want to give serious thought to repeating week 4 an extra time. While it's tons of fun seeing yourself being able to run farther and farther, faster and faster, your body still needs time to adjust. You had the right idea with dropping back a week after being off for a while, but since that plan got scrapped, I'd suggest at least staying on week 4 an extra go-round before moving on to week 5. (Week 5 has a 20 minute long run at the end, for one thing!) Congrats again, and good luck!

Congrats on finishing your first "long" run, gwhutch! I know what you mean about legs vs lungs being the limiting factor! You may find it swaps back and forth between lungs and legs and then lungs again. That was certainly my experience! The soreness should go away soon. Make sure you're getting a rest day, especially after harder workouts like the long run.

Week 1 done for the 2nd time. Had to be done, but now I feel ready to move on! I thought about starting it today instead of doing W1D3 again, but decided to play it smarter and do that on Monday. I'm also thinking of adding swimming on off-days. I used to swim a mile or so daily, but that was a loooooong time ago. I think it's time to revive those skills to give the knees a rest on non-running days. I must say...I'm pretty proud of myself, more than what I thought I would be. However, for the first time *ever* I can actually envision myself doing this running thing for more than a week or two and then getting frustrated and throwing in the towel. It was in the mid-80s today--gorgeous--and I was sweating enough to be gross. I LOVED it. Bethanie

GottheBug - now you have to keep running just to justify the purchases. It's all part of an evil plan... Keep up the good work! Polepole, it sounds like you are on the right track, running like this. Believe it or not, running can be fun! It may take you a few more weeks to realize it... or maybe not! You're being successful at it and keeping yourself injury-free. That is soooooo awesome! There's nothing wrong with adding in swim days on non-running days. The only thing I'd caution you on is that becoming a runner is a significant lifestyle change. Most people have difficulty managing more than one major change in thier lives at one time. Adding in swimming MIGHT make your life more stressful. Think about it and see where you are with your stress levels first before making a final decision. It's better to successfully become a long-term runner than to unsuccessfully become a short-term runner-swimmer. Then again, if you're already cross-training on your off days, then switching to swimming from another activity might be just the thing! MoonStar: here's a link to the original Couch-to-5K program as set out by www.coolrunning.com. Why not take a few minutes to read through it. It's got some good info and advice in it. Also, there's someone else you know on Sparkpeople. If you haven't already, check out PonyTrot. I'm on there too (yanelh), but haven't been active or keeping the log for months

I have decided that I am going to work on speeding up next week as I repeat w4. I hit 6.0 for the last minute of the workout yesterday and thought I was going to die. When I ran a 10 minute mile in jr. high I never thought I was running fast - yet I must have been sprinting in comparative terms. I am going to set the run at 5 instead of 4.5 next week and see how it goes. I like that this forum is smaller than SparkPeople. I feel lost on there.

Wow, 6.0's really fast! I've hit that a few times this year (I'm in running year #3), but it's nothing I can maintain. Right now I'm comfortable around 4.5 on the TM. I can *DO* 5, but it's not comfortable and it's not training the aerobic system for me- which is what I need most. I am significantly slower than most people who've been running for 3 years, but I'm also a lot faster than I used to be. When I started, I couldn't maintain anything above about 3.4 - 3.6 on the TM. (Yes - I could walk faster than I could run!) I like the small-group feeling here on RA too. There's a lot of good info to be gleened from the larger forums, but when it comes to actually getting to know people a bit and feeling comfortable talking about your training, I think small is better. There are a lot of really knowledgable people here on RA, but - as with any online community - it takes some time to get to know the individuals and recognize who's worth listening to and who's just talking because they like the sound of their own voice. (Or the internet equivalent... )

MoonStar - Just be careful trying to add speed. That is the quickest way for new runners to hurt themselves. Actually, speed should be the last thing you are thinking about right now. Your body needs to adjust to just running at a slow speed. From what I've read, the speed will come with time. If you can't talk while you are running, you are probably going too fast.

Thank you! I meant to say this but forgot!