WhooHoo, Stephanie! She's back!!! Ha, now you really get to work but so glad you're training. Hope you are enjoying it?

Deb, I lost ~30lbs about 15 yrs ago with WW and then 3 yrs ago dropped another 30 through portion control. I have the tools but worry about the impact. You bring up a good point, that there likely are books or articles on how to balance weight loss while actively running. Thanks. As it turns out, the weight is coming off so slowly, it can't possibly make a difference. I might be losing about 1/2 lb a week or I may have flushed that much water from my system. it's hard to tell. Love to celebrate but it's really easy to sweat away 2 lbs. water and then drink it back. Ughh! Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track for two more weeks and see real results - or not. Been doing this four weeks and getting very discouraged. Interestingly running setbacks have taught me to ignore doubts and trust the process.

It's stormy here right now. TM time. Run strong! Good luck to all!!!

Race report:  I finished my first 10K!  I don't know why I was so nervous - my long runs for hte last month were all around 7 miles so I knew I could do the distance.  I think it was mostly adrenaline/excitement plus just not knowing the route.  I know my training route backwards andn forwards.  So I start off at the back of the pack - I'm trying to go slow.  I'm letting people pass me.  But I get to the first mile marker and I've just done my first ever 9 minute mile.  That is waaaaaay too fast!  I try to slow down but mile 2 is between 9-10 minutes.  I walk at the first water station around 2.5 miles and I am sucking wind so hard I almost can't drink.  But I keep going.  Somewhere in the third mile a family who lives on the race route had a water station set up.  The little boy looked to be about 3 is standing there holding out a dixie cup for me.  So cute!!!    I  missed the 3 mile marker and lost all track of splits after that.  I didn't use my gps and didn't listenn to mustic.  It was just me and my thoughts.  After running mile 3 so slowly I'm feeling much better by mile 4.  Once I hit mile 5 I'm in the home stretch and feeling good enough to pick it up a little.  I hit the chute at 1:05:29, but this is a very very fast group I'm running with.  I am 108 out of 117.  The last place runner came in arond 1:07!!

I must say this race came with a nice goody bag too:  hat, t shirt, gloves, water bottle, bag of coffee,  demi loaves of  bread from a local bakery, and coupons to 2 different running stores.  I need new shoes and now they will be 15% off.  YAY!

Linda:  I hope your half went as well as my 10K. 

Mary Kay - let me  know ifyou come across any good books on running nutrition.  I did just get an ad from Runners World for I think it's called the Runner's Diet or something.  I don't know anything about it, though.  I agree with Ginny - the more I run the hungrier I get but I really want this last 10 pounds to go away.  I'm so mad that I slacked off and gained them back and my summer shorts all feel a little snug.  I need to start being good soon.  Just not today - I've already had 2 slices of veggie pizza and a bag of M&M's (they were mint for goodness sake !) and I know I"m having bread with dinner tonight thanks to the Malden Rotary Road Race.

Happy Running all!!

Wow!  Congrats to all of you who completed your half marathons!  Awesome! 

I purchased a GPS watch finally.  I found a deal online for a Schwinn GPS watch with a heart monitor for $69.99.  I read some reviews and it seemed that people were happy with the watch and that it worked.  Now, I'm trying to figure it all out and how to work it.  I tested it out last night by walking a short distance and figured it out somewhat and saved my data.  But, today when I went for my 3 mile run, I could not see in the dark how to save my data and I lost everything!  I did like that I set my laps and it beeped at me after each mile. The only thing is that the GPS miles didn't match up to what I have calculated around my neigbhorhood.  I double checked this morning the distance on the Active Route Trainer on Active.com and ALSO on Mapmyrun.com. The GPS had me going an extra .15 miles longer.  I'm a little discourage by this because this really won't give me an accurate pace or time for my mileage.  Are other GPS's off that much?  Now I'm wondering if I should just return it!  Any thoughts or help?

Hello everyone, I've been reading for some time, and decided to jump in, sorry if this first post is a little long, and please excuse my mistakes since English is not my native language.

I'm 32 years old, and started C25K in December. I've been about 7 kilos (15 pounds) overweight my whole life, and the main reason I started running was to lose those pounds. Well, that hasn't happened, but I still feel that starting to run was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I found C25K quite easy to follow, but after I finished I felt it was harder and harder to improve my running. It didn't help that the weather here in January and February was painfully hot. Still, I didn't give up.

I try to run 4 times a week, 3 to 5 kilometers each time, but I'm planning to increase the distance. I also do pilates, 2 or 3 times a week, I feel it's a great complement to running.

I signed up for my first 5K race, March 25th. It was race exclusive for women, and I knew it would be great for a first race because that race usually draws runners as well as joggers and even walkers, so it did't look intimidating at all.

The race itself was not easy, the day was a little too warm for my taste, and I had to walk a couple of times, though only for a few seconds. I sprinted when I saw the finish line (I don't know where I got the strength from!), and my time was 34:19. I wanted to do it in less than 35 minutes, so I was  happy.

I've already signed up for my next race (I can already see this racing thing becoming addictive), a 6K on April 15th. My goal is to do it in 40 minutes or less.

Well, that's it for my introduction, I hope to continue participating in this forum, you all are a great source of inspiration and motivation, and reading you makes this journey feel less lonely .

Alicia

GinnyinPA escribió:

 

 

Alicia - welcome to the forum.  I take it you're in the Southern Hemisphere?

Thank you Ginny! And yes, I live in the Southern Hemisphere, where days are getting shorter and colder, brrr.

Welcome Alicia and Sederleaf!  I just finished my first 10K and my advice is don't go out too fast!  (easier said than done).

Kathy - I use an app on my smartphone rather than a watch - but maybe I shouldn't.  Sometimes the gps is off by maybe .15 or so when compared with mapmyrun which I find negligible.  Except for last night when 1/4 mile into my run the Endomondo GPS Lady said "5 miles in 2:12; lap time 23 seconds"  HAHA  She had me finishing a 9 mile run at an average speed of 22.22 mph.  I'll be emailing customer service if this keeps up.    In reality I ran 3.6 miles at an average pace of 11:07. 

Well, I am shipping back the GPS watch today!  I just found it extremely frustrating and too complex for me to use.  The reason I wanted it was to keep track of my pace and mileage.  Since the mileage is off, then it calculates me running at a much slower pace.  I just had trouble getting it to work right.   I just know it is a half mile around my neighborhood...I've driven and  mapped it, so I don't want to be frustrated with the wrong mileage. Maybe it just wasn't the best GPS watch to begin with since I got such a deal on it.  I'm able to return it for a full credit and no shipping to return.

Whenever I get a smartphone "someday", I'll just use an app from the phone.   I guess nothing is really perfect yet with these GPS's.

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

And good luck tomorrow Bob!

Tomorrow will also be my first day of b210k. I wasn't going to do it at firs, but since I finished c25k  I'm finding it really hard to increase my mileage. I know it's not supposed to be easy, but I really feel stuck. So I hope this program will help. I also hope it will keep me from trying to do too much too soon.

Have a great weekend everybody!