I completed W2D2 this morning and it went much more smoothly than W2D1 (probably has a lot to do woth me drinking a lot of beer friday and sat before doing W2D1 on Sunday).  I've vowed to stop drinking beer and eating fast food until my 5K on May 1st.  I am pretty sore in my quads, especially when walking up stairs.  I work in a high rise office building so I am thinking about walking up and down the stairs at lunch on non-running days to add some additional cardio, and stretch the muscles that are sore.

Wow! I am so glad I found this post. I am excited to see responses from so many folks like me! I now know I am not completely crazy! About 6 weeks ago I signed up for a 1/2 marathon taking place in January 2011. I started a conservative C25K program and bought the GoWear Fit to monitor my calorie burn and intake. The Conservative C25K is 28 weeks long, and I am on W6D2. I started this one rather than the traditional one because I was concerned about my weight and the impact on my body. Also, I had been completely sedentary for almost 3 months and felt I needed to ease back into the increased activity. I told everyone I know about it and started a blog. This has really helped me stay on track.

I am 5'5" and started at 254 pounds. I also added in two days of resistance training at Curves a couple of weeks ago. I had lost 5 pounds right away, but have gained slightly (.8 lbs) since starting the resistance training. I was expecting that though. I am really hoping to see a loss when I weigh again next Monday.

My current workout schedule is Monday & Wednesday at Curves and Tues, Thurs, & Sat on C25K. Sunday is a rest day.

My first week of adding in running was last week, with 2 min running and 28 min walking. I broke out the running into four 30 sec segments. Each day was easier than the first. This week jumped to 4/26 and my first one was yesterday. I broke it out again into 30 sec segments, though on one segment I went a full minute to see how I would do. I did much better than I thought, though my knees had started to twinge toward the end of the workout. They felt fine after I stretched. I am so excited with each workout because I notice the difference in my endurance.

Since I started, I have so much more energy and I am overall in a better mood. Like so many others, I have been overweight my entire life. I have tried so many programs only to fail. I am focusing on the fitness goals this time rather than the weight loss goals. Weight loss will be a by-product. I think this attitude has helped me so far. I have 3 goals right now: run at least half of a 5K in June, run a 10K in October, and then run the 1/2 marathon in January 2011.

Here is the link to my blog if anyone is interested:

http://jeanettehalfmarathon.blogspot.com/

Hi Everyone,

The weather was awesome today for my run this morning.  I had a nice experience while out running....someone in a car cheered, "Keep going!"  It was nice to hear it and it spurred me on to finish strong. 

Let me introduce myself some:  I am 40 years-old, married and work as a psychologist.  I have always struggled with my weight since a child.  However in high school, I was very active, volleyball, basketball and softball and as an adult I use to run 3 miles in the morning and then 3 miles at night.  Running has always had a special meaning for me....it makes me feel strong, proud and powerful.  However as I got older, life's demands grew and I put my attention towards them instead of my body.  This was definitely the case as I went to graduate school.  I gain about 80 pounds, on top of already being chubby, in five years under the stress of earning a doctoral degree.  My weight really began to bother me, more on a physical level, than ever this past summer.  Here I was, a psychologist trying to help others make healthier choices in their life and I couldn't even help myself in this area. 

So at the end of summer, me and my husband moved and wouldn't you know it.....we moved right across the street from a gym.  We signed up, me with tears in my eyes from having to face what I had allowed myself to become.  I dug deep and took advantage of the two free sessions with a trainer and this is when my life changed.  I met my trainer, Tim, who has believed in me when I couldn't and has never let me go since.  We have worked out together every monday morning for 6 months and I have lost 44 pounds and am training for a 10 mile run. 

I have a ways to go still on my weight loss and fitness goals, but I know I will make it.  I finally feel that I have control of this area of my life. Thank you for letting me have a place where I can share my story.  I wish everyone good health and deep feelings of being proud of themselves for making the effort.   

BaileeGraves, my friend got sciatica after breaking her leg. I know she dealt with it for several months. She was working at a dog kennel at the time and was still active, so I will ask her if she has any suggestions for you. Regarding the problems you are having with the C25K, have you considered starting slower? I mentioned in my post that I am following a 28 week C25K program. Six weeks ago, I could barely walk 10 min at a 2 mile per hour pace without getting extremely winded. Now, I am walking at 3-3.5 mph and running at 4.5; this week is 26 min walking and 4 min running. I break out the running into 30 sec segments. It gets easier every time. It is a lot slower than the traditional program, but I know that the other would have been too much too soon and I probably would have given up out of frustration.

Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Programs/conservative_program.htm

BaileeGraves wrote:

 

So happy to find this thread.  Thanks wideguy.  Guess I could be known as widegirl!  At 5'1 and starting out at 211 lbs., I think I fit the bill.  The weight wouldn't be quite so bad if I were, oh I don't know, about 8 inches taller!!  But guess that's not going to happen.  I'm 47 years old; extremely out of shape and very overweight.  I can't wait another day; week or month to make the change.  The time is NOW! Myself, my husband and our 22 year old married daughter actually began the c25k program 3 weeks ago.  We're all struggling and are actually still on week 1.  My husband has knee issues; my daughter has feet issues and I have sciatica.  We're pathetic!!  The good news though is that we're staying on schedule as far as c2k5 in that we're running/walking as much as we can on each of the training nights and for the worst case scenario, we're walking the entire time.  At least we're up and moving!!  It's been so important to me to find a support group who can identify with my weight issues.  As you can tell

 

by the picture, the hubby and daughter are in fairly good shape.  Me, not so much!   They can complete w1 in it's entirety and while they do struggle some, they finish.  I huff and puff and gag and on occasion have actually thrown up!  It makes me feel like a failure in the sense I'm not doing near as well as they are, BUT I know I have accomplished something simply by getting up and moving.  AND I have lost 6lbs now since starting the program.  I hope to think as the weight goes down, the breathing will come easier.  My body, for the most part, feels like it could keep going if I could get oxygen.  But then last week I had a terrible flare up of sciatica and it almost literally knocked me to my knees!  Now I'm back beginning as a baby and finding it tough to even walk.

Any suggestions for dealing with sciatica would be appreciated!!

Hi Bailee,

you might want to take a look at this link. http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/piri.html  I think it's highly probable that your sciatica pain is being caused by a cranky piriformis muscle. No, I'm not a doctor, but that pain sidelined me for nearly 2 years. I've been running again for about 15 months now and have the occasional flare-up if I try to run more than about 2 days in a row, but it's definitely much better than it was before. Just read up on the piriformis muscle and give those stretches a try. Best of luck!

Just found this thread, good topic.

I'm currently at 213lbs after weighing as much as 243lbs as of last June (FYI: I'm a 6' male and have a good amount of muscle). I'm kind of at a standstill with weight loss at the moment (I'm eating more carbs than I was) but that will change shortly. I just did my second 5k (since high school; I'm 39 now) this morning with a time of 32:07 which destroys the first 5k time of 36:19 which was in a blizzard in Myrtle Beach last month (yeah, no kidding). Have another one in 3 weeks, too.

I personally didn't follow C25K but only because I wasn't aware of it. I did pretty much everything on my own, using other training plans I found on the internet. However, I think my results have been solid thus far so I think I'm doing OK. I know that last June I couldn't run more than a half mile without stopping and even that was possible probably only because I played softball two seasons a year.

What finally motivated me to lose the weight was my daughters christening pictures. I couldn't believe that that "slob" in the pictures was me and it totally disgusted me. That was all the motivation I needed and here I am, 9 months and -30lbs later, still getting at it. I am in the gym 5-6 times a week with two long runs (up to 3 miles) a week and loving every minute of it. My plan is to do a 5k a month (still looking for a May one...) so that I have that goal to work towards each month.

The bottom line is, if you're determined and focused, nothing can stop you. Hey, we all get sidetracked at times (it's usually Oreo's that do it for me, lol) but as long as you have a goal set and you stick with it, you won't fail.

Good luck to everyone. I hope you are successful!