Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with couchto5k

Night Running?

youcancallmeal — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:36:21 -0800

Does anyone have advice on running at night? I live on a suburban college campus and I'm thinking I should take advantage of the relative isolation and start the Couch to 5k Plan. I just feel more apt to exercise at around 11pm than during the day. Is there anything about night running that I should be aware of?

Things I've already considered: wear light colored clothing, stay on the paved loop road.

What else?

Will my heart explode?

bonheur — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:26:10 -0800

When I jog, my heart rate goes to 195 beats per minute. Is that bad? I've recently started jogging, following the couch to 5k program. I've led a moderately active life thus far, but I've never been an athlete and I'm about 30 lbs overweight. I bought a heart rate monitor and wore it during my last run. I was surprised to see some very high numbers on the monitor. My resting heart rate (HR) is 65. I thought my max was 185. Brisk walking brought my heart up to about 140, and when I started to jog (slowly!) the monitor hit 195! I can jog for about three minutes at that level before I have to walk again.

I'm definitely huffing and puffing and sweating and red in the face at that level, but I don't feel like I'm going to barf or die. Now, here's my question: According to the materials that came with my monitor, I should be training in the 65-85% zone. Does this mean I can't run at this fitness level and should just be walking? Am I harming myself in some way by pushing my body and heart too hard during exercise? How long will it typically take for my heart to adjust to the strain of running and slow down a bit? Tips, thoughts, experiences all welcome. Thanks!

Please, please, please my knees!

gergtreble — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:42:23 -0800

Is there a low impact alternative to the Couch to 5k? I've just started week 5 of the Couch to 5k plan (well... I'm repeating week 4 to be honest). But I'm having problems, my knees are feeling it badly. I broke down on the middle session of week 4 and was in some discomfort for the whole weekend. I've been to see my Doctor and she told me to take some anti-inflammatories if it got any worse. Now I'm not a quitter so I've jumped straight back on the horse so to speak, and it feels ok at the moment. But I'm thinking that I could probably do with an equivalent plan that's not as hard on my poor old knees (OK OK! I'm only 31!!). And not have to resort to pharmaceutical measures. So is there an equivalent plan? Say for the elliptical machine, bike or rowing machine? Or do you have any other ideas into how I can increase my cardiovascular fitness gradually whilst working towards a goal?

Some stats: I'm a 31 year old male, recently joined the gym after working 2 years on a night shift where I put on 14Kg (30lbs). Starting weight = 108kgs (240lbs) Current weight= 97kg (214lbs). I'm looking more to getting cardiovascular fitness rather than weight loss.

Hope you can give me some tips!

Too heavy for Couch to 5k?

aebaxter — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:35:15 -0800

I just had a doctor tell me I'm too heavy to run the Couch to 5k program. Is this really true? I'm 25/F, 5'6, 240 lbs with a sedentary job and no exercise routine to speak of for the past 6 years. About 3 weeks ago, I decided I was fed up and I started the Couch to 5k program at home on a treadmill. I made it through week 3 feeling great, still motivated and really enjoying the challenge. I was also doing lighter walk/runs and weights on the in between days of the program.

In order to work out with a friend, I started running outside at the track. Within 2 workouts running outdoors, I started having crippling pain in my knees. Worried I'd injured myself, I went to an osteopathic doctor. She told me that I was "100 lbs too heavy to be running" and that it was an unacceptable form of exercise for me. She said that "all the extra weight had pounded my knees into a severe sprain." She told me to stop eating too much (without even asking about my diet habits, but oh well) and to stop exercising period until my knees healed, and then to only do low-impact exercise.

I agree that my knees are injured (obviously, the pain tells me that), but is it really that I'm just too heavy to run? Have others been successful doing the Couch to 5k program beginning at a similar weight? Is my being overweight truly the problem, or did I just overdo it by exercising with a bit too much zeal on the off days instead of resting as is recommended with the Couch to 5k program?

Where to I take my running from here?

nickmark — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:44:12 -0800

I'm finishing up the Couch-to-5K Plan. What's the best way to keep building my speed and endurance on a treadmill? I'm familiar with the idea of increasing weekly distance by 10% every other week, and with track work for boosting speed… I’m looking to do a bit of both, ideally simultaneously (I'm okay if that means progress in each area is more gradual than if I concentrated on one).

For the C25K, I've been on the slow side, because 10-minute miles make the math easy in terms of distance, speed, and duration of workout. I'm on a treadmill, and will be for at least the next few months, because the gym's convenient for my schedule and we're hitting winter in Minnesota. The advantage of the treadmill is that I can force myself to go at the chosen speed, meaning sustaining speed over distance is more assured (assuming I don't choose to slow down). The disadvantage is that it makes track-like work a bit tougher – I have to pick a specific speed, not just "sprint," but more than that is that I'd rather not be switching speeds every couple minutes, at least not every run, as it's distracting and I'm clumsy at it. Are there treadmill-specific suggestions out there?

Most training plans for beginning runners I’ve seen take you up to the 3 mile/5 K point and then you’re kind of on your own. Where can I go from here? It's obvious how to increase the distance, but I'd like to build speed at the same time, to keep the time spent on the treadmill from ballooning. I think a reasonable intermediate goal is to be able to do 5 miles at 8.5 min/mile, but I'm not sure how to (safely!) combine building speed and distance. Do I just bump up by 0.1 mph and an extra quarter mile every week or so? Are there plans out there I haven't seen? I'm not really looking to train for races necessarily, just fit a longer run into less time.