I just finished my last run of week 8 of the Couch-to-5K running program this morning and I thought I'd try the site MapMyRun.com to draw out my run for this morning to figure out how far I went. That's about 2 miles of running and .4 for warm up and cool down.
All this week I've been running for 28 minutes straight. Next week is the last week where I will run a full 30 minutes. Compared to running for 28 minutes, I have no hesitation that I'll be able to do it and "graduate" from the program.
I have been trying to figure out what to do after I'm done, and I believe I will try and stay at the 30 minute mark (plus warm up and cool down) and try to increase me pace. Right now I'm running around 2 miles over the 28 minutes, where I should be around 2 and 3/4 miles to hit the 3 mile goal when I move to 30 minutes next week. So I need to increase from a 4 mph jog to a 6 mph run.
Regardless of the pace, I'm still quite amazed at what I've been able to accomplish over such a short period of time. My first run was April 30th and I expect to finish a week from now on July 22nd. From one minute runs totaling 8 minutes of running to 30 minutes seems crazy to me. I'm still not even sure how I'm even capable of it, but somehow I've managed.
I just hit the 25 pound weight loss point for the year, and I'm still going. I could probably be doing a lot more with diet and even more exercise, but I'm still happy with the direction.
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There is also an iPhone app called RunKeeper that you can use to see how far you've gone. It uses the GPS in your phone to track how long you've been running, how far you've gone and how many calories you've burned. It also breaks down the minutes and tells you your pace.
Congrats again!
You know what is strange? I found when I was getting ready to run the 1/2 marathon that I really hated running. But occasionally now, I find myself craving a good run! I think after the baby, I might incorporate running with other workouts. :)
I don't have RunKeeper (yet). The one downside of the GetRunning app I've been using is that it doesn't record the run through GPS like other apps do. Once I graduate next week, I'll move on to another app to keep up with the running. Right now I have the apps "321Run" and "runtastic PRO" ready to try, each of which has more features including distance tracking.