Thursday, March 15, 2012

Couch to 5 K is COMPLETE!!

It's been awhile... but my Couch to 5 K challenge is officially complete! I wrote about it before here, and Derby and I did our final run to complete the program over the weekend.

We came home, and I told Zac that being finished was good news. The bad news was that now I needed to figure out what to do next!!

     
That's obviously not me. I don't live by mountains. And my sneakers are blue.

Here's the 411 of the experience:


  • Overall, it's awesome. Because it's not really that hard. Don't get me wrong - it's a workout. But it isn't so awful that you give up immediately.
  • I lost weight. Like, substantially. I've lost 10 pounds since Christmas, 6 of which I'll attribute to C25K (less gluten gets the other 4 probably - fewer carbs!). Not only that, but my body looks really different. None of my clothes are tight anymore, and I'm considerably less "jiggly." Win, win, my friends.
  • Derby loves it. The other day our neighbors were talking to Zac on the porch, but when we walked outside Derby walked right past them to begin our run. He also knows what putting my sneakers on means. He's so smart, that puppy.
  • It took me longer than the 9 weeks it's supposed to, and I'm okay with that. There were a few weeks I only managed to run twice, and a few times Zac came with us and messed up my routine. When he runs with us, we usually run half as far but twice as fast. Still counts, but doesn't fit with the program!
  • Slow and steady just works for me. I don't stress out if I don't fit a run in. I don't know that I'll ever run a 5K, but I can run for 30 minutes without stopping and it's pretty easy. I'll take that.
So there you go. I conquered getting into an exercise routine. Now that I've seen the results, I'm pretty sure I'll stick with it. I like how I look 10 pounds lighter, and that I don't feel guilty one bit if I sneak some white chocolate M&Ms. In fact, it's not really sneaking. It's more like, "these are good and I can have a few (bags) without worrying about it."

Has anyone else finished the program? What did you do next? That's what I need to figure out now!!

5 comments:

  1. You're smart to start planning your next move. I've done the Couch to 5K twice but once I was finished, I fell off the wagon because I didn't have anything to strive for. Maybe you could work up to a 10K. That's what someone I know did when she finished the 5K series. Nonetheless, congratulations on both your accomplishment and weight loss!

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  2. I am starting as well. I have done a fake c25k for the past couple of weeks, but on tuesday, I listened to the chubby jones podcast to figure out what I was doing and I suck at running for even 60 seconds! So, my goal is to be like you and run for 30 minutes straight. But small goal is just to finish the minute segments! Man, I am so far out of shape. But I love how my thighs feel the next day all sore and stuff. Makes me miss being active! So, I am sticking with it! I will run tomorrow morning and probably Saturday or sunday morning. My goal is to run the 3x a week and then try to walk the other days! I am so excited for you and will now stop rambling!

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  3. Join a gym and start strength training? Its so much fun!

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  4. I'm finishing up Week 6 right now. Once i'm done I think i'll just adjust my goal and keep running the 30 minutes while trying to adjust my speed and distance. I also do a power walking workout and a weight workout on my off days from C25K and take Sunday as my rest days.

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  5. Congratulations!
    I'm sure if you googled "what to do after a couch to 5k program" you'd find plenty of things to keep you moving!
    With Bud home we've managed to go on a few walks the past couple days and the first day we went so slow...after we got home I casually mentioned that it took us quite a bit longer than normal so the next day he told Bitsy...let's go Mama's pace today....we did and it was good!

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