Part I here. I had to split it into two posts because WordPress did not like the length of the first one any more. Here we go.

August 29: So I have graduated from the C25k programme. I am now capable of running 5 km continuously without any walking and resting. Although the pace is not great, I do it in just above 40 minutes I feel very happy about this and now the continuation is to keep doing it three times a week. Tomorrow I celebrate 5 months as a runner!

I will of curse run and alternate between shorter and faster runs and slower and longer runs. For the coming couple of months I believe that there is no reason for me to go beyond the 5 km.

After that I might keep adding to it to go for the full 10 km that I want to be able to do by next summer. I have plans on running the Midnattsloppet (the midnight run) here in Sweden by then.

Thinking back I never really thought I would be here. I still vividly remember the first time I put my trainers on and my running pants and jacket and went out to run 1 minuter, wallk 1 minute and so on for 20 minutes. It was really terrible and now a 2 km run is hardly something to think about and a 5 km run can be done although I admit that I will they feel more like routine than a maximum

August 28: I did a recovery run today. Still feeling that last 5k run in my legs so I did a short 2k run today. It was great however, good speed and the feeling was lovely. Even though I felt the last run a bit I had no problems what so ever and in fact I think the short run just did me good.

Gretting the legs really warm again helped the recovery it seems. I feel great and I am looking forward to this weeks last run tomorrow which probably will be around 4-5 km again…

August 26: I have now returned from my holiday trip and I have been pretty good att keeping my exercise schedule varying the distances I have been running and lots of uphill training the past three weeks. Back up where we got the cabin it feels like everything is uphill. Now tonight it will be nice to test out how it feels on the old track again taking my normal 4 km run or perhaps going for another 5 km run if that feels right. We will have to see about that.

Most of my runs have been with short parts walking. The uphills are really killers when you have a bit of overweight. I have however lost another kg despite the holiday barbecues, drinking and snackning so I will be working on getting my weight down even further. Apart from that I don’t really have much else right now for you but I will be getting back to my regular schedule soon…

Two more weeks of holiday…

August 2: Today I have managed something I could not dream about about 4 months ago when I embarked on this silly quest. Not so silly any more, my general condition and health has improved beyond what I would have expected.

But today I actually ran 5 km. Not very fast, the path is a wooden path with many hills up and down, some of them quite steep and taxing but I managed to keep a rather nice ongoing pace all through the workout.

Two more runs like that and I will have graduated from the C25k programme! I feel incredible really, I thought 4 km was tough enough but tonight it was a wonderful night. A slight fog and chill in the air. I sat out to do my workout around half past eleven in the night and I got back home again about half past midnight after having a nice wind down walk as well.

Lovely. No pains anywhere, no blisters, nothing from the knees or the hip I have felt slightly before everything just went really well. I am still a big guy of about 100 kg + but my health and stamina has improved immensely over the last four months.

Now the trick is to continue this and keep doing what is good at the same time as I will have to work out a diet with a little less calories in it!

July 31: I have mostly kept up my deal of the bargain so far and been runnint 2-3 times every week. I have now a new workout path I am running mostly on asphalt which is faster and less hilly than my wooden path but also a little harder on the legs. The last couple of runs went rather well but today was a tough one again. I have been taking more walks than usual and perhaps my legs was not very rested really when I set out today. After the first km or so I started alternating between something like 5 min jogging and 2-3 min walking and I managed to do my 4 km with intervals but I was very tired in the legs.

I hope the next workout will be better, I am considering going back to running my usual wooden path again next time. We’ll see!

I have been fine, no pains really anywhere that is holding me back, my condition is pretty good again and my legs are getting stronger although it takes a long time. I have not been able to go much beyond my standard 4.3 km really it’s been rather hard but there is no rush to increase the running yet. I get a good workout from these runs anyhow and that’s what matters most.

July 25: This week has been two runs so far. One tough on my normal track and this morning I went for a new circuit I have never done before and it went really well. More asphalt this time, I run a lot faster on that compared to gravel. Also not so hilly as my usual circuit, this one has one very steep hill and then one very long hill that just drains your energy a lot.

Even though I walked a bit this run I did my personal best on 4 km yet, 30 minutes 29 seconds! That gives a pace of 7:33 per km which is a personal best yet on 4 km at least. Yay!

The new circuit is mainly on asphalt but I don’t seem to be any worse off running on that compared to gravel and paths in the wood. Feel fine and strong. So far just two runs this week I will get one more run in Sunday night if it feels right.

Last week was the Summer Hack week and although I did one run I did not complete my other two runs that I wanted. Things just got in the way but I did play one match of “brännboll” a sort of Swedish version of Baseball and that was something I felt in my legs!

This week started better, a nice but hard run on monday. Today is wednesday but I am resting today so my next run will be tomorrow! See you then!

July 12: Level 8! I am getting there, though slowly, but I am getting there! Woohoo!

Another great run, though I felt the front side of my shins the whole way. Rather painful actually but I ignored it, lowered the pace worked on and got through the whole ordeal. Except for the painful shins the run was really nice. Next time I hope I will not have to feel them and then this would be really a great run actually

Still having a bit of trouble with the downhill running, need to let go and increase my speed there but I am not comfortable doing it, legs needs to be stronger than they are now. Don’t know, perhaps a few visits to the gym may be helpful for that. Gotta think about that (hate the gym).

I am slowly getting better at this. Even though I don’t feel like it when I work out at the pace I am going but the numbers don’t lie, I have started to pick up the pace a little from 8:45 to 8:20 or there around and on this hilly track that’s not too bad.

This weekend was full of junk food and resting doing nothing. In fact I was barely outside at all this weekend, save for this run and for a trip to the gas station (emergency supplier of potato crisps). So considering that I think it’s great. Next week is back on the wagon again.

On Thursday we are going to the Summer Hacking Camp in Skutskär. That will be nice, meeting up with all the nice people there and I hope I will find some nice places around there to do my running on. That should be interesting

July 10: Did another 4 km run today and the pace was around 7:45 min/km this time. I took the path down by the lakeside to the train tunnel and back again.  I just went out and ran today, I forgot all about my pulse watch and everything. Don’t really look that much at it these days, I know by heart so to speak where I am in the zone.

We had a few drinks yesterday so I was perhaps a little slower than I should have been otherwise but hey, one has to have some fun as well!

This was my sixth run on the 4 km level. I will be going for 4.5 km next time I run because I have already done 4.3 km and 4.2 km regularly. It is time for level eight!

Today's run, home to Trappeberg and back home again same route.

July 7: Today I was back on my normal path again runnit it in the “reverse” direction again so I can finish off with a longer down slope and start with the uphills. Started running just outside my door and then did 4.25 km in 36 minutes.

So slow tempo and everything went really good. Tempo 8:30 is no competition tempo but I did manage to run the full way without any stops or walking.

July 5: Did a new track today down by the waterfront, went off in a pretty high tempo and burned out around the third km so I had to walk a few minutes, muscles really stiff and tired, but even so I did a great tempo for me, 7:30 on average though this path is not so hilly.

July 3: Today was a rather tough set actually, my legs got really tired after the first 2 km so I resordet to walking/running the rest of the track I had set out to do. On the map below you can see the result. Almost one minute worse per km than usual. It was hot, humid, a bit of rain and it was later. All these things may have contributed and I was running in full pants rather than shorts because of the mosquitos and the raining yesterday. The heat is terrible for running. But fortunately Swedish summers rarely stay around 35 degrees for very long however so I will soon be back on track again.

I have realized I need to get a runner’s shirt however in a good soft material and with some pocket for my keys and MP3 player. I will go looking for something suiteable this weekend. I do have pretty good shorts to run in as well, they dry out very fast and are comfortable.

Legend: Black 0-3 km/h, blue 3-6 km/h, green 6-9 km/h, yellow 9-12 km/h and red above 12 km/h. Or if you prefer in tempo: Blue 20, Green 10, Yellow 6:40, Red: 5.

This track above is pretty good, hilly but without the killer slopes that the track closer to the lake has and it is usually pleasant to run on the track of gravel and wooden paths.

In two weeks I should be able to go 5 km (I hope) and thereby reaching my goal with the Couch to 5 km running programme that I have been following (more or less). Then I will keep at this level for some time until my body has the time to stabilize before getting into the next programme.

But I have so many nice places I want to run

Tags: c25k, condition, couch to 5 km running, exercise, gps, jogging, logging, shape, starting