I did it! Finished first run!

[Katydoes]

I am a 62 year old woman. I've recently lost 50 lbs and have 30 more to go. I've been walking and exercising every day, but needed to do something new. Oh, my gosh. I felt great during and after running (ok it was slow!), but I ran all 8 times. My question is: at what speed should I have my treadmill set?( i had it set at 3 mph) I will also run outside, but bad weather here today.

[Digbycat]

Yay well done on getting started.

I am not very far ahead of you and have about the same weight loss to go (maybe a little more) and I'm 42. I started off on the treadmill alternating between walking between 3 and 3.5 and running at 4.5. I then repeated week 1 trying to maintain the walking at 3.5 and increasing the last 2 runs to 5. I then moved on to week 2 at the same levels and it was fine

I then tried an outdoor run and was shocked at how hard it was so I went back to week 1 and I am just about managing all 8 runs I will repeat week 1 again next week because I know if I try and push too far too soon I will stop.

However the real answer to your question is whatever feels comfortable for you, it's not a race - yet, but the only way to improve is to keep at it at a speed that works for you. I've read a lot of couch - 5k blogs over the last few weeks and the one piece of advise that shines out above all others is don't start too fast do what feels comfortable and increase little by little. what's right for someone else may not be right for you

Very best of luck

D

[Linda231]

Wow! Katy you are doing awesome! im 43 and on my 5th week, my first week i repeated because I could not finish the run, just could not do it. Everyone should find there own pace, you must be doing something right, keep it up girl!
Linda

[Eagle5]

When you try the outside runs, remember they are more difficult on a treadmill and the tarmac is more likely to give you injuries. So, don't go crazy on the hard surfaces and run on grass if possible.

Well done on your progress so far and good luck!