Zero to Hero in 5 months

will check the watch, sounds expensive though and have already spent about £120 on shoes, jacket, gloves, socks, roller, dri t-shirts etc.

But if i think it will help it will be money worth spending. I use my iphone at the moment for music and C25k programme. This GPS i assume is something totally different to that.

If you're taking your iphone with you on runs you should be able to use it somewhat like a GPS watch.  The Garmin Fit App (among many others) will do it for 69p - prob several free ones too but but I've only experience with the Garmin one via my family members without a Garmin watch.  We still share the data on the Garmin Connect website.

The main advantage of a watch is it's easy to see on your wrist your pace so you can modify it in real time - my experience of using a GPS enable phone is carrying it is less comfortable and an armband means you can't see it in real-time, only after the run.  This and you can have it do advanced thing like race a virtual partner, program intervals and upload training plans to it, have it tell you to speed up/slow down etc.

I gave up carrying my phone on my long training runs - it may not weigh much but it adds up over the miles and I ended up with an aching arm on occasion (maybe just that I'm weak!).

Hello John. I have done exactly what you are just setting out to do as I set out to run the NY marathon from the couch in 6 months. I had never run any real distance before and here is a brief summary of what I know.

1. Gear - Now £70 might seem expensive for a pair of runners but it will seem even more expensive if they are not the correct type for you. Without going into details too much, just get yourself along to a neutral supplier (not sports direct or asics) who has the equipment to look at your running style (normally a treadmill and video camera) and advise on what kind of runner you are. Runners needs for example. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_and_fitness/4286146.stm This is very important that you get the correct shoes early on as you will avoid injuries later.

2. Get yourself checked out by your GP and explain what you are about to start. You say you want to lose 30lb so it would be wise to get nutritional advise at the same time. It may be wiser to do lower impact training first to lead into a running programme. this might not be what you want to hear but again, injuries will be less common if you do good prep before hand.

3. Set yourself a decent and realistic target. To do this you need a proper running plan and I have used the asics http://my.asics.co.uk programme but there are many others. Set you goal and a time you expect to do it in and it will work everything out for you. I would set your sights on something higher than 10k maybe a half marathon and see what you think. Personally, I did a my first 10k run after 3 months training and I found that little events along the way help to focus you on the long term aim and keep your interest and enthusiasm intact.

These are the basic starting blocks that I would suggest to anyone as I have made all of the mistakes for me to help you not to. If you want to know more then I have a blog about the whole thing. Good luck with it.

http://nymarathonrookie.blogspot.co.uk/

John you could try the Runkeeper or Endomondo app on your phone.

you can program schedules into them so it makes it easy to follow training without having to think too much. The app tells you when to change pace, start an interval, when youve done a mile, etc etc.

and they are both free apps.

Thanks all.

I missed commenting about my running shoes and this is something I should have commented on earlier.

After advice from the first few posters I went to Snow and Rock who have a Gait machine and spent about 30 minutes using their treadmill and getting the right shoes.

I then took back my Sports Direct Karimmor ones and got a credit note which i have used to buy the jacket, etc.

Marathon Rookie, I admire your enthusiam for a marathon but the very thought of that kills me to be honest. It would be just too much for me to comprehend at the moment. Althought it is something I really want to achieve in my life to say "I did that".

Daeve I agree with you on the armband, it may get too much for me once i get running properly and I will probably need to look at a watch. Checked out prices today and seems to be around £130-£160, so that will need to go on hold at the moment. However your advice makes total sense and I will look at this further down the line.

Max's mum and I will check out the apps, thanks.

How many time a week are you expecting to run? Yes a marathon is daunting but I would say that a goal of 10k after 5 months is a very low target and you will not get the results you desire (weight loss and fitness) which only come with sustained distance running. How much do you weigh and how tall are you?

I am 5'5" and weight 199 pounds (14 stone 3), I look like a medicine ball I think lol.

I am trying to do the C25K and running 3 times a week. Just redoing week 1 again as the first 2 runs i only managed half of it before my shins cramped.

I usually have 3 take aways a week with snacks and stuff and maybe a little cider and now eating senisbly rather than strict dieting and no alcohol. I am hoping eating sensibly and running will lose my weight gradually and i will get to 12 1/2 stone by May for the 10k.

2 wheatabix for breakfast with semi skimmed milk.

Microwave rice and tuna in spring water for lunch at work.

Normal meal in the evening such as pasta or chicken salad etc.

Snacks is fruit if i have it. Drinking 2 litres of water a day at least now.

If you can offer any suggestions on my food it would be appreciated folks.

Dieting is tough for most people - that said once you get going it can be quite easy if you are clever.

3 takeaways removed a week with alcohol is probably around 3500 kcal over your normal intake (depending on the takeaway, fish & chips is a lot better than Indian typically for example) - that alone is 1lb a week weightloss if you're weight was level before.  Add the exercise in and you're away!

The biggest thing for me was having a decent breakfast and then not getting hungry - in fact just doing that rather than a small one or just coffee seemed to kickstart my metabolism.  2 Weetabix (37.5g) is only 134 kcal - hardly enough for me to get me through the morning and I weigh less than you!  I try to eat every 2-2.5 hours if I can, 5 meals a day is better than 3 with long gaps.

You could go the numerical route - calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate) to see what calories you need to break even, then factor in excercise and give yourself a decent deficit.  3500 kcal for a 1lb of weightloss i.e. 1 lb a week = 3500 kcal deficit (500 kcal a day).

i.e. My BMR is about 2000 (+ ~500  for activity) = 2500 kcal to break even.  I'm aiming to lose 1lb and a bit a week (i.e. 500-800 kcal/day deficit) so eat around 1800 kcal balanced diet with moderate excercise.  I eat more when I do a long run (1hr+) burning nearer 1000 kcal.  It goes up and down a bit depending on what we're eating in the house and what I like more - but averages out in a week.  I use Myplate on livestrong.com to track it all as 99% of food I eat is in the database.

It's not an exact science, everyone is different (some need to eat a lot less to lose it, others can eat more) - but I'm a scientist and like to do things this way - keeps me motivated (I also track my weight v calories v excerise done and play with stats).

You can eat too little as well which makes your body want to store fat, so you get diminishing returns - a lot of people fall into that trap.

Thanks for the info.

I think what i shall do is do as I am doing, as my eating is better and i am not getting hungry. See how it goes for 2 weeks and then change my eating habits again if i dont see any weight loss and try the above method.

A good run tonight. Felt stronger but shins ached a little after about 20 mins. Managed the full 30 mins though and distance covered was more than last time so I must have been faster. (2.89k in the 30 mins).

One more run for week 1 before moving to week 2.

I think i am getting addicted.

Carbohydrate intake manipulation has indeed been shown to modify weightloss in controlled conditions - though interestingly a paper in the journal Obesity (Sofer et al., 2011) points that carb intake in the evening had significant health and weightloss benefits over 6 months.  I doubt though a GP should say "eat as many carbs as you want in the morning" (in fact I imagine they didn't mean it literally) as if you exceed your daily energy intake compared to your expenditure you will realistically not be able to lose weight.  The research points to modifying a calorie controlled diet to take in the carb allowance in a certain time period, not to have carte blanche

Daeve, you seem knowledgeable on food intake.

Does my food sound about right or totally wrong? I dont want to crash diet, but lose it over a period of a couple of months.

2 wheatabix for breakfast with semi skimmed milk.

Microwave rice and tuna in spring water for lunch at work.

Normal meal in the evening such as pasta or chicken salad etc.

Snacks is fruit if i have it. Drinking 2 litres of water a day at least now.

Runforest I totally agree but even now i can tell that my body is moving better and i feel like i have more energy. albeit it is probably psychological.

I'm not a nutritionist (analytical chemistry/cancer my areas of speciality I suppose).  And I hesitate to offer any advice that borders on medical as I subscribe wholeheartedly to the premise that the internet is not the place to get that advice from!  Get advice from an expert - and by that I don't necessarily your GP who by definition are anything but experts.

I just thought your breakfast was a bit sparse to set you up for the day - not much necessarily wrong otherwise (depends on your weight/activity and calorific intake).  The proof is in the results - see how much you lose in a week, if its much over 1lb eat a bit more (healthily add some balanced calories), if it is less reduce a bit.  You're unlikely to do yourself any serious harm with that diet

sounds good to me.

WOW lovely run, Managed 1.90km on week 1 day 3 with 45 seconds left because i was at my front door.

So could say did 2km in the 30 mins which is 1/2 km more than Week 1 day 1.

Shins felt better, only slight ache.

I guess I best not keep bumping this thread now as I feel i am on the right track and dont want to annoy anyone.

Nice one - it really is a good feeling when you enjoy a run - I often bore my other half (*not* a runner!) with how good it was for a while afterwards - that's why this forum is good.  I sometimes miss that feeling of massive improvement that you get at the start - saying that I've lost a fair bit of fitness since Oct so there is some ground to be made each week.

The key is to keep it up, and keep enjoying it.

Daeve wrote (see)

You can eat too little as well which makes your body want to store fat, so you get diminishing returns - a lot of people fall into that trap.

What a load of rubbish.

There were no fat people in Auschwitz.

Erm well thats probably this thread over and done with now.