Anyone fancy starting Couch to 5K on Monday 5th Aug?

Thanks! I use an app called 5k runner and also map my run. I'm tired now though!! My distance has very fractionally increased but I'm assuming when I'm running for longer at a time I will naturally increase anyway! Good luck everyone!

Well done Ellie! I'm really impressed that you kept up the session (seems different to my week 4) and "got back on the horse", especially after having had a long break before you started. I know I would've been really tempted to just walk the rest if I had stopped, which would've been daft as you only missed a minute and a halfs running out of the whole thing in the end! If it's run 1 then I imagine you have another 2 goes to perfect that session. Great going

So I finally went back out... W4r1 (5 min warm up then 3 min run, 2 x 4 min run, 3 min run, 5 min cool down - obviously with walking breaks in between). So after nearly dying doing 3 minute runs last week (I haven't been out for a week) I found the first 3 min run easy(!!) but I failed on the first 4 minute run. I only managed 2.5 minutes. I decided that having gone for a run at 7.30 on a Sunday morning that I couldn't fail overall and walked the rest of that run and the walking bit. I had a song I really liked ready to play for the start of the second 4 minute run and pressed play just as my phone beeped for me to run. Ok so it was flat/very slightly downhill but I succeeded and found it easy (couldn't even have run that far on that road a few weeks ago so v happy). I found the last 3 min run a challenge but I didn't stop. Overall I am really pleased and happy. I know I failed the first 4 minute run but that's ok because I can do it again next time if I need to. I saw quite a few other runners too although nearly all of the time it was when I was on a walking bit!

Hope anyone else going out today is happy with their efforts! I know if I keep plodding on I will get there!

Thanks for the encouragement Lurking! I'm fancying a run tomorrow (afternoon though) but I'm not due until Monday, will see how things pan out. Good luck

Ellie - don't worry, you've had a lot on and at least the plan is still on your radar, that's a good start. You might find it helps you de-stress when you get into it too

Well done Slev! This week is the really exciting one for you. I think you've done the right thing slowing down and with the super speeds you were covering you'll still be racing along I reckon! What was your timing today?

Ah tinwe, so sorry to miss your moment of glory yesterday. Very well done! 25 minutes, phew!!! this really is Proper Running. And how encouraging for the rest of us to know that it actually is possible to do 5k. Yay!

I have not been out today but am gearing myself up for W4R2 tomorrow morning. Hoping it's as manageable as yesterday's was. Will try to up my speed a tiny bit and get up to 4k this time.

Am surprised to note that I'm really looking forward to it (Eek! Am I actually looking forward to exercising on a Sunday morning? Have I been possessed? )

Anyone else planning a Sunday morning run?

I've been so bad what with going back to work this week (I'm a teacher). I should be a few weeks ahead of where I am but keep making excuses! Very ridiculous so here I am, pledging to sort myself out and run tomorrow and then 3 times a week NO EXCUSES!

Yep, me! Just got back from W5R1 and had a really good run! It was my slowest yet but that was deliberate as I'm preparing for the 20 minutes that's coming up. Slowing down really helped - I felt I could have gone on for longer (although I didn't!). Bring on the next run!

Anyone run today? Awfully quiet...

Workate - I've got the app Get Running which cost about £1.99. It is the same as the NHS C25k plan, tells you what all the sessions consist of, when to do them (I.e. will tell you when your next run is due), when to run and stop, when it's half way and how much time you have left to run in chunks of time (e.g. "You only have 60 seconds left until you can cool down"). It pauses your own music to speak to you so you can listen to stuff that works for you. I liked "Laura" from the podcasts but hated the podcast music so I converted in week 1 I think and didn't look back.

I run it alongside the free Map My Run app which not surprisingly maps your run, tells you your distance pace, time and calories and lots of other stuff. They're serving me well

Sorry for gloriously self congratulatory post, prob trampled through lots of dog muck now

Posting while I walk the 2 mins left til I get home so will Post again later when I've got the babies to bed but couldn't wait to say I DID IT! W6R3 25 mins!!!

Covered 5.12 km in the 35 min session averaging 6.5 mins/km or 10.5 mins/mile and could've carried on further at the end once I'd got my pace

Bring on week 7!!

lurking, maybe you just really got into your running? I still struggle not to focus on counting down until I can walk again, but I do find I have a better run when I just go with the flow.

workate I've been using the RunDouble app on my android phone. As long as you turn GPS on, it tells you after every run/walk what your pace was for that run, how far you've run, and then your average pace so far and total distance covered so far. And then when you get home and check it you get a little graph of your speed and a map of where you went and which bits you ran on. Obviously don't know what it does in terms of updates on the longer runs as I haven't got that far yet.

And I just stick my own music on so I've got a selection of cheesy pop music that keeps me going. Nobody else can hear it so that's okay!

Well done, workate. We really are improving, aren't we? I'm hoping that just as weeks 4 to 6 are the most challenging, they're also the ones when something clicks and we really start to feel it's less of a slog. I can see that there is something a bit easier about doing fewer repetitions and not having the stop-start thing over and over again.

Enjoy your break. It's very well-deserved

Thanks tinwe. My app is a bit different and says for W4:

Run 4, Walk 2, Run 6, Walk 3, Run 4

Plus 5 mins warm-up and 5 mins cooldown, so I was only running for 14 minutes against your 16 and the whole thing was 19 minutes against your 24. I guess it will all even out eventually. Maybe that explains why I only did 3 and a bit k (although I may also have been painfully slow)

God, I am obsessing about this! Will shut up now and just go back out on Sunday to see how it compares.

Good luck everyone going out today!

And looking back I covered about 4.5km on those runs (although I may have walked a minute or two extra to get back home!) Hope that helps

Hiya! Week 4 is
run 3 - walk 1.5 - run 5 - walk 2.5 - run 3 - walk 1.5 - run 5 - walk 2.5
Plus 5 mins warm up and 5 mins cool down. Is that what you did? Maybe you were just really in the mood today

Right. Well, that was strange.

So W4R1 got off to a bad start: did my warm-up walk, was about a minute and a half into the first run when my phone (on my arm, in the armband thingy) rang. Saw it was DH, thought it must be something of vital importance. Stopped, tried to pause app, failed, app continued while I took call. Of course it was nothing remotely urgent and I am ashamed to say I got quite cross with my lovely DH and said, snippily, "Do you not realise I will have to start again and run an extra minute and a half because of you????" Realised that made me sound like a twat.

So started the whole W4R1 again and oddly it was much easier than I thought, but so much so that I'm wondering if the app malfunctioned? I was running round a block and not focusing on how many runs or how many minutes but just following instructions. Just as I thought I was about to start the last run, the nice man told me it was time to cool down.

According to the app, my distance was shorter than before (only 3.23 km so nowhere even approaching 5k) and for the first time I came home not sweating, not red in the face and not especially out of breath. I am really sure that something went wrong when I restarted the app and somehow I missed a bit out. Can this be so? Or is it that in my app, week 4 is getting me used to running for a bit longer but not so far, and the distance will build up?

I am baffled. Can someone else tell me what their W4 is/was like?

It's so nice to log back on here and find that lots of people have left comments when I've been away.

tinwe and slev your plans for post-graduation are exactly what I've been thinking. I've looked around and there are loads of apps for improving your 5K speed so I think I'm going to do that until I can run it in a reasonable time, maybe around 30 minutes. Then I'm going to start doing Parkruns, which handily take place just up the road from my house. Then a proper 5K and then start on the 5-10K plan. Perhaps we can get a new team together for that

ilove - you are amazing. Quite right to be proud of yourself. I am laughing out loud here at the shout of shouting "Legs! Legs!" to keep yourself going. I am going to use the same tactic when I'm out later.

slev - well done on your W4R3! Great progress.

So today I am going out for W4R1 which on my app is a bit different from yours, I think. Run 4 mins, Walk 2 mins, Run 6 mins, Walk 3 mins. Terrifying. I don't think I can do it but will give it a shot. I'm not going to go out for a few hours until I feel limber enough to even attempt this and will be choosing a route that has not a whiff of an incline.

workate, I think running in the rain is much easier than running in the sun. I too have no suitable wet-weather tops but unless it's pelting it down I think I'll just get out there and hope no one sees me. I might also change my playlist to make things a bit more interesting. tinwe, I too had a music malfunction last time when I accidentally hit shuffle and all the songs I wanted to keep for the walking bits were playing during the running bits. Must try to find some more upbeat songs that I actually like.

Will report back later.

No so fast Workate! It was in 35 mins I'm on W6R3 tomorrow - R2 session is 33 mins plus I misjudged the distance and had to walk back for a couple of minutes more. I'm averaging about 7mins per kilometer now but I'm deliberately going slow so as to be able to keep it up.