Starting couch to 5K tomorrow morning - anyone want to join?

I feel your pain, I'm the same (5'10"). Although I currently walk more than I run, I'm just under the 8 min mark with my average pace. I'm going to have to slow down the running as the runs get longer because I cannot see that being sustainable.

Thank you, I will give it a go when I head out later. I’ve got long legs so find it really hard to run slowly!

7 mins a km is a strong speed for a new runner. It took me quite a while to get to that after I first completed the program. Try slowing down a little, maybe to 7:30/km. See what that does for your ability to regulate breathing.

I run roughly 7mins a km, so not at all fast.

I feel like my chest tightens and I can’t breathe properly and so need to stop and walk. I’m not sure how much of it is physical and how much mental barriers to overcome.

Week 3 complete. Breathing wasn't great because of the cold, but I did it! And did my additional 2 mins after the cool down for each of the runs. Hopefully this will make the jump to 16 mins of running in week a bit easier.

What sort of speed do you run at, and are you able to control your breathing? You may be going too fast or not be breathing effectively, either of which would make a huge difference.

Keep on going, it will get better, honestly!

Yes @Anewagain just keep going & try to build up to covering 5k distance even it takes 45-50mins with walks that way your doing the distance and slowly the time will come down.

I did parkrun again today and it felt easier plus I knocked another 30secs off - I could of knocked a minute off but I was running with a friend who hadn’t ran 5k for a year but she was determined and we were super chuffed to just do 1x1min walk at halfway mark. I’m amazed how in a month I’ve got from 38min to 34min for 5k, doing squats and lunges as strength training is definitely paying off.

week 4 run 4 done today even though I left a week in between and it was so much easier!

Thank you all for your encouragement re: the distance covered. I’m prepared to keep going beyond this and gradually work on pace.

I completed W8 today. One more week to go!

I couldn’t either and then I discovered my heavy periods meant I was really anaemic. I take iron and got the mirena coil in and I could do it.

I’m rather disheartened today. After doing my
longest run yet on Tuesday today I made 2.5km and gave up. I couldn’t run for more than 10 minutes at a time without being really out of breath.

I know people say you have bad runs sometimes, but I’m getting a bit frustrated that my progress isn’t faster now.

I want to be able to run comfortably for 30 minutes. I still can’t do it despite following the programme.

Completed wk3 run 2 during lunch and again added another 2 min run at the end of my cool-down. So ultimately I did 26 mins instead of 24, of which 11 mins were running, and my average pace is just below 8:00/km. Very pleased with that.

Agree it ought to be called “couch to 30 minutes” rather than couch to 5K! But guess that’s not as snappy

Just completed W5R2 with a little help from Beyoncé towards the end. So, I know what's next.

@Anewagain I'm short and slow so my first 5k took me about 43 minutes ish. I'm about the same pace now two years later but not back up to the 5k yet.

echo PP, when I did it first time round I wasn’t near 5k at week 9. I started doing Park Runs which are 5k with a bit of a walk in the middle and my first runs we’re about 38 mins. Doing it weekly then I think I got a PB of 27 mins in a relatively short period of time. This was just by doing the distance a few times a week.

my next challenge was a Santa 10k, then the Great South Run (10 miles) then a half marathon. I enjoyed the 10k distance the most, felt the half marathon was too long as I didn’t commit enough to the training.

it’s a really fun journey of discovery to see where it’ll get you … I really enjoyed Brutal runs which are mud runs. I wasn’t the fastest as I just didn’t have the drive to run more than a few times a week but did train for the longer distances. Never did any training to get faster.

6 years later I’m finding it hard! But can’t wait to see where I get to

I think when I completed it before, I got to around 4km. But I'm fairly tall and long legs do help with distance. Just keep running. As you get used to running for that length you'll get faster, but you can also add another min to your run and build that up until you get to 5k. My first full 5k took me around 38 mins!

Don’t worry about it. I would just keep building and aiming to go a little bit further each time.

I am doing a shorter run today to work on speed. Will just do 2k, but I am aiming to do it faster than usual to try and build stamina that way.

Will go back to my slow 4kms at the weekend.

astuz it’s a massive leap at w5 r3. I’m not sure why they do it tbh!

Various options to consider:

Can you re route your run so you don’t have any uphill? Even a small uphill tires me out way more than flat. Could you reverse the route so that bit is downhill!? I got through w5 the first time by cheating and having some downhill at the end of my 20min run! (I happen to live down a hill so it worked out…)

You could try repeating w5 runs 2 and 3 a few times until you feel ready for the w5 r3.

You could allow yourself a 1 min walk in the middle. It’s not quite achieving the full run but so what. Better than giving up anyway! Week 6 goes back to having some walk intervals anyway, so I don’t think it’s a big deal to put in a short walk if you need it.

I completed W8R2 yesterday and measured the distance for the first time - and I’m nowhere near 5K!

Feeling discouraged because I must be running at a snails pace but also now also more seriously working out what I need to do next to keep going. From what I’ve read, I should increase length of run to build stamina in order to then build speed??

W1R3 completed this morning. I Strava’d it out of interest today and covered 3.5k in the 30 mins.
Ive been trying to fit in some fast paced walks each day to help me improve, which has been great on the the 3 days the toddler has been at nursery and I just have the baby in pram, but not sure how far I’ll get on the days toddler is home 😂.
Roll on week 2 on Sunday!

@astuz I came off the plan at this point as I found myself getting disheartened at not being able to do 20 minutes straight.

I now run 4km at a time, and aim to run as much as possible, but I don’t beat myself up if I need a minutes walk now and again.

I’m enjoying it far more running without the programme.

I'd like to join, if I may.

I haven't run since I was 15, and my previous job involved a lot of walking, so never worried too much about my general fitness. I now have a very sedentary job, and I've noticed that I can't walk as far as I used to, hence the decision to do C25k.

I'm on week 5, and was doing really well up until this week (apart from a slow start because I couldn't even run for 60s at first). However, the 20min run was just too much. I managed 10 minutes, but then hit a slight uphill bit and had to slow to a walk (but did get going again after about a minute of walking - did this about 3 times). I suppose the only thing to do is to keep attempting it? The speaker keeps saying to slow down if I'm tired, but I already run as slow as I can (I run slower than I walk), so can't do that. I don't get massively out of breath, it's more the muscles in my feet, ankles and calves,which feel like I have lead weights attached to them, and then eventually the muscles seize up altogether. I think maybe it's a combination of using muscles that I haven't used since I was 15, and also, I don't think I have very good circulation to my feet (they're always semi-numb with cold, even with thick socks and slippers).

Any words of advice welcome!

Gah! I was supposed to restart c25k yesterday but delayed till today as I’d already done a weights class (and because I am Queen of Excuses). Now it’s peeing it down and I have to go running in the rain! That’ll teach me 😬

Any run Is a good one @notacissy and you may find pace slowly improves with time. Once you have done 8wks put an intervals run in once a week, just sprint counting to 20 in your head then slow run counting to 40 then go again or do lamp posts. It can help with speed, repeat 5-6x.

my 15yr doesn’t run either, she’s incredibly fit in a different competitive sport but nope won’t do parkrun any more.

Onto week 5 this week and loved R1. I think I prefer the extended runs as you can get into it without the stop start. I'm still very slow and can't see me ever being faster than an 8min km but I was able to thank some dog walkers who let me past and I'm recovering quite quickly so must be getting fitter. I also had to tighten my running belt so although I'm not losing any weight I might be losing some inches.

My kids are 13 and 15 and started running with me so I went back three weeks to let them join in, they were great at it but typically got bored and left me three weeks behind schedule.