Couch to 5k...Inspire me, started this week, Im struggling!!!

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So just want to get abit fitter, lose abit of weight. Downloaded the app ran twice, I hate it, really struggling. I know it's only week 1. Anyone felt the same but stuck at it???

I hated it to begin with had to keep repeating weeks.

That was about 5 years ago, now doing a half marathon next month and never been so fit and heathy. It really is worthwhile continuing, good luck and keep going!

Hello, I've just started! Did my first run/walk yesterday, today I ache! I'm unfit and overweight and in my 40s, but I'm also very stubborn once I get started! No real advice as I'm such a novice but happy to be a buddy if you like

I started 18 months ago, I hated how unfit I was those first few weeks and how physically I suffered but really focussed on how 'achievable' it felt.

I'm now a full on running addict! Got my 3rd half marathon in a few weeks and it's done wonders for my mental health.

Stick with it!!

Have you tried reducing your speed? It might help.

I am on week 8 btw and things got better about half way through.
My figure is much more toned although I don’t think I have lost weight, I look better, which makes it all worthwhile!

Join the C25K thread - I did about 2 months ago and I finished 3 weeks ago, now running 5k and Park Run. It's a friendly thread, and it really helped motivate me.

I didn't find it getting easier, because at the point you can manage to run 60 seconds, it asks you to go 90 seconds; after 3 minutes, it moves on to 5 minutes. But by 3 or 4 weeks in, when you are running for minutes at a time and you realise it wasn't long ago you struggled with 60 seconds, you realise you are making progress.

If it's really hard, try slowing down. This is not running to achieve a time, your light jog can be the same speed as your fast walk, but the key is jogging, a different movement. In time you will get faster, but for now you just need to move.

Good luck!

I started last November. I have my first half in ten days time. I’m incredibly excited which is very bizarre considering how much I hated running at school!

Advice wise, I agree with pp who said slow down. My usual take on it to others is to run as slowly as you can, and then slow down. You might feel a prat if you’re running on the road but who’s cares? You should see me trying to get up some of the hills near here, I swear each foot goes down an inch in front of the other! But I’m still running faster than everyone going past me in their cars!

Keep going. I can assure you it will click sooner or later and you'll love as much as I do!

I started last week, did run 5 today. It’s a bit sad, but I motivate myself with a quote from the ‘This girl can’ adverts - “I may be slow, but I’m lapping everyone on the couch”.

Do you have good running music?

I might try music. I live near tbe beach so might run along there

I started last week did 2 runs and hated it, so haven’t got my third run in yet. Was a bit put off by weather (every time I looked out the window there was thunder, lightning, torrential rain) and family events but those are really excuses. I just can’t find the motivation. Perhaps we could cheerlead each other?

Started c25k around 3 months ago, found it boring - listened to music, still boring.

Then a running group got set up at work, i run way better when gossiping at the same time!

Ive done two parkrun 5ks now and feel brilliant for it - the sense of achievement was fantastic and the energy at events really gives a buzz.

Ps, running on sand is HARD

I would really recommend music and also making sure that you have good gear - clothing, trainers and armband or whatever for your phone.

I cannot emphasise enough how TOTALLY AND UTTERLY AMAZING AND PROUD (honestly, I know I’m shouting, it’s that good) you will feel when you finish this. It took me a while because I did it over the summer and it was often too hot to run. But the sense of achievement is absolutely overwhelming.

Please keep going

I started about four months ago, also hated it and I used to run a lot when I was young. Then I unfortunately had a non run related accident and put my back out so haven't run for eight weeks. I just did my first very short run again this week.

I promise you it gets better.

Starting running is hard. I had to do a C25kplan after injury. I remember thinking “how the hell did I ever do this for fun?!!” as it was tough, and I felt so unfit.

Keep doing the sessions every week- just do it, even though you might not want to, and you’ll get to the point where it’s easier and you enjoy it! It takes a while though.

@Figureof80 I'm up for a bit of cheerleading if you like! Going to attempt 2nd run tomorrow.

I started in March last year as part of a group. I found being with other people really helped to keep going. I’m in my late 50s and still on the overweight side.

I’ve stuck with running three times a week and have now run over 40 parkruns and a number of 10k races. I’ve also made some lovely friends at the running club.

Good luck

I started recently - am on week 4. I live near the beach too and I love running along the seafront. I haven't run since I was forced to at school (not even sure what made me start c25k tbh) but with some good music a little of sun, a run/walk along the beach is a great way to spend 30 minutes!

I started about 7 weeks ago. I did repeat week 4 and I have run each one of the 5 week runs twice this week, but I kept going for 20 nearly minutes, which is amazing considering I really struggled with the one minute runs to start with, so I’m definitely getting fitter.

It’s harder now the weather is getting unsettled and nights are darker but I’m hooked.

Good music is definitely a must.

Keep going! I'm restarting c25k next week.
I stupidly applied for the London Marathon last year, after not running for 3 years, and even then, I was slower than slow.
I only went and got a place, so I went from nothing to marathon in 7 months.
I then signed up for a half marathon, which I did last weekend, in the hopes it would keep my momentum going. This plan didn't work, as I was running because I had to, not because I wanted to.
Once you've done the ground work in completing c25k, the pressure comes off a bit, and you can just run for you.

I started last April and honestly thought I was going to die before the end of week 1.

Get some good tunes on your phone or synced to the c25k app.

Keep going. Book a sponsored run to give you something to aim for - is there a Santa dash near you before Christmas? MoRun in November? That way you can get support from your sponsors too.

Try Parkrun. Hugely supportive, and you will NEVER be last, again lots of novice runners.

Be careful though, you might get the bug.... (yeah yeah, that's what I thought too, right up to the finish line of London Marathon in April, exactly a year after my first C25K run)

Good luck!

Good motivating music is key for me! If you download the BBC C25K app, you run that with your music in the background and it cuts in to tell you when to stop/start.

Keep at it. It's amazing how much you improve week on week. Don't look any further than today's run. If it gets too much, repeat weeks but honestly, by the time you're halfway through the programme it's as much about reprogramming your brain to believe you're capable of running for minutes at a time, as it is pushing your fitness.

I'm one of those annoying, evangelical born-again runners. I loathed running at school, panting away, stitches, shin splints and being lapped with glee. When I completed the first 8 minute burst in C25k, it was genuinely the longest sustained burst of running in my life, and it was such a massive achievement to me.

364 days after my first C25k run, I completed a half marathon in 2:30

I had Laura on the C25k podcasts. The music is naff, but paced quite well. It is easy to pick music that's too fast. I still use C25k+ podcasts when I need motivation through shorter runs as I'm very partial to a sneaky walk break.
Slow down
Breathe out
It won't feel "easier" as you progress, you'll just realise that you achieve much more on the same effort. Many runners hate the first 10 minutes as your body adjusts, and that's where you're at for much of C25k, by the time you get to the longer runs, you've got over the worst of it.

I have always considered myself to be completely unfit, and bad at sport. I started c25k back in August, thinking that if I don’t get fit now (mid-life crisis), it will never happen. I did the first one in boiling heat and way too fast, and got home feeling like I was going to die! However after reading around on here realised that I needed to run way slower, repeated the first run and found it much easier. After that, I have surprisingly found it pretty easy, not out of breath, slightly aching legs. Tomorrow, however, is the 20 minute run, which I am dreading but I am going to try my best and just repeat the week if it doesn’t work, until I get there. My tips would be to repeat any weeks where you don’t feel comfortable moving onto the next week and music - I found a eighties compilation worked well.

3rd run tomorrow Im dreading it the running bit kills me, my legs feels heavy in fact I feel like a baby elephant pounding away.

Run slower, you’ll last better.
Friend and I started C25K in 2016 and are doing a half marathon this autumn. We’re in our early 50s and have never, ever run before.
Friend completed C25K, I didn’t due to illness and switched to Jeffing when I came back to it. Jeffing was a revelation.