Has anyone actually ‘got fit’ from c25k?

[CheesePleaseCheese]

I do a lot of walking and I’m on my feet a lot, always average 10,000 steps a day. But i feel terribly unfit.
I have around a stone to lose but my primary goal is to build up fitness and hopefully lower my resting heart rate.

Has this worked for anyone? I’ve just done w1r1 and couldn’t wait for it to end 😆

Yes I did. I started it May 2020 & never looked back. Couldn’t run at all & was as red as beetroot in the beginning.

Ran 30 minutes this morning and bounced into the shower 😊

I did it about 10 years ago and currently run half an hour, three times a week. But, like you, in the first week (and in fact in all of the weeks) I couldn't believe I was going to get to the end and be able to run for half an hour. I quite enjoyed having someone tell me what to do and just doing it though. I kept listening to the last episode for months. But now I just listen to a podcast.

I think it's helped - I'm sure I'm fitter than I would have been if I hadn't done it.

Oh that’s good to hear. I just can’t envision me being fit considering how out of puff I felt today 😕

Yes (not me) but you don’t magically stay fit afterwards unless you continue doing the effort

I’d highly recommend joining your local parkrun. You can walk all the way round to start with, just try and get round more quickly each week as one of your sessions, and at the end you’ll hopefully be addicted and keep going

I did it years ago and never thought for a minute I’d be able to run for 35 mins without stopping. But by the end, I did! It’s really slow progression and I think you’ll be surprised week to week!

I only consider myself fit when I can comfortably jog for half an hour at least. I've never done C25k but yes, I'm sure you will feel fitter if you complete it. Though it won't make you lose weight, that is about eating less.

I find I've been able to keep it up by simply making it into a habit - where I put my running stuff on, leave the house, walk for five minutes and then just run when I get to a certain point. I almost do it on autopilot now.

My mum did!
She kept it up and now does 3 5K runs a week. Has done a 10K too.

Yes I did, did run/walk/run for first few weeks, then gradually built up the running and got fit and really into cardio, primarily for mental health. Still took little breaks and walks during runs whenever felt like it.

Walking doesn’t have anywhere near the same effect for me MH wise and didn’t / still doesn’t get heartrate up much. Ditto swimming, as am slow!

I've done it and was so surprised at how quickly it got easier. There's still some runs down the line that I found tougher and kept thinking christ this interval has got to be done soon! However I think generally by about week 3 it felt way way more doable and I felt fitter, which then increased week on week.

I completed C25K in 2020, after faffing with it for years. Started off feeling like a sack of potatoes gallumphing down the street, and hated every second.

By the end I could keep going for 30 minutes, but still felt like a sack of potatoes and still hated it, except for a few seconds around minute 12.

Kept running for a few more months, still hated it, stopped. Fitter but hatred of exercise undimmed.

Thank you all!
I really can’t see me ever being at a point of being able to run for half an hour 🙈 but I’m excited to see if I can get there eventually.

I definitely need to lose the stone but I’m focusing on fitness and cutting down on sugar for the time being. If I try to do too much at once then I just fail miserably.

In all honesty, it’s my heart rate I’m mostly concerned about, I think that’s my body telling me to get fit!

For me the biggest benefit isn't weight related, it's more that it burns off that anxious energy you get when you're worried about things or know you have a lot to do, and helps me to concentrate when I'm working. Plus you get to feel a bit smug that you've done it for the day.

My husband did it and now runs 5k regularly. I can’t do it due to injuries. He said when you get to the longer runs you feel like you just can’t do it but push in and you will and at the end you will be running half an hour.

Another recommendation for joining your local parkrun. There will be loads of people there in a similar boat and it’s very encouraging, especially to see your finishing times come down as you get fitter.

W1R1 had me thinking running was absolutely not for me. I thought I'd never be able to run for 30 mins since I couldn't manage the baby intervals, but my ability and endurance changed so quickly I was amazed.

For what it's worth when I briefly went to a gym I had to avoid resting my hands on the HR detectors as they would stop the machines due to my HR being so high it though I was at imminent cardiac event 😂😂. I run now and wear a fitbit and happy to say it never seems to think I'm on the brink of death so it must have helped on that front!

Yes, very fit. I did it nearly 20 years ago and ran a sub 4 hour marathon 2 weeks ago at 55yo.

Obviously running will become a way of life though, once the bug gets you. You won't get fit by doing C25K and seeing that as job done (although you will be fitter) but if you stick with the programme, youll see such vast improvements, quickly, that you'll keep going.

I should say when I started I really couldn't jog to the end of the road without stopping.

Yes, I did. I started it because I signed up for Race for Life and I felt like I couldn't ask people to sponsor me to just stroll around a park when I didn't have a good reason (illness, young children with me, etc)
It was literally a pain at first. my shins hurt and I was out of puff after a minute. But even after one week I noticed a slight improvement, so I kept at it and by the end of it I was able to jog the whole Race for Life. Slowly, but still! I also lost a bit of weight, not a stone but I went down a jeans size because my bum & hips toned up. So that was a nice benefit.
So I carried on for a few years, just 3 times a week going for slowish jogs, then I had to have my gallbladder removed. They took my heart rate in hospital before the op, and I had a resting heart rate of 64BPM. I think the average is around 75, so it definitely improved my aerobic fitness.

I did Couch to 5k last year and I was really proud to get to the end. Unfortunately though running isn’t for me, I hated every second and never found it got easier and I have a weakness in my knee that makes it untenable. But, it did make me determined to find something else that did work for me to maintain my fitness.

You’ve got nothing to lose. Best case scenario it’ll change your life.

I had to do week 3 three times. I just couldn't run for longer than 3 mins, I couldn't ever see how I'd get to week 4. Yesterday I did week 4 session 1! I certainly won't be running 5k soon and I reckon it'll take me even longer to "graduate" to week 5, but I am slowly getting fitter...
I am feeling it today though 😂

Yes! Started in 2020 in my mid40s, never having run more than 5 mins in my life.

Still running 3x weekly including parkrun, and clocked up my first 10k last week.

Do it do it do it!

If you do it but don't enjoy running, you could carry on by doing something else like brisk walking, cross trainer or bike in the gym- less hard on the knees. Enjoying exercise is important.

illness just forced a month off running(5k 3xweek) and my resting heart rate rose by 5 points, now I’m running again it’s back down. I’m astonished I can actually run that far too, but just trust the program it does get you there (although unlikely to be 5k in half an hour at first)

This thread makes me realise I need to get back to doing 10k regularly (dropped it after injury). I vividly remember the first time I was out trotting along and thought, "Oh good, only another 3k to get home" rather than "bloody hell, another 3k to go?"

Somehow 5k still feels like a slog at the moment.