Does couch 25k actually work?

[JizzPigeon22]

I’ve just finished week one and can’t imagine for a second being able to run for half an hour after just 9 weeks!
Aibu to think this is a big con and I’m going to be disappointed? Currently doing it with my 5 year old and having a lot of fun but worrying ahead of time
Has anyone done it and want to share their running success stories?

it does!
feels weird when you get to running 10 min without break and realise that you have broken a mental barrier.

Yes! I’ve got one more run before I graduate. Loving it. And I bloody hate running.

It really works! I have restarted it after 4 months not being able to run due to an injury but up to March this year was running 3 times a week for 30 mins. It's more of a mental block than a physical one, just trust the programme!

@Sunrise234

Where did people go running? I am really unfit and I am embarrassed going anywhere that is too public but I have nowhere near that is private. Did anyone else suffer with embarrassment at first?

I run round my local park. It’s a 2 minute walk from my house and is about 2k round.

I would say it works, my dad used it after major heart surgery (very young, poor guy😭) and now he can run half marathons. To be honest i think it's a lot to do with physical health but mostly all in the mind, training your mind to say 'i can do this'
Well done to everyone giving it a go and achieving great things 👏🏻

Sexnotgender

That’s a good idea.

I’m doing it now. I am NOT a runner, really I’m not. I started it as I had put on a corona-stone, all round my belly, and it wasn’t a good look. I’m on week 5, but I’ve been doing it for 7 weeks as I repeated week three and week four.

I love it. I’ve been so surprised - I started it knowing I needed to do something but with a sense of dread, that I’d hate every second and it was just something to get through. But what I’ve loved is a real, tangible sense of progress. I use the same route each time and it includes a hill. In week one, the 60 second bursts of running up the hill were awful and left me so out of breath. I ran 8 minutes non-stop up the hill this morning. I’m a bit nervous about my next run - 20 minutes solid! - but there is no way, seven weeks ago, I could’ve run for 8 minutes up that hill without a break. So I would say: try it. If I can do it, you can.

I felt like you at the start, and every week looked like it would be impossible, yet I finished a couple of weeks ago and am happily running 5k three times a week now (but not in 30 minutes!). Completely agree with the podcast tip, once I switched to these from music it started me positively looking forward to it.

It definitely works! I’m on week 9 and still can’t quite believe I can run for 30 minutes without stopping. Not quite at 5k yet but hoping I’ll get there soon. I struggled the first week and was the same as you, just couldn’t imagine I’d ever be able to do it. I found in the later weeks it helped me listening to a podcast rather than music, the time seemed to pass quicker

Absolutely it does work! Those long runs without a break look so daunting when you're in week 1 but you really can do it.

When I first did it I honestly really struggled with running for 30 seconds straight. Wasn't overweight, just shockingly unfit. I signed up to the Race for Life that year so I had a goal to aim for and couldn't just give in when I got tired and bored, this really helped.

Sticking to the 3 sessions a week is top priority. Repeat a week if you need to. Find a route that's flat if you don't like hills. Wear trainers that fit properly. Run early in the morning in the summer before it gets too hot.

Good luck!

I started it in May and finished it last week! It really works!

I definitely run too fast. I think I struggled today because I didn’t have the 5 year old with me keeping at a sensible pace! I was always a sprinter so long distance is new to me.

Started C25k in January, as part of a major health push for 2020 after having my daughter last August.

I weighed myself on New Year's Day and was shocked. I'm 5'10" and well built (along with loving my food), so have been "heavy" my entire adult life, but seeing "15 st 6lbs" come up on the scales and then realising that put me in the obese BMI category sure did put a rocket up my arse.

I felt so shit after even 1 minute intervals of jogging that I couldn't believe I'd ever be able to run for 30 minutes, but I just took it one run at a time. Two of my friends had also decided to do the program alongside me, and we set up a WhatsApp group to encourage each other.

Not only did I manage to graduate, I caught the running bug in the process. Having also overhauled my diet, I now weigh just over 11 and a half stone, so a healthy BMI, and ran a half marathon distance a few weekends ago in 2 hours and 10 minutes. I can now run 10k in about 55 minutes, and would put my 5k time at about 26 minutes (it turns out i actually much prefer a long run, so I haven't really focused on a speedy 5k for a while)

So, I would say,

a) get "company"
b) trust in the program
b) accept there will be good runs, there will be bad runs, but it can be done. And then some!

I keep trying but never getting further than week 2 because I make excuses, work/time/rain/tired/bastard dog etc.
Thank you for starting this post op, I’m going to try again!

Please could someone explain how one can listen to podcasts (presumably of other things, not c25k?) while doing the right timings? How do you know when to walk/run etc? Thanks!

April 2013 on crutches with SPD, had baby, got even more broken.
July 2013 go to osteopath as still can not walk up hill due to pain and lack of mobility in hip
October 2013, realise limping is now a habit not necessary, try to balance my gait. Tired and huffing and puffing everywhere and do C25k wk 1 r1.
Nov/ Dec, have a pause due to various illnesses, restart after Christmas at about wk 3
March 2014, complete C25k. Signed up for 8.5 mile fun run in Feb as C25k was progressing, aim to run/ walk.
June 2014, accidentally run the full race. Swept along with the crowd and feeling good for first 5.5 miles, realise that after the imminent "Cardiac Hill" the last 2 miles are downhill and I have it in me... Get talked into a HM while euphoric enough to think it's a good idea.
Oct 2014, 364 days after C25k wk1, r1 I run my first HM.

I was totally shit at running at school "lapped you... lapped you twice... lapped you three times" type shit. Now I'm the runner

It really does work. Trust the programme.

After, there are 3 NHS C25k+ podcasts that are great at taking it a bit further and they do cover 5k. Years later, I still use them to concentrate on pace.

The NHS couch25k app is basically a set of recordings which tell you when to walk and run, with 5 different narrators who encourage you along the way and pass on tips. It's set so you can play whatever you like (music, podcast, audio book) and it just fades it a bit when the next instruction comes through.

The coach will talk over what you’re listening to.

@IveSeenThings I use Spotify for podcasts, start that going and then the app, and they talk to each other so it pauses the podcast while Laura is talking to you. Best of both worlds!

Yes it just talks over the music.

I found it so hard to start with but it was worth the effort.

Thank you Una, Jizz (hope you don't mind me calling you that!) and books

Worked for DS and partner, the thing after that is keeping it up he says

It does work, OP, it really does. It took me a few attempts to get past week 4 and a few times I gave up and had to start again- but once I had cracked that week I was fine. When I did week 5 day 3 I was literally in tears, I never thought I could run for 20 minutes. It is fantastic.

I did my first ever c25k run yesterday. I have always hated running but I'm overweight post second baby and need to Kickstarter the fitness. I managed it and felt good after. Loving hearing the success stories!

How did you 5yo get on? I'm thinking of taking mine but worried if get 'I'm tired!' After 2 mins!

Yes. In 50s. Repeat runs repeat weeks. Just don't stop.