Hi @openupmyeagereyes. Yes, you can use Map my Run, or fitbit, or Samsung/Apple Health, or any other app you like alongside the C25K one.
It is worth remembering that it is very deliberate the NHS don't include distance. Distance is never mentioned, at all, throughout the program since this is not the focus. It's how long you run for, not how far. It can be quite demotivating to aim for a distance because it counteracts the advice on the app to keep slowing down.
@5SecondsFromWilding you will do it. The most important thing these earlier weeks are teaching you is that 80% of running ability is psychological, not physical. You think you can't do it, rather than you physically not being able to run.
Ask yourself this - are you physically able to walk after you have finished a run? Do you collapse to the floor or faint - no, you don't. And when you've finished and you start walking, how long before you are capable to talking? Are you unable to say your name, or can you say good morning, or can you have a brief chat (albeit through panting breathing).
These two things (ability to move and ability to speak) are physical. Everything else telling you that you can't do this is psychological.
If at any point (during or after) you reach the point where you can't say "good morning" to a dog walker or whatever, then you are going too fast. The answer is always slow down.
It's not that you can't do this. It's either
(a) you are running too fast - slow your pace but keep running.
(b) you think you can't do it.
Keep your mental self-help positive
- I can do this
- my legs will keep me going
- I can talk so my breathing is ok
- I can control my breathing
- I just need to slow down, not stop running