C25k get your encouragement here.

[StripyHorse]

As the last thread has been going so well, with graduates aplenty, here's a new thread for encouragement. Everyone is welcome!

Thanks for new thread! I lurked on the last one.
I'm on my second attempt to do C25k. Last year I got as far as wk6, but I had aches and pains in funny places so it petered out.
This time I'm alternating w Joe Wicks to help me build strength, and I'm currently repeating Wk 5 to ensure Im ready for W6.
W5r2 done for the second time today. Can't wait to do W6r3 for the first time next week!!

Boofuckinghoo - most people dont finish running 5k, it's really couch to 30 mins running and then you can push on from there to 5k.

Someone put up a link, I think on the last thread, for average 5k times by sex and age. For my age (48) Im looking at nearer 40 minutes to be average - I'm only at 5 weeks so don't want to srcond guess, but 40 mins and a bit more maybe feels right at the moment.

The average 5k time for my age and sex is about 38 minutes but it takes me a little longer because I’m pregnant.

I started C25k a few weeks ago, did w5r2 yesterday. I broke my ankle in 3 places a few years ago and am trying to use the program to rehabilitate it. Does anyone have experience of this? And how do you work with hills? Some runs are so easy (downhill) while others are so hard (uphill)...

I finished week 2 today. I forgot to stop my Map my Run app when I got in the house but I think I managed 4.4k in 30 min.

For me so much of doing this is the commitment to getting out of the house and going for a run. This evening it was really dull and windy, dp was making pizza and there was wine in the fridge. Usually, in the circumstances, there is no way I’d have gone out for exercise but today I did!

I’m trying to go out every other day and really want to get to the 5k mark. I’ve decided to stick to the same main route and then for any extra distance there is a park just next to my house that I can do another lap of to get up to 5k.

This is the link with the average times for 5k... www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/average-5k-time#by-age-and-sex

I found it super helpful and made me realise that I shouldn’t even be aiming for 5k in 30minutes. I’ll be happy if is manage it in 40 minutes.

DH has convinced me to alternate endurance runs with interval/fartlek runs. So tomorrow I’m going to try my first fartlek! Going to go back to week 1 and alternate walking with running to the max. Let’s see how it goes 🤞🏻

Hi team!
I disappeared for a bit due to weather and self isolating, but just finished week 6 yesterday. 25 minutes! I was so slow though. Much slower than earlier on. I think I've lost some fitness and momentum. Is like to go back to some short intervals rather than push on to the long ones!

Anyone else experiencing that?

Ikeameatballs I had a hilly section on my route today and I tried to slow down on the hill so that the total effort needed was similar to on the flat.

Obviously it would depend on the steepness of the hill! But it let me make it to the top of a fairly long incline not too peched out.

Hello all, can I join too? I started C25K at the end of June but had a month off while I was on holiday and then had a health scare (all ok, fortunately). I went back to W3 after the break and have just done W5R1 today.

Sleepyhead and Marlus, I'm only 1 run behind you! Waiting with interest to see how the fabled W5R3 goes for you both

mackerella you’ve scared me now. What’s wrong with w5r3? Am at least going to do it on a beach today, so no hills...

Rejoining- I got to week 4 a couple of months ago then work got busy and I hit a bit of a wall progressing so stopped running. But I’ve been for a run twice this week. I’m trying to carry on from the end of week 4 but struggling with the 5 min blocks so I’m just going to keep trying that run till I crack it.

@sanityisamyth - I also find the longer runs harder. I like the interval weeks.

Has another go at W7R1 today in a less muddy route. Found it really hard - stopped and starting a lot today. Crap mindset on top of bad night's sleep and feeling very hungry (am doing Fast800).

Will revisit it tomorrow and see how it goes.

Managed 30 minutes this morning. Slightly faster than my recent runs which was good. Still incredibly slow though😂

[quote OceanPacific]@sanityisamyth - I also find the longer runs harder. I like the interval weeks.

Has another go at W7R1 today in a less muddy route. Found it really hard - stopped and starting a lot today. Crap mindset on top of bad night's sleep and feeling very hungry (am doing Fast800).

Will revisit it tomorrow and see how it goes. [/quote]

They're definitely more challenging! I'm trying to convince myself that I need to do W7R2 today. I'm thinking I'll try a new route today to make a bit more interesting!

Thank you all so much for your support on the last thread after my dispiriting W6R1. I got a bit emotional which is why I didn’t reply straight away!

I’ve had a bit of a rough week. As I said on the last thread, my aim for starting running is to improve my fitness to try to give myself a better chance of success for IVF (and to give myself something to bloody DO to feel like I’m improving my chances, even if it’s unlikely to make a great deal of difference!). A friend has given birth this week, and I have had the most awful period pain I’ve had since I was a teenager. Something about the extra vitamins and supplements I’m taking seems to make it heavier and more painful. I’ve also filled in the same IVF consent form for the fifth time, on paper this time, as the poxy system keeps wiping some of our consents from the digital form. So I’ve been a bit of an emotional wreck. Added to this I found that my whole leg was quite stiff and sore after my ankle tipped up on my last run, so I’ve spent the week doing gentle yoga and curled up in bed with a dozy cat. Thankfully I’ve been off work this week!

Finally ventured out for a run yesterday and did W5R1, the three 5 minute runs. I found it a bit harder than last time, having had a week off and still feeling a bit shitty, but I did it and tackled a fairly steeply undulating section in the first run followed by a shallow but long uphill in the second, keeping the flatter bit until last. I’m feeling better now than when I posted last time.

The plan now is to repeat W5 in my new and more supportive running shoes and then try W6 again on a less punishing route.

I'm about to start week 8 but really can't be arsed!

I’m about to start Week 6 Run 1 tomorrow. I’ve done it consistently every other day, apart from a two week break when I was ill. I repeated the last run I did before that to test the waters, and it was fine, so I carried on with the programme after that. I am very, very slow, though. I know I won’t hit anything like 5k. I just want to get to the end and then see. My aim is to improve fitness. I actively don’t want to lose any weight.

@TeamEponine thanks for that link. For my age it says I should take 38 minutes to run 5kms so I feel happier about my 4.8kms in 30 minutes now!

@The3rdWatermelon
So we're repeating the same section. Wks 5 -6 are a big jump, so it makes sense. You have good runs, and not so good ones. Our bodies are complicated, it's a good way of helping us to interrogate what's going on for us. Wishing you best of luck for your next round.

What are people using to track distances and speed? I’ve got no idea how far or how fast I am going.

@daisypond

What are people using to track distances and speed? I’ve got no idea how far or how fast I am going.

I use my Apple Watch.

horehound I feel like that too.

I have finished couch to 5K and I am attempting runs a couple of times a week but a lot of the time I get half way and think ok I can keep going (it is hard though) but I can't really be bothered !!! I'm so lazy!

@daisypond I’ve just put the free Strava app on my phone. It does the bare minimum but that’s enough for me.

Ok, Strava. I think I’ll look at that after I’ve done the full 9 weeks. Don’t want to feel disappointed!

@The3rdWatermelon sorry you're having such a tough time. Running is great for dealing with stress as well so it's a great habit to establish. (I'd also thoroughly recommend Anya Sizer's book Fertile Thinking which is about how to stay sane while going through fertility treatment).

I used strava through C25k - does a decent job though distance tracking can be a bit erratic. I have just treated myself to a Garmin forerunner as I'm embarking on a virtual land's end to john o'groats challenge for which I'll need to record my distance walked and run.

Marlus there's nothing wrong with W5R3, if you've run up to that point in the programme your body can do it. But your mind may freak out a bit. One thing to remember is that in total it's less moving time than any run since W3. And you will grin for a week when you finish it!