Should I worry that after many years of trying, I still can't run 5km?

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I always hated exercise as a kid. I never had a problem with my weight but I've always known I had the propensity to put on weight. I've always walked lots and didn't have a car till quite late in life so that exercise was enough for me.

At university, I thought I would try and do something so started swimming but realised I was v unfit so set myself a task of swimming 100m without stopping which I did manage. Eventually. I tried to run but could barely do 200m.

I do have exercise induced asthma but it's not that bad.

I put on weight after having both my kids and decided to try C25K. I tried 3 or 4 times and never got to the point of getting to the stage where you run more than 10 mins in one go. I then saw someone who said to just keep repeating stages until I was comfortable. But I'm talking doing a run 3x a week and rarely improving.

It's now 5 years later and I can still only run/walk a 5km despite all the effort I have put in. And it's really not from lack of trying! I don't mind, it doesn't bother me at all, but do you think there's something wrong with me that I can't do this?

I bet you can though just a matter of finding a slow enough pace...

Do you know how fast you're running? Do you have strava or anything?

And why are you dropping to a walk? Legs? Lungs? General feeling of knackeredness?

Go slower. Even if you think you could walk faster. Go really, really slow and keep the running motion up for 10% longer than you can do now week on week.

When you say you “can’t” run more than 10 minutes, what happens at the 10 minute point that makes you need to stop? Legs hurting? Feel like you can’t breathe?

I did c25k recently and found that if I made myself keep running even after I really really felt out of breath... nothing bad happened. Previously I’d always stopped running if I felt that breathless, assuming I’d keel over if I carried on. But I didn’t.

Also agree about going slower. Have you tried using Strava to see what your pace is? When you’re starting out a pace of 7-8 minutes per km is normal, if you are closer to 6min/km you’re going too fast.

People who say that ‘can’t’ run, are in my experience, trying to set a pace that is much too fast. Slow down. Slow right down. And then slow down some more.

Nope, I got super-fit doing Crossfit. Still couldn't run. I don't have enough hip stability & was eventually told by a hip surgeon not to ever run again.

I have qualified as a PT. Running breaks me, plenty of other ways to be fit in every dimension. So bike, swim, row, resistance, bodyweight...

Running and walking is perfectly valid. There are marathon runners out there who deliberately use the method, much like C25k and end up with times comparable to run-all because the fatigue in the later stages is more managable. Look up "Jeffing" the Jeff Galloway method

This week I "ran" 11 miles by repeating a C25k podcast over and over for 10 mins run/ 3 mins walk. While I can run-all at an event, training solo, and often on harder terrain makes it psycologically and physically tough to run-all and I give in to my calf muscles a lot!

Why not try building up the distance more, keeping to a mix of walking and running. Your stamina will improve and it may get easier to run more in each round, and if not it's still a perfectly valid running strategy.

I also agree with slowing down to reduce burn out. Running doesn't have to be faster than brisk walking!

Have you tried doing it a different way? Running for 10 minutes on day 1 and then increasing it by a couple of minutes each time) or by distance?

Exercise induced asthma - is it well controlled? Do you take blue inhaler before running?

I only got diagnosed with exercise induced asthma about 7 years ago. I now realise how much I struggled before. Being on preventer inhaler and taking blue inhaler before I start makes a huge difference. Did my longest run ever on Friday - 15km. All slow and steady pace but good time overall. Agree with posters saying to go slower! Alternatively walk faster and build stamina that way.

The only way I have managed it is by going really really slowly. I could do 30 minutes at my slow pace but when i aimed to run at 9 minute mile pace for more than a couple of minutes I was goosed.

Aim for time more than distance in the beginning and then you can introduce different intervals to try and speed up.

I don’t know much about exercise induced asthma, so feel free to ignore this, but I think that in many cases the barrier to getting from the ten minutes run to the twenty minute run on C25K is far more mental than physical. I got through that stage by spending the tough bits literally repeating a mantra I read on a MN thread “it’s your mind not your body it’s your mind not your body it’s your mind not your body...” rhythmically along with each foot strike. Also by running with DH who was equally unfit but far more bloody minded.

Clearly in some cases it really is your body that’s the problem and pushing through would be genuinely dangerous, but it’s worth interrogating yourself to see which you believe in your heart of heart to be the problem.

But if it is a physical problem, and changing inhaler use doesn’t overcome it then run-walk is not the end of the world, it’s still great exercise.

As others have said, slow your pace right down. I used to think I "couldn't" run more than a mile or so in one go. Then I started running with someone who slowed to a pace barely above a walk when they were out of breath, but, crucially, didn't stop the running motion. It allowed me to get my breath back/eased the muscles in my legs, and then I could carry on at a more "regular" running pace (but still slower than I was tempted to go). Once I'd gotten over the mental barrier of running past that mile point, it all got much easier and, after a while, I was able to pick up the pace and the distance and actually became a reasonably useful runner, having always been told I was crap at school (but then, if you send kids off on a run with no preparation and no discussion about pacing I'm not sure how you can expect anything other than pretty dismal results).

I've had lots of time off now, since pregnancy, arthritic knees etc. but have recently started up again (very gently, my days of more than a gentle jog are well behind me with my knees these days), but I find I'm always getting over confident and trying to run at my old pace, which just isn't achievable at my current level of fitness. My first few runs were really hard and I walked lots, but since remembering to slow it right down, and then down even more, when I'm tempted to walk, I've been able to cover more distance at a run and it's been a much more pleasurable experience.

Yes I'm just on blue inhaler nothing else. When I can't run any more it feels like I'm bright red/purple and have no more energy left.

My running pace is 8 mins a km. I'm not sure I could run much slower but I could try if you think that would work! I could try 9 mins or 8.5mins and see if I could keep it up? Thanks, I know it might seem obvious but I hadn't thought of that!

Slow down. I genuinely can power walk a 5k in a faster time than I jog it, but I get much more satisfaction from jogging it.

I run / walk have for years I just prefer it . If I run further I’m slower so I run / walk and I’m quicker . If people can run the full 5km great and I probably could but really slowly . I just enjoy run walk and I aim for further away like having a competition with myself . For me running 5km without stopping wouldn’t be enjoyable but that’s just me . I’ve done races previously and run a lot longer / further so I know I can do it , it’s the mind that’s weaker than the body they say.

Thanks for the reassurance! I appreciate it. I will try a very slow pace to see if I can run it non stop but will also not worry if I can't!

@wandawombat well done on qualifying as a PT. I am also definitely not a natural runner but tbh I'm not a natural when it comes to exercising I don't think!

Slow down, slow down again, then slow down some more
The fact that you have to stop because you have "no more energy" indicates you're just going too fast and need to get fitter, rather than there being any underlying major problem.

So you just need to slow down, and kerp pushing through when things get hard. That really is the only way to improve; and that's the key at all stages of running. Whether you're trying to run 5k for the first time or trying to progress from half to full marathon, the only way you make progress is by pushing that barrier when it gets hard, and keeping going. Running is 90% in the head, IME. If you tell yourself you've got this, and you can do it - and refuse to stop - then you will do it.

I also suffer from exercise induced asthma, but running has really helped get it under control. When I started c25k I needed my blue inhaler constantly, but these days I can get round marathons without it.

Try going out without a watch on and run a different route so you don't know when you've hit 10minutes, it could be a mental block as much as anything else after all this time!

thanks for all the advice - you won't believe it but I managed it yesterday! Painfully slowly (in fact so slowly, the dog actually ended up joining me as my running pace I've discovered is quite similar to his walking pace ) - did take me around 43/44mins but I figure that's better than not doing it!

I can't tell you how happy it made me!

That's great! I thought for ages that I couldn't do run for more than 10 minutes even running 3 times a week but when I actually looked at my diary I was hardly ever actually running 3 times a week - more like once or twice! Once I started really doing the C25K it became possible - although I am still really slow and actually haven't got to 5k yet but it is looking likely!

Late to this as can see you have already done it. But one thing that worked for me was to do some sprints once a week. Either on a hill or flat, but just sprinting for even just 30 seconds and then walk back, repeated several times for say 15 mins.. It helped me build up speed and stamina

thanks, I will do that as now I know I can do it, I can chop and change a bit and try and do some quicker bits for shorter distances! I still can't quite believe I did it!

Well done for managing it, though I want to point out that some people genuinely cannot run, and no amount of well meaning 'encouragement' or technique will change that. I am one of those people, even as a skinny child I could not run and got detention every week for 5 years because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't run 400m.

I was later diagnosed with an abnormal valve in my heart, it works well enough for normal activities but is less efficient than a normal heart, so cannot get oxygen to my muscles fast enough to sustain exercise. Weirdly I can swim quite well, I think the water pressure helps counter my low blood pressure (though thats just my unscientific theory) but I cannot run and have lost count of the amount of people who wholeheartedly insist that I could if a really wanted to if I just try x, you or z.

I can swim 10k at a decent pace but I can't run 5k, and by run I mean jog. I'm fit, do HIIT 4 x week, can walk for miles and miles but running isn't my thing.

I've concluded I'm not built for it so I've given up. I hated every second of ever trying.

yay! Well done

Well done I also find it hard as some of us just aren't natural runners but keep it up.I also found Park Run helped me quicken up and can't wait for it to start again.