Starting couch to 5K tomorrow morning - anyone want to join?

[BlueberryPancakes17]

After faffing about and putting it off for ages I’ve decided I’m starting couch to 5K tomorrow morning.

I find myself 2 years since my daughter was born, about 4 stone overweight and out of breath when I run up the stairs so desperately need to do something to increase my fitness.

Has anyone started the couch to 5K? How did you find it? Anyone fancy joining?

Sadly both kids have activities on Saturday mornings so I can never make Parkrun!

I am taking my 6 year old for an attempt at the junior one this morning so will see how that goes!

@Random102 hope you enjoyed junior parkrun? We have a 3k one locally that my DD said she’d like to try once she’s done a bit more of the C25K program.

Two short runs today as early one with my DD doing week2 of C25K, and tonight I had to get out to clear head so did 3k whilst child at their activity.

I had started my own thread, but @Passportpondery sent me over in this direction.

Yesterday I finally attempted the C25K program again. It's been a fair few years since I ran 5k (pre COVID) and I felt incredibly good for starting again. I started on week 3 just because I know week 1 is not challenging enough for me.

90 sec run: Far too easy
3 min run: Just right
90 sec run: Easy
3 min run: Ok. That felt a little bit long

I added an additional 2 min run after my 5 min cool down (and then had another 10 min walk home). All in all I ran for 11 mins after not running for the best part of maybe 2 years?

It felt almost euphoric to be running again. I've been talking about it for months but it wasn't until yesterday that I finally felt mentally able to do it. It'd be nice to have some support with this group because I feel I may need it.

Not quite sure when my next run will be. May actually try after work on Wednesday, depending on my DOMS from today in the gym.

Welcome & well done on getting going again @NyanBinaryJohn i too was a restart after over a year off running. I started Boxing Day and hit my goal of doing parkrun on Saturday. I’m hoping to keep going 3x a week a mix of 3-5k depending how my joints n niggles are feeling.

I’m heading out again tomorrow, aiming to get my 4k loop done but I keep struggling and being tempted to shorten it to 3.5k. Might need to find a different 4k one that can’t be shortened! I can at least walk back if I struggle.

Hi - another re-starter here, please may I join?
Started at W5D1 today, planning to do next 'run' (frankly it's more of a slow jog but otherwise I can't manage to finish it) either tomorrow if I can fit it in, otherwise will be Thursday.

I’m re starting too! Signing in here for accountability as I am terrible at making myself exercise. I completed C25K in early 2021 (lockdown) then got a knee injury a week later. Think I’ll be starting around week 3 or 4. Heading out later today…

Those with kids doing c25k, how old are they? And do you go with them? Would love to get my girls doing it one day. Neither is a natural runner but it would be great for them.

Welcome new joiners. My DD is 11yr and a few years ago used to do parkrun but stopped with covid and never went back, but she asked to have a go. So I’m doing C25K with her we started at W2 and have done 3k walk/run at the moment. The appeal is that at 11yr she can run Parkrun unaccompanied 🤣as I’m too slow.

My son is 6, he won’t do C25K as he doesn’t want to go out regularly, but he did junior park run on Sunday. He is usually full of energy and runs around everywhere, but he struggled with the distance!

I’ve done my furtherest ever run this morning, 4.25km! I had a few walking periods but only for a minute at a time. Got my average pace down to 7”30 whereas last time I did 4k it was 8”06 so there is improvement there!

Well done @Passportpondery its fab when it starts clicking into place.

Thank you! I’m still struggling, still out of breath easily, still can’t see me ever doing the easy 5k that some people seem to be able to just pop out!

But I’ve definitely made progress from when I started back in January!

Can I join too please? 😃
The last time I ran was early 2020 and I think my PB for a 5k was around 27mins then. I’ve since had 2 babies (the second was 8 weeks ago) and have been itching to get back out.
Ive started c25k from scratch this week and have done 2 runs so far and I’m determined not to give up or find excuses to not go out!
Like others, I’m putting this here for accountability!!

Amazing @Passportpondery!

I just looked back at my best ever 5k. I last ran a full 5k in 2017 (injured myself that Christmas iirc and that injury really affected my running). Back then I was probably about 2st lighter than I am now. My ultimate goal is to be able to run 5k in 30 mins. That would be pretty amazing.

Onto week 5 this week and loved R1. I think I prefer the extended runs as you can get into it without the stop start. I'm still very slow and can't see me ever being faster than an 8min km but I was able to thank some dog walkers who let me past and I'm recovering quite quickly so must be getting fitter. I also had to tighten my running belt so although I'm not losing any weight I might be losing some inches.

My kids are 13 and 15 and started running with me so I went back three weeks to let them join in, they were great at it but typically got bored and left me three weeks behind schedule.

Any run Is a good one @notacissy and you may find pace slowly improves with time. Once you have done 8wks put an intervals run in once a week, just sprint counting to 20 in your head then slow run counting to 40 then go again or do lamp posts. It can help with speed, repeat 5-6x.

my 15yr doesn’t run either, she’s incredibly fit in a different competitive sport but nope won’t do parkrun any more.

Gah! I was supposed to restart c25k yesterday but delayed till today as I’d already done a weights class (and because I am Queen of Excuses). Now it’s peeing it down and I have to go running in the rain! That’ll teach me 😬

I'd like to join, if I may.

I haven't run since I was 15, and my previous job involved a lot of walking, so never worried too much about my general fitness. I now have a very sedentary job, and I've noticed that I can't walk as far as I used to, hence the decision to do C25k.

I'm on week 5, and was doing really well up until this week (apart from a slow start because I couldn't even run for 60s at first). However, the 20min run was just too much. I managed 10 minutes, but then hit a slight uphill bit and had to slow to a walk (but did get going again after about a minute of walking - did this about 3 times). I suppose the only thing to do is to keep attempting it? The speaker keeps saying to slow down if I'm tired, but I already run as slow as I can (I run slower than I walk), so can't do that. I don't get massively out of breath, it's more the muscles in my feet, ankles and calves,which feel like I have lead weights attached to them, and then eventually the muscles seize up altogether. I think maybe it's a combination of using muscles that I haven't used since I was 15, and also, I don't think I have very good circulation to my feet (they're always semi-numb with cold, even with thick socks and slippers).

Any words of advice welcome!

@astuz I came off the plan at this point as I found myself getting disheartened at not being able to do 20 minutes straight.

I now run 4km at a time, and aim to run as much as possible, but I don’t beat myself up if I need a minutes walk now and again.

I’m enjoying it far more running without the programme.

W1R3 completed this morning. I Strava’d it out of interest today and covered 3.5k in the 30 mins.
Ive been trying to fit in some fast paced walks each day to help me improve, which has been great on the the 3 days the toddler has been at nursery and I just have the baby in pram, but not sure how far I’ll get on the days toddler is home 😂.
Roll on week 2 on Sunday!

I completed W8R2 yesterday and measured the distance for the first time - and I’m nowhere near 5K!

Feeling discouraged because I must be running at a snails pace but also now also more seriously working out what I need to do next to keep going. From what I’ve read, I should increase length of run to build stamina in order to then build speed??

astuz it’s a massive leap at w5 r3. I’m not sure why they do it tbh!

Various options to consider:

Can you re route your run so you don’t have any uphill? Even a small uphill tires me out way more than flat. Could you reverse the route so that bit is downhill!? I got through w5 the first time by cheating and having some downhill at the end of my 20min run! (I happen to live down a hill so it worked out…)

You could try repeating w5 runs 2 and 3 a few times until you feel ready for the w5 r3.

You could allow yourself a 1 min walk in the middle. It’s not quite achieving the full run but so what. Better than giving up anyway! Week 6 goes back to having some walk intervals anyway, so I don’t think it’s a big deal to put in a short walk if you need it.

Don’t worry about it. I would just keep building and aiming to go a little bit further each time.

I am doing a shorter run today to work on speed. Will just do 2k, but I am aiming to do it faster than usual to try and build stamina that way.

Will go back to my slow 4kms at the weekend.

I think when I completed it before, I got to around 4km. But I'm fairly tall and long legs do help with distance. Just keep running. As you get used to running for that length you'll get faster, but you can also add another min to your run and build that up until you get to 5k. My first full 5k took me around 38 mins!