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?

echo PP, when I did it first time round I wasn’t near 5k at week 9. I started doing Park Runs which are 5k with a bit of a walk in the middle and my first runs we’re about 38 mins. Doing it weekly then I think I got a PB of 27 mins in a relatively short period of time. This was just by doing the distance a few times a week.

my next challenge was a Santa 10k, then the Great South Run (10 miles) then a half marathon. I enjoyed the 10k distance the most, felt the half marathon was too long as I didn’t commit enough to the training.

it’s a really fun journey of discovery to see where it’ll get you … I really enjoyed Brutal runs which are mud runs. I wasn’t the fastest as I just didn’t have the drive to run more than a few times a week but did train for the longer distances. Never did any training to get faster.

6 years later I’m finding it hard! But can’t wait to see where I get to

Just completed W5R2 with a little help from Beyoncé towards the end. So, I know what's next.

@Anewagain I'm short and slow so my first 5k took me about 43 minutes ish. I'm about the same pace now two years later but not back up to the 5k yet.

Agree it ought to be called “couch to 30 minutes” rather than couch to 5K! But guess that’s not as snappy

Completed wk3 run 2 during lunch and again added another 2 min run at the end of my cool-down. So ultimately I did 26 mins instead of 24, of which 11 mins were running, and my average pace is just below 8:00/km. Very pleased with that.

I’m rather disheartened today. After doing my
longest run yet on Tuesday today I made 2.5km and gave up. I couldn’t run for more than 10 minutes at a time without being really out of breath.

I know people say you have bad runs sometimes, but I’m getting a bit frustrated that my progress isn’t faster now.

I want to be able to run comfortably for 30 minutes. I still can’t do it despite following the programme.

I couldn’t either and then I discovered my heavy periods meant I was really anaemic. I take iron and got the mirena coil in and I could do it.

Thank you all for your encouragement re: the distance covered. I’m prepared to keep going beyond this and gradually work on pace.

I completed W8 today. One more week to go!

week 4 run 4 done today even though I left a week in between and it was so much easier!

Yes @Anewagain just keep going & try to build up to covering 5k distance even it takes 45-50mins with walks that way your doing the distance and slowly the time will come down.

I did parkrun again today and it felt easier plus I knocked another 30secs off - I could of knocked a minute off but I was running with a friend who hadn’t ran 5k for a year but she was determined and we were super chuffed to just do 1x1min walk at halfway mark. I’m amazed how in a month I’ve got from 38min to 34min for 5k, doing squats and lunges as strength training is definitely paying off.

What sort of speed do you run at, and are you able to control your breathing? You may be going too fast or not be breathing effectively, either of which would make a huge difference.

Keep on going, it will get better, honestly!

Week 3 complete. Breathing wasn't great because of the cold, but I did it! And did my additional 2 mins after the cool down for each of the runs. Hopefully this will make the jump to 16 mins of running in week a bit easier.

I run roughly 7mins a km, so not at all fast.

I feel like my chest tightens and I can’t breathe properly and so need to stop and walk. I’m not sure how much of it is physical and how much mental barriers to overcome.

7 mins a km is a strong speed for a new runner. It took me quite a while to get to that after I first completed the program. Try slowing down a little, maybe to 7:30/km. See what that does for your ability to regulate breathing.

Thank you, I will give it a go when I head out later. I’ve got long legs so find it really hard to run slowly!

I feel your pain, I'm the same (5'10"). Although I currently walk more than I run, I'm just under the 8 min mark with my average pace. I'm going to have to slow down the running as the runs get longer because I cannot see that being sustainable.

@NyanBinaryJohn took your advice and ran very very slowly!

I did my first 5k and didn’t walk at all! No idea where it came from, on Thursday I couldn’t do 2.5k! I planned 4k but felt fine so just kept going and did 5.3km in the end. Probably had a bit more left in me too!

Definitely need to stick with the slower pace while I built up, it felt unnatural for the first 2k but then I settled into it and felt good.

Hi everyone I’m still here! Just having a slight hiatus as we were on holiday over half term and in the middle of a bathroom refurbishment this week so not really had time to run. I’ve found myself missing it though, so looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow. Hoping the break hasn’t set me back too much 🤞

So pleased it worked @Passportpondery

@sylv165 Sometimes a break makes you perform better.

The last 7 days for me have seen three runs, leg day at the gym and a normal upper body day at the gym. Because it's my first time back to running in almost 2 years, it's resulted in some serious DOMS after run 3. The entire back half of my body is sore!

W5R3 complete, the dreaded 20 mins. I was hoping for some relief after the first ten minutes but nope, it was a battle from start to end. I literally did the last 5 minutes through gritted teeth. Very slow and my legs were complete jelly at the end. Stupidly finished my run ten minutes walk away from my house so then had to stumble back 😂

Well done @Passportpondery on the first 5k. It does just seem to appear out of nowhere.

Im jealous of all you y'all people with the long legs. I'm sure 5k for a little shorty like me is further than someone taller 😂

Well done on getting through it! I never managed the straight 20 minutes, had to take a walk break in the middle, so I’ve no idea where my random 5k came from! I literally just kept running and didn’t feel like I needed to stop.

I’m guessing it was the much slower pace that helped. I made sure I stuck to around 8 min/km even though I naturally want to go quicker.

I’m going to do a 3k tomorrow and Thursday and try to stick to a slightly quicker pace, then a slow 5k again at the weekend.

@Passportpondery sounds like a plan. I struggled with the lack of structure after c25k. I found fundraising helped me as I had to do as many miles as possible in a set amount of time, then a certain number of steps etc... I think this time I'll try a 5-10k programme when I get there, I need a challenge and something to focus on.

Hoping I can join in. Just started week 3 today. I have run before but about 20 years ago. I’d not run then and found C25K really hard all the way through so pleasantly surprised that so far its hard but OK. I wonder if there is some kind of body memory of how to run even if the fitness isn’t there?

I’m using the NHS podcasts which are great (wish I’d had them last time) but I’d love a plan to print out and tick off and I don’t seem to actually be able to find one that matches the NHS and is in a nicely printable format. Perhaps I need to design one myself!

Just checking in. I did week 4 run 1 today, quite enjoyed it! It was a definite step up from week 3 but I needed the extra running to keep warm, today is properly arctic here.
It’s not easy to work out what to wear that is not too cold for the warm up walk but not too hot for the runs!

Week 4 run 1 here yesterday too. The first 5 min run felt tough. Luckily I was with a friend so that motivated me to keep on going in the cold & mildly drizzly weather.

Can I join in please? I did the C25K in 2017 and so I know I can complete it. I was training for the London marathon in 2020 abs was running half marathon training runs when covid happened and I stopped overnight and haven't run since!
I did try once in November actually and went straight in trying to run a 5Km and failed miserably so this morning I've done R1W1. Aching now!
Well done to all