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?

W4R3 for me this morning. In the rain again. It's amazing how much more difficult I found it in the rain - already done the same runs twice but the last one flew by in the sun. Also terrible tunes on the radio didn't help, there were some real bangers playing last time. I was also hindered by 3 different sets of people feeding the geese and swans by the river so it was impossible to get past.
Anyway, one more week done. On to W5 on Wednesday

Hi all, can I join? Starting again after not running for about a year. Week 4 run 1 went well today, hard but OK, and feeling good for it!

It turned into a wet n stormy parkrun yesterday as a storm blew in at the halfway point, I was attempting to walk with a couple of random runners as we commiserated how hard it was in the gale forcewind but I dug deep and got 35mins, as the last 0.5km I had the wind behind so I flew that bit in 3mins 😂having gone from 7:30min splits against the wind. It was exhilarating and I’m glad I did it but there was that wee moment at the 3k mark I passed my parked car & I was SO so tempted to bail. But my friend was waiting at the end, as she’s faster than me, so I’m glad I completed it. Honestly I never run faster unless it’s parkrun 😂I hope to get out Monday & may try 5.5-6k if I’m feeling strong.

Thanks @Passportpondery

We did our second run today, so week one run two. My son is fitter than me. I'm glad I'm doing it but I'm not finding it easy. Legs feel v heavy and I'm feeling breathless but started to find my stride a bit and I feel I'm breathing better. And that's just jogging for 60 secs...but I'll keep at it.

It's inspiring reading what other people are doing.

I almost forgot, we did accidentally run for 90 secs in the middle too as I misheard Sarah Millican. I'm taking that as a win as I'm literally starting from the couch!

W5 R2 this morning so that’s it. The big milestone is next! Any tips?? The 8 mins were Ok, the first one was fine but the second one the last minute was uphill which did nearly see me off. I think I’m going to find a flat route for the next one. Storm blowing in at parkrun sounds hellish @Winter645Mermaid so kudos for carrying on past the car, that takes some resilience.

I did 6k this morning, got my 5k time down to 35:51 and managed to keep going to cover 6k.

Ended up running alone as my friend couldn’t make it so pushed myself to try get that time down to the 35 minute mark.

Thanks @TeresaCrowd having others around me all being determined too helped😂
whoop well done @Passportpondery that’s brill you have done so well no stopping you now.

Thank you! I’m aiming to be able to do 10k by summer time.

Great hearing how everyone is getting on. I’m thrilled to have completed week 6! 5 and 6 were hard but not as hard as I thought. No more walk breaks now though 😆

Not sure what distance I’m actually covering. I use Runkeeper on my phone but have also tried planning routes on ‘On the go map’. On the go for the last route said more or less 4km but Runkeeper came in at 3.69 which seems quite a big difference. Which do you reckon is most accurate? I don’t want to to get too tied up in distances as really just getting out and running is the important bit but on the other hand I’d like to be able to track properly 🙃

@balancingfigure i found C25K got me upto 3:5/4k by week6/7. To do the actual 5k distance I had to run for longer 35-40mins as an old middle aged overweight runner I’m slower 😂I just kept walk/running until I got to the full 5k. I think a lot of women need 40mins initially to cover that full 5k from what I read on here. I knew I could walk 5k in 55mins with the dog so that was my start point.

For reference If you can run 1k in 7mins that’s a 35min 5k average pace.
if it takes you 8mins to run 1k that’s a 40min pace.

W5R1 this morning, first one was hard but was ok for the next two. R3 does feel like a big leap up though! I know everyone says that and I also did manage to do it last time although I was younger then!
Well done everyone

Week 5 Run 3. I did it! I was a bit nervous but I just set off at a pace I thought was just a bit too slow and just kept going. It finished sooner than I thought. I got some good power ballads as the slower pace of the songs also helped keep pace in check and as they generally drag on a bit I figured 20 minutes was less than 5 songs which also helped. I reckon 25 mins at that pace will be achievable now and it’s given me some good confidence. It looks like such a big jump on paper but in practice was achievable. I covered 4km in the 30 minutes including the walks beginning and end.

Hello everyone, so I took a bit of a break for week - between the worst head cold and stubbing my toe on a 5kilo weight my husband left beside the bed (😡) I thought it would be best to ease off.

But back at it today and I didn't go back to W6D1 as advised, I powered on to the next one which was 2 x 10min runs. It really isn't getting any easier...sheesh. The burn in my calves is outrageous, I'm pretty sure when I used to run in my 20s I never felt this weak! (now 41).

And I had that weird raspy taste in my mouth from my throat and the blotchiest face. I looked such a ride 😂

@TeresaCrowd slow and steady is the way to go, if I try to up my pace too early I burn out

@balancingfigure my distance is all over the place because sometimes I walk for both the warm-up and cooldown. Today I did 4.16km but that includes the two walks at the start and the end. The other day I didn't walk for the cooldown and I did 3.44km. Very confusing.

Did week 4 again today, no easier but recovery was slightly quicker and I was slightly faster I think. I might get a running app to track speed and distance, can anyone recommend one?

Great to keep reading everyone’s efforts. I had very tight schedule yesterday- but was proud I was able to prioritise myself and still went on run. It was W5 R2.
I think I will repeat it few times before I move onto 20 minute run

After yet another wet dog walk this morning I couldn’t face going back out for a run this morning so instead did a JoeWickes 20min hitt sess and another dog walk tonight. Plan to do Parkrun on Sat if it ever stops raining and being windy!

@UnoQueenie if you run with a phone you can use Strava free version to track runs. Or get a cheap second hand smart watch.

Well done @Winter645Mermaid for HITT workout am sure you felt better for it!
I am trying to implement alternative exercises on rest days, so will maybe have a look.
Partly for my knees🙈 I know lunges are recommended but I remember refusing them even in teens and 20’s as they made my knees grind.

Today I repeated W5 R2 - my plan was to reduce the walking time in middle ( as jump from Run2 to Run 3 seems mad)
I only reduced it by 30seconds - but did extra time on both runs- so have ran 20 minutes in two parts so feel slightly more confident to try next Run

Sounds good @AnnaBlush I've been trying to do lunges and squats to protect my knees and back. Although i did too many lunges the other day and I'm very stiff now as a result. I didn't even do that many!

Once I warm up I'm fine though and I didn't let it stop me going out again today - W6D3 - 22 minute run and I did it! So proud of myself. There were two quite steep hills in there and I managed to get up them without stopping, I was so slow I was practically going backwards though 😂I walked for my warm up and cool down which gave me a pace of 8Kmph, I think I must be at 8.5 for the running part. Will strava the run part of the next one.

I'm thinking of going again tomorrow morning, that would be three in a row, not sure if it's wise but I find if I have too much of a break it's hard to get back into it again - next week will be tricky as my kids are off school.

W5R3 complete!
I chose a new and ridiculous route that was uphill pretty much all the way so I was slow for a lot of it but I didn’t stop for 20 mins.

I have a question for those further along… the app looks like I’m back to intervals for week 6 but my app coach Yasmin Evans said I won’t run for less than 20 mins again for the rest of the programme. Which is right?

feeling good anyway!

W5R2 for me today, delayed from yesterday. I should be doing R3 tomorrow but will take a break and hope to do it Monday instead.
Wasn't too bad but my first lot of 8mins I ran out of route and went a new way that ended up being a giant hill! It was v v steep so I turned around half way so that I didn't stop running.
Well done everyone who has completed R3 recently!!

@AnnaBlush i was certainly feeling the effects of the Hitt in my legs the next day 😆
Well done @Spirini and @Fiddledeedeeee its great when your head starts to believe Yah I Can Do This
@bailarbailar well done for tackling half the hill you can use that for hill sprints in a few weeks time 😄

It was a Parkrun Morning for me, another super strong headwind for half the course as it’s an out and back run, but I managed it in 35 mins. Was abit disappointed as I felt faster at the start but my leg was hurting then my foot started locking up and I didn’t feel comfortable at all. Got a sports massage booked Monday so she normally sorts me out as I go every 4-5wks to sort my hip joints out.

Great to hear aeveryones progress.
That’s amazing @Spirini I am sure you were so proud 22 minutes
@bailarbailar You did well even getti half wa .
Well done @Winter645Mermaid for completing

Hope you all had the runners high after!

if I get up early enough tomo morning I will go on run before work 🙈lol