How easy is C25K?

[Zazu44]

Overweight, very unfit 62 yr old. How easy is C25K to do? Really need to get a grip. Any unfit people done this? Thanks

It goes at a pace that is gentle but you can re do weeks when you’re not ready to go to the next step.

that said, running can be high impact on knees. I’m running 5ks now at 41 but I think in my 50s I’ll switch to walking more (possibly earlier as I’ve already had a couple of injuries).

I would describe myself as sloth like and I did it, you can go at your own pace and repeat weeks if you need to. I also did None To Run, a free 5k running plan that aims to get people to run for 30 minutes nonstop, with no set distance as a target. It increases running times at a slower pace that c25k and it has strength training and injury prevention exercises to do on non running days, it was designed for people that couldn't finish c25k.

Thanks both that's really helpful 🙏

It is completely do-able. But you must do it. If you walk when you should run even on day one, you wont do it. Run the slowest run in the world rather than walk.

The NHS C25K app is ultimately time based rather than distance based. It gets you up to a 30min run with a 5min walk for warm up and cool down (40mins total). It start off with an awful lot of walking and just a little running. There is definitely a jump about week 5 but I think part of it is getting comfortable being a bit uncomfortable if that makes sense. Being used to an elevated heart rate etc. I think following the plan is ideal especially for injury prevention. I’m reasonably fit from other sports and every time I tried running before I’d do Couch to 5k quite literally, by getting off the couch and running 5k, then not being able to walk for a week because my cardio fitness was much greater than my running muscular endurance. I did the C25K app and followed it through and now go to parkrun and do the 5ks non stop. I’d really recommend it even if you are really unfit. Just focus on the time for the interval and don’t worry about distances covered. Find nice places to run/walk, even if that means driving somewhere nice to start with (special events etc aside I don’t normally advocate driving all the time to do exercise you can do from home but a nice environment can be more motivating than your own housing estate when starting out) and don’t be scared to go back a week or a session if you move up and find it a bit much, but you do also need to take leaps of faith and just keep battling at times as well. Get a good playlist of tracks you like and have a good pace.

Enjoy and good luck!!

It is easy (and boring). You’ll amaze yourself.

Do it in a group if you can. I met some total strangers to do it with by asking on local Facebook. Much more fun than on your own!

Unfortunately, 5k2C is soooo much easier ----

Try to find a local running club who do an organised c25k, you'll find it much easier with company and don't worry about being too old/ slow / unfit... it really doesn't matter how fast or how far... all that stuff will gradually improve, the important part is making it a 3 times a week habit

It’s totally doable! My friend who is 67 did it with me and we now run for 40 minutes twice a week and do a parkrun.
We did it with a local women’s running club which runs a C25k group which was really supportive.

It's as easy as you need! As others have said, you do it at your own pace. I had tried to start running many times but what blew my mind about C25K is it tells you to rest the day after a run! Simple but it really helped. I had been constantly intending to run 3x a week, then leaving it late, then running on Fri/Sat/Sun and wondering why I got sick of it. Running every other day is far better.

I’m currently in week 3 of it. The local leisure centres are doing a group for it on a weekend so I joined up. I’ve got pretty good cardio from cycling and I strength train a lot but I need a super slow build up to let my body get used to it slowly so I don’t get injured.
Running in a group is much easier and it makes it easier to stick to.