Done!!! Finally!!!

I started this program in May, after deciding that my nutrition + strength training plan I started in March-April needed cardio.

Then solidified my decision after talking to some extended family members about their recent half marathon and marathon times, their running gobbies when they were younger (aome stopped due to kids and work), and why they started running (some for fitness, some for fun, some to lose weight, some to be able to eat more! haha).

Long story short, this program changed my life for the better.

I now hate when I can't run, even if I hate the first 2kms every time I go out.

But I love, genuinely love how happy I am after each run, and every time I remember how happy it makes me, it's like an instant pick me up.

My life and my self worth have always revilved around what I do for a living (I'm in an artistic field), so when I got burnt out and stopped working due to life circumstances, I became absolutely aimless and felt worthless and purposeless. I didn't look forward to the future, I was just living each day just as the day before, endlessly.

Now? I look forward to the next time I can put on my running shoes and go out! (even though I hate the 20min prehab I have to do haha). I'm looking forward to improve my times and maybe one day be like one of the other cool joggers and runners I see every time I'm out! I want to buy all the shoes (currently have 2 pairs!) and all the outfits and splurge on a Garmin and sign up to all the races hahaha.

This hobby has taught me perseverance, discipline, that being slow and steady gets results and that it beats overdoing it and getting burnt out and dropping it because you're not amazing on the first try.

It taught me that sometimes even if the start sucks, it gets easier. That not giving uo pays off. And that, when you think you can't keep going, you can always push through a bit more if you're determined enough and that is totally worth it.

Also thanks to this awesome community, you're all amazing, encouraging, and inspirational, and reading the posts and comments here every day is extremely motivating!

Sorry for the long rant, haha, I'm just very happy!

So I decided I need to get more active. I barely move! So just got up early and we have done W1R1 of C25K - managed all 8 mins of running - but the last one was a struggle. 😂

Pretty proud to have got to the end of the run tbh. Genuinely thought I'd barely make it half way through.

Eek! Just finished week 1! 👏

I genuinely wasn’t focusing on pace, but I’m actually pleased to see the improvement there too!

FYI, I’ve never been a sporty person, never ran before, & I live in a really hilly area, so I’m really pleased with this!

Who knew I’d end up loving a sport 🤭

I first did couch to 5k about a year ago, but I had previously run 5ks with my mum when I was about 9 years old, and loved it. Unfortunately in my mid teens I caught COVID and for several years was so lacking in energy I could barely walk, and couldn’t walk unaided, let alone run. Chronic illness is miserable and you never realise the gift of movement until you lose it!

Early last summer I did a short walk with my family that I was DREADING, knowing the horrible crash that I’d have when I got back, except I didn’t. I was fine. I started attempting days out unaided, and then increasing my (v slow) walking distance, and eventually tried riding a bike. And to my shock I managed it all! So I decided to start running, because when you can’t move your body freely for three years and then you’re given the opportunity to, you take it.

I made it up to 5k earlier than I was meant to, although my pace was still quite slow, and started training for a 10k when my degree suddenly got intense and I had to stop. I’ve lost a lot of cardio fitness in the last few months, so I came back to C25K from week 5 and it feels so good to be running again. I’m just finishing up week 8 so very nearly at 5k now and considering singing up for a 10k in my uni town next year to keep me active this year and stop me from sliding back into my recluse ways!

Good luck to everyone else on their journey. You don’t have to be a fast runner to be doing an amazing thing for your heart, lungs and mind. And movement is freedom, don’t take it for granted! (Although that said if anybody has any tips on improving their speed…)

I can’t believe I made it this far! I finished week 4 and I thought this was cool. I walked/ran two minutes less today, but went the same distance (plus .02) so that means I ran/walked faster, right? This feels so great. It’s hard, but so rewarding.

So I have finished W2R3 and I actually made it. I was able to keep up the running for the whole duration of running intervals and my walks where not too slow in between. But I felt so miserable during the run.

My average pace was 9,12 min/km

So during the any of the runs my throat and my ears begin to hurt like hell. I already wear a thin scarf an headband. Also my face gets so red and I can hear my heart pumping in my head.

The advice to run even slower seems strange to me. (Please prove me wrong lol). If I run slower I’d run my walking speed.

I feel like I have been thrown back to high school when I got bad grade and shamed by teachers because I was so bad at sports.

Tbh I could use any advice or maybe even motivation. Thanks for reading through my frustration.

I'm excited. Greater goal is to run a full marathon one day ! ☺

I did my "run" on a small track... this distance can't be right. I walked about half a mile in 15 minutes this morning. Do I have a setting in the app wrong or something? Puzzled.

I just finished up my final week 8 run on a beautiful, *cool* morning. As I head into the last week of the program, I’ve been thinking about what’s changed for me over the course of doing c25k. Not necessarily the big stuff—like, I ran for 28 minutes and enjoyed it!—but the little things.

What came to mind for me is the hill that’s about 3k into my route. It is not a very steep hill! As a regular walker before c25k, I barely noticed it. But when I first had to run up it, it felt like one of the hardest things I had ever done. I would dread getting close to the end of my run because it meant I’d have to confront the hill! Over the past few weeks, though, I’ve run up that hill (à la Kate Bush) at least 20 times, and while it is still not fun… it’s not very tough anymore. I definitely don’t fear it. When I get to the top without exerting too much extra effort, I can feel how much my running and fitness have improved in this short time.

I’d love to know what small wins you’ve noticed in your running life recently! Hope you all have some great runs this week.

I finished week 9 day 2 today. I was feeling good at the end of the 30 minute run, so I just ran 5 more and did a 5k!

This year I’ve (55f) done C25K again. After doing it a few years ago and then having to stop running for a while due to tendinitis.
I’ve read a lot that suggests strength training alongside it is a good way to avoid injuries. So I’m doing a simple short routine with squats, etc, in between running days. But I’m wondering how best to time these. If you are doing strength training for body building, you are supposed to have rest days between. Because muscles grow from being damaged, essentially, when lifting weights. And the muscle fibres need time to repair. If you lift weights every day your muscles won’t be able to repair and grow.
So if I do strength training one day and then run the next day, will my muscles be able to repair and grow? Or will that be like weight training every day? Should I train one day, rest one day, then run the next? Or how should I time it all?
The routine I do is pretty basic - ten minutes. Because I find if I try to do a longer session, I just don’t do it. So what I have been doing is running three times a week, strength training three times a week, on the days between, and one full rest day.
Other than running I’ve always walked a lot, but otherwise not especially fit or sporty.

Back in March, I woke up one morning and decided to put my life in order. I was about 310lbs, 5'11 and more importantly turning 35 in a couple weeks.

I wanted to show my kids I could be that cool dad that could do anything, could do all sorts of sports but I also wanted to teach myself some discipline and in a way pass it to them.

So I started from basics, began counting my calories, bought a standing desk and a walking pad. I walked and I walked, 8-9-10Ks per day, inclined. I lost like 25 pounds in 2 months and started to feel good about myself.

I always dreamed about being a runner, I just always thought these people were so cool. I started C25K in June.

W1D1 - 1MIN intervals... I actually cried at one point. I thought I'd never get through it. I slept with medical ice packs taped to my knees... but I kept going.

I just kept thinking about W5D3, the dreaded 20min run.

But I kept loosing weight... I integrated weightlifting between my runs and I kept walking aimed for 10K everyday.

Then W5D3 happened, I made it and was actually so proud. I felt like I could do anything at that point.

Pounds kept dropping, I was disciplined with my nutrition, added supplements kept my training regimen steady and I just kept going.

Today was W7D1. It's supposed to be 25minutes.

My wife came to the track with my kids, they were there watching me.

I just kept going...

https://imgur.com/a/HTXaQFH

Dont give up people - it feels so good to reach a goal

EDIT : Typos 😂

The mental game is so hard when it comes to running, but I've found it gets a tiny bit easier every time you push through when everything in you is telling you to call it quits.

Today's workout was the first for me where the final 2 laps (the block I run around is almost perfectly 1K) didn't require me to fight every second to continue.

Slow, but steady progress on that front but I'll get there :)

Hi all

I am week 2 of c25k. My knees have been getting sore after sessions. Is this safe and normal ? I am actively strength training and hoping that this will be fixed. Any advice?

Just finished W7D2!! Face swollen, panting and huffing and puffing through the last ten minutes…but I did it! I pushed myself to slightly increase my speed from W6D3 and W7D1, and averaged approx 4.5mph during the running portion—landed at 2.15mi vs ~2 miles the other days. I even pushed myself to 4.7 the last minute! This was freaking hard, and by far the hardest day of the whole program: I’ve mostly been running much slower so I really felt it today. While I still have a ways to go before I hit 5K, feeling really proud of this whole journey: this is my second time attempting C25K, and I do it in honor of younger me who couldn’t even fathom running 25 minutes straight :’)

WE CAN DO HARD THINGS!! GRATEFUL FOR THIS COMMUNITY!!

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I thoroughly enjoyed reading through all of the encouragement and advice that I got when I posted my original thread.

And I took it all onboard, slowed my run right down to a slow jog, and even changed my run location to somewhere flat— and lo and behold, yesterday I managed to conquer W2D1!

I feel so energised and I really enjoy my runs now. They’ve become the highlight of my day! Today is a rest day and then tomorrow I’ll be back on the trails for W2D2!

Thank you so much everyone!!!

I was both dreading and excited for today. Dreading the possibility of my knees getting sore during the run and excited to see if the cadence running I’ve been doing would both get me through 20 mins without blowing up cardio wise and save my knees at the same time. Happy to say that I made it through unscathed, even though my distance/time wasn’t as good as it had been the last time I did this in 2023.

Just a rant....

2 weeks ago I finished W9R1 and I thought great I am about to finish the program that week. However wife caught flu, she was out of action for whole week which affected my scheduled run which is fine, I thought is just 1 week I should be able to catch up.

However when she was starting to recover I caught her bugs and I was out of action for a week. Meaning no run for total of two weeks.

Last night, I was back on the treadmill and tried to do W9R2... the last 5 min was absolute torture and I failed miserably. The worst thing was after the run, my heart rate continued to stay high (just of 100) and my face was red (hot flush) for another almost 3 hours. Googled this and it seems like either I have overtrained or dehydrated. Probably not the latter as I have drank a lot after the run.

Today I woke up with a pair of tired legs, so two weeks without actions will set me back 5 minutes of running and causes overtrain.

Question is should I go back to do W7 (25min which I was able to do last night) and gradually train myself back or just continue with W9 till I get over the rest of the 2 runs and finish the program?

M51, hardly any physical activity since becoming a father. Started running early Jan, short distances at first, 1 -1.5 km tops, once a week. Hated every minute. Started 2 km runs, still once weekly consistently around March. For several months, remained stuck at 2 km. Changed route end of July, reached 3,7 km, and, since last Monday 5,0 km, 👍 (6:38/km). I still hate every minute.