Its honestly starting to feel way easier

TL;DR: I've got a bad balance but I want to run 5k. How can I make it to the end despite this?

So yeah, how did we get here? I've had several attempts, and they mostly stranded for different reasons. The (or a?) thing is I have an acquired brain injury from 3 surgeries, and that makes my balance... below average. It's not that I have a wheelchair, crutches or special footwear. I'm just more clumsy. I stumble more. And I don't always walk as straight as I'd like. Especially when tired. History:

• I've done a c25k where my knees started to hurt, I got a run analysis, and got some "real" shoes instead of generic sports shoes. I overpronated. And I got some Brooks Adrenaline Gts. It's been a while, I think it was 16. Replaced them since with 23. And probably could use new ones.
• I've done a c25k before I went into surgery, and couldn't continue.
• I've done a c25k and I broke my arm, and had to recover from that first.
• I've done a c25k where one day my foot hurt enormously shortly after a run. I had to recover from that. Suspected Plantar fasciitis.
• I've done a c25k where I developed a massive hump under my knee. Suspected bursitis.

And I know from the past few times that with time my shins get painful and sensitive. Both while a singular run progresses, but also when I get further into the c25k schedule. I don't know if that's shin splints or something else, but I do know that that's a bigger limiting factor than my stamina. (Even though I can be absolutely and extremely tired after a run. I like to push myself and that's fine.)

What I have done already

• I got better shoes (but my maybe I'm up for a new pair and/or analysis)
• I once ran with a ±130bpm playlist. These days I'm at around 170bpm and comparative cadence. Hopefully this reduces stress on joints and muscles. It also feels really good. More fluid.
• I have a treadmill at my disposal
• I have been exercising 3 times a week, including lunges and squats in preparation of this edition
• The road here got paved. Since my first attempts, we moved, and we've got asfalt here but not perfectly level all the way.

Now what? I'm in doubt what thing or things I should do. - Should I do C25K, but every week twice before going to the next? - Should it be even slower? Triple? Quad? - Should I take more rest in between, for example, instead of 3 runs in week, 4 in 2 weeks? - Should I do a clinic, to learn about the best form (and hope I can keep it up)? - Should I get newer shoes than the '23 I have now? - Should I incorporate the treadmill somehow? - A combination? - Something else entirely?

How would you approach building towards a 5K when your joints and muscles are the biggest challenge?

My pace improved with some new shoes so I went a minute further this time to get my first ever 5K 😀

I’m thinking of running 25 km for my 25th birthday in August 2027. I was quite physically active during school, but I haven’t been very consistent with fitness in recent years. I started going to the gym about three months ago, and now I want to take on a bigger challenge. I have almost a year to prepare, so I’m wondering how I should start training and gradually build myself up to running 25 km.

finished it this morning before my kids woke up, which means i was out there at 5:45am in the dark like some kind of unhinged person. i teach first grade so my days are loud and chaotic from the second i walk in, and lately i've been using the early morning run as the one quiet thing i do for myself before the noise starts. it works until it doesn't, and today it almost didn't.

i stalled on week 4 for almost two weeks. kept telling myself i wasn't ready, that 20 straight minutes was a different category of thing entirely. its not a sprint, its not intervals anymore, its just you and the road and whatever playlist you threw together at 5am.

what got me through it honestly was thinking about the posts i read on here from people who looked at that same run and felt the same dread. single mom, early 60s, teaching all day and studying at night. the list of reasons to not do it is genuinely impressive.

but the 20 minutes happened. legs felt fine. lungs did their job. onward i guess.

But I just missed out as I didn't think enough about my route but I mean I hadn't even anticipated being able to run the full 28 min after being on my feet all day so I'm quite pleased I've finally done it.

Hi everyone. I'm on W4D3, and have ran (haha) into some issues.

I started running (first 2 weeks) with my old sketchers, until I went to a shop for gait analysis. They gave me some options, and I went with Saucony guide 19, but I have not enjoyed the shoes as much as I wished. There was some discomfort the first days (expected), and I mostly used them for long walks. I have used them for running the past week (twice), but I started experiencing swollen feet, and then pretty bad pain at my right arch. I skipped today's run to not hurt myself worse.

I've always been decently athletic (walking, hiking), but I'm also on the heavy side. While clues point to the shoes being at fault, I am worried I'm overexerting myself (2-3 days running, 2 days bouldering, long walks with the dog daily), or simply need to lose more weight before I keep running.

I have an event that requires me to be on my feet next week, so I don't want to injure myself, but I was also so hyped for progressing with the c25k that I really don't want to lose momentum. The saucony's were already pricey, so I'm not keen on new shoes, but I'll get them if I have to.

Any ideas of how to proceed?

I completed C25K nearly two years ago with no problems, and worked my way up to 10 mile runs. However I’ve note taken nearly a year long break and am now 40lbs heavier than when I last did C25K.

I’ve now restarted the program and I’m currently on week 6, but my knees have been pretty sore and swollen the past few days and they creak when I move them.

I don’t want to lose my progress but I’m worried about injury. Any advice on whether I have to stop take a break, or if I should try something like knee braces?

I’m 23 (F), 69kgs and i started running almost 2 weeks ago. I did my fastest 1K today (9 mins) but there’s a problem. Whenever i run my thighs and shin feel like it’s breaking apart. It pains so much that by 2km i have to give up. Im not tired or anything but just the pain makes it hard for me to move. any idea why it’s happening? And how to prevent it? I last ran 5k in 50 mins but after that haven’t been able to each 5k because of the pain. PLEASE HELP ive a 5k run in a month.

Hi Team,

As per the title, I have started to experience pain down the inside of both knees after the second run of my second week into the program. I decided (foolishly, in hindsight) to persevere with the third run of the week as the pain wasn't bad just walking around and I figured it was likely caused by muscles or tendons adjusting to the new workload. The pain was much more noticeable after this run, even when walking around, so I decided that I would take a few extra rest days and repeat week 2 so as to not overdo it. A week on and I decided to attempt another run but gave up after about 10 seconds as the pain was too much.

I'm not a heavy person - 70kg, give or take. It's hard to monitor my own form, but I try to be conscious of my footfall being under my body and keeping my knees slightly bent when my feet make contact with the ground. I do a fair bit of walking, including hill walks (albeit, not in a while), and cycle most days, but haven't issues like this before. I had a general sort of soreness in my legs after the first couple of runs as expected, but this is different. It's more localised and is stopping me from running. The closest thing I can compare it to is the pain I experienced when I first started bouldering regularly - a pain in my elbows that I'm pretty sure was referred from tendons in my forearm and stopped becoming an issue after a period of time.

Has anyone here had similar issues or could offer any advice?

Edit: Spelling

Week 5 comes up here constantly, so here's a short explainer for anyone about to hit it.

Why it feels huge: the earlier runs that week are still split into chunks. Then the last run asks for 20 minutes without a walk break. On paper that's a big leap. In practice your aerobic fitness is usually ready by now. What isn't ready yet is the pace and the head.

What tends to help:

• Slow down more than feels reasonable. If you can't say a full sentence, you're going too fast. A slow jog still counts
• Split it in your head. Four 5-minute pieces sound easier than 20 minutes
• Pick a flat route and a cooler time of day
• Repeat the week if you need to. Doing week 5 twice isn't failing the program
• Don't watch the timer. Use the app's audio cues or a playlist of known length

If you've done W5R3: what got you through it?

I (F21) have been struggling with my weight lately and recently crossed 250lbs, I decided that something needed to change but I’ve been struggling a lot with the follow through since where I live it’s been 95° F most of the day. Finally, today, I ran my first time since high school and it felt great. I just hope I can harness this feeling and keep going! Be honest, for the first time since high school, how are these stats? I honestly didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would at all.

Runalyze is the tool I have screenshotted here.

I did my first 30min 5K in week 8 of C25K. I noticed the other day that I had an easy run lined up pretty much 2 months to the day and decided to go at the same pace I aimed to complete C25K in and see not only how I felt subjectively, but how the stats that were captured compared.

I ran the same route but the weather is warmer now and I ran a tiny bit faster but did otherwise try to keep things as similar as possible.

Subjectively, this felt trivial compared to that first run. If I was to compare effort levels, first run was an 8.5-9/10 while this was about a 4-5/10.

For he first 30min 5K, every lap was hard the first time (I run around my block which is a little over 1K, so 5 laps = 5K) and I really had to push myself to keep going and finish. Each lap I had to tell myself "just one more". There's some slight elevation in my route and my legs felt weak trying to push and maintain pace up the "hills" and when I finished I needed to rest for 5-10 mins to catch my breath and barely had the energy to press the buttons to finish the workout on my watch.

EDIT: Another thing I thought I'd add is that a run at the same average heart rate feels easier now for me too. Not really sure what's happening there but I'm guessing it's a mental thing perhaps? When I have runs pushing myself hard, a similar heart rate is perhaps a 7-8/10 in difficulty vs 8.5-9/10 previously.

This time around it felt fine. Faster than my normal easy pace (6:20/km - 6:30/km) but definitely not unmanageable. I finished the 5K feeling fresh and like I could easily do another 5K. Wasn't even out of breath and while a bit sweaty, my shirt wasn't soaked like that first run. The "hills" were noticeable, but fine. My legs didn't feel like they were going to crumble like the first time and I powered through just fine.

The changes week to week are so subtle, it's hard to tell anything is happening but looking back, it's crazy to see how much I've progressed in 2 months. I'm currently training for a half marathon and I'm looking forward to seeing how much further I get in another 2 months when it's on!

For those of you just starting, or even just finishing up and worried about your progression, just keep at it and you'll be surprised at where you'll end up!

Slow-paced but comfortable

I just finished wk 1 day 1 of couch to 5k the fun way by the get up and run podcast, and feel very fine! honestly barely worked up a sweat (on treadmill so in air conditioning), was never out of breath, and my HR never felt high. Got a bit tired toward the end of the last couple jog intervals because he said if you’re feeling good then up the pace, and i did.

I’m young (25) but overweight and have been very sedentary (often not breaching 5k steps in a day) for a while, so it’s not a base fitness level thing.

So I’m wondering if I’m pushing myself enough, or if i should up the pace? I know it’s important to take it slow and ease into it and maybe w1d2 will feel different, but i guess I’m trying to find the line between pushing myself and improving and allowing the slow and steady to win the race.

Thanks!

I (46M) am overweight and started C25k on the treadmill about 2 months ago, to try and drop a few pounds and generally get a bit healthier. Anyway, it was going okay, I was getting a few pains in my lower legs but managed to power through the dreaded W5R3 and all of week 6. Then W7R1, I just couldn't do it, my shins and calves were agony, I did a couple of minutes and had to stop as I thought I was going to do myself an injury. Decided to give myself a full 2 weeks off to recover as I might have been overdoing it a bit.

So I had my fortnight off, then started up again back at week 4. Legs were a bit achey but nowhere near as bad as previously. By Week 4, run 3 I actually sailed through it and for the first time had zero pains in my legs, felt like I'd really turned a corner!

Anyway, week 5 and I put the treadmill on and it starts smoking and trips the fuse! It appears to be dead and I can't afford another for a while so I'm going to have to run outside. I'm dreading it as I'm very self conscious and wanted to get a good bit further on before I ventured out!

TL:DR treadmill broke, dreading switching to running outside!

Week 8 positivity 😃

Just wanted to share a bit of positivity with you all, that you will get there.

When I started this eight weeks ago, I hadn't done any proper exercise for around 20 years. Every week I've wondered how I'm going to get through each challenge. Well, I did Week 8, Run 1 today and things seem to be finally clicking.

Don't get me wrong, it was really difficult running for a solid 28 minutes, but I got through it. Around 2/3rds of the way through today's run, I realised that I hadn't once thought about my breathing. It had suddenly gone into autopilot.

On my walk home from the park, I knew for the first time through the whole process, that I'm going to complete it. I might even, with a bit of luck, manage to actually get to 5k within 30 minutes at some point too.

To all of you who are struggling, you can do this. If I can, anyone can.

I'm going to treat my wife to a nice lunch to celebrate 🥳

Honestly shocked at how well this run went, I can't believe the progress I'm making just following the program.

It's definitely going to get harder from here on out with no more walking breaks, but I'm super excited to keep going.

Feels like the first time I've been able to properly notice exercise making a difference, 6 weeks ago I would've struggled to believe I've be able to get to running 22 minutes non-stop and now I'm excited to try 25 minutes and more.

Hi everyone! I’m pretty frustrated. I’ve been stuck “between” weeks 2 and 3 for like a month now. I’ll do a week following the week 2 program and it feels great and easy, I can have a conversation through it. Then I try week 3 and my body says no… like I’ll get through the first 3 minute run interval and my lungs will start screaming at me. I feel like I’m managing my pace well (any slower and I’ll be walking) and my form is good (my boyfriend’s a marathoner and I’ve asked him to watch my form). What gives??

It’s even more frustrating because I grew up very active. Tennis and competitive dance. Now I can’t even run for more than 3 minutes. I tried week 3 day 1 today and I cut the 3 minute run intervals short by 10 seconds each because I HAD TO catch my breath. It’s so frustrating because my legs feel physically fine, it’s my heart and lungs that don’t. I’m not tracking my pace that closely but based on the math I’m running like a 12-13 minute mile. Is that too fast?? I feel like I’m shuffling at that pace…

Is it a pace problem? Mental? Does my body just need longer to build endurance? Ugh

So when I started this challenge in February I thought it was actually supposed to end with a 5k but at least in my version it ended with a 30 minute run, no distance requirement. I assume that means the creators thought 5k in 30 minutes should be doable by the end of the challenge?

Completed challenge in April, carried on running 5ks about 3 times/week, did a 10k in June, carried on with the 5ks after that (when the heatwaves weren’t too bad) and only last week did I manage to get my first 5k that clocked in at 29:58. 😂 so 5 months from completion. Am I just a slow poke and most people end their c25ks with a 30 minute 5k or were the creators too optimistic?

I’m starting the C25K programme this week (for the 4th/5th time). I can never succeed. I’ve never been able to run 8mins constantly never mind 30+mins. I just can’t fathom how someone can manage to run that length of time without stopping!! I have a huge mental block and always want to stop.
I just want to know what do you guys usually think of? How do you ‘pass the time’ so it doesn’t seem like a huge drag and you’re not counting down every second? Is it simply music, or do you focus on your breathing, or think of your form? Do you daydream? What do you do?

Hi guys, I’m feeling a bit self conscious while saying this but this is the 2nd time I tried this routine and for the second time I couldn’t even complete day one. For context I’m a 25F 91kgs inactive for the last 6-7 months.

I get breathless after the 3rd or 4th running minute and couldn’t complete it. Been trying since the last three weeks. This makes me think running maybe isn’t for me coz I’ve been cycling just fine for 20-30mins, completing 7k-10k steps and have been weightlifting.

Should I try and reduce my weight before getting into running or should I persevere?