Result of a breakup: Couch to 10k 😁

insights

I just completed w5d1, and I’m pretty sure I have the physical ability to do d3 this week. However, I know my mind is my biggest enemy, so what are your best mental tips/hacks for the first 20 min run?

I started couch to 5k 3 weeks ago and I was loving it. I usually strength strain and do a mix of Pilates and yoga so was completely new to running, but I was really enjoying it.

On my week 2 run 1, I did something to my knee and it’s been sore for over a week now. I’ve been told by my GP that I have runners knee and to rest it until the pain is gone as it’s quite bad when I’m walking and going up and down stairs. I’ve then been advised to work on strengthening my muscles alongside running and to basically take it easy.

I feel so disheartened and upset because I feel like everytime I try and improve my physical fitness, I have some form of set back.

Has anyone else had this issue? How long did it take before you were back running, and how did you avoid injuries in the future?

I feel absolutely gutted that I’m 2 weeks in and already injured!

So the thing is I have never been able to push through 2k in one go run, generally I run 200 meters then some walk and so on for 5k. Can It still be called 5k??

I was never able to run more than 1km, but started hitting gym and loads of walk, managed to shed 20kg (121 to 101kg), and then joined parkrun for a 5k.
Managed to run 5k in 30:13, only practised twice before and gym best was 40:00, I think it was crowd which pushed me to do in 30:13.

Questions I have got is that, I have mild pain in knee since Saturday, and I have been walking 8-10km daily (averaging 15k steps), should I be cautious and not do 2 5k runs in a week with this intermittent pain? Or shall I continue and it will go away?
I donot want to make it worse to the point that I cannot walk.
Please advise.
P.S I am wearing professional running shoes so knee swelling/pain would be most likely over weight related.

Last February I (46F) started exercising again after... at least 10 years? A colleague of mine convinced me to try "metabolic walking": 1 hour of power walking with 2 or 3 intervals of running (3 or 4 minutes each) and 3 intervals of exercises like squats, abs, upper body, or lunges, and of course an initial warm-up and final stretching. It was very challenging at first, but now I'm mastering it with commitment but without struggling. We have a great trainer, and I love walking to crappy dance music 😂

Around mid-July, I started c25k because I knew the classes would stop in August and I didn't want to stop training completely, but next week the metabolic walking classes will start again. I usually train like this 2 or 3 times a week (if there are two, I add a full-body strength workout).

I'm on week 7 of the c25k plan, and it's going pretty well, with no injuries so far, and I'll definitely switch to a 10k plan in the future. Discovering that I love running was the best surprise this year!

So... I'd really like to continue both activities: could metabolic walking be my workout on non-running days?

TIA and sorry for possible errors, English is not my first language

I have been extremely busy the last 4-5 months. Was working from home. Have reached my highest weight till date but now I have the next 4 months comparatively free. I’m planning to train hard, take better care of myself and start running for real this time. I am manifesting me running a 5k by the end of this year. Giving myself 16 weeks to do it. Hope this keeps me motivated and I come back to it when I complete my 5k.

Im not sure if this has been asked before, apologies if it has. As the programme goes on, I have found my easy, conversational pace hovering around the 7:30 min/km. Is the general consensus to run it at that sort of pace, or is it ok to push ourselves? I appreciate its very person specific, but I think about it alot, and wonder what people think in general. I kind of want to push myself, and see what I can do. Any thoughts and advice is really appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

I'm pretty sure I walk faster than I can run. I rarely see anyone this slow even on this subreddit. I have just completed W8D1 and my pace was 11-12 min / km and avg heart rate 156. I'm worried I am doing something wrong to be this slow so late in the program. Should I push myself to go faster?

I used to barely make it through the first minute of jogging without needing to stop and catch my breath. Now, running for long stretches suddenly feels manageable, and my endurance is actually leveling up. The difference from where I started to my runs this week is completely night and day. If you’re struggling in the early weeks, stick with it because the progress comes faster than you think!

The nights are drawing in now and what would have been a bright run was quite a dark run this evening. Still there was no rain so that’s a win!

5’4” 220lbs

Trying to lose weight and I was just on a walk with my family and I decided to run while pushing my kids in the stroller and actually enjoyed it?..

My wife told me about this program and I want to give it a shot. Anything I should get to start? Checked out the FAQ but would love a tl;dr.

Can anyone advise on a simple 3 day a week lifting plan to support running ? I would want it to change every 8 weeks

Should I do two lower and one upper? Should I specify posterior chain, anterior chain, and upper body? I don’t know how to do this. I just want a basic routine to support my running, but I need to do some resistance as I am a per menopausal woman. I’m happy spending about 25 minutes doing it - or are there any awesome Youtubers that I can follow really easily?

I finished! 46m
In October of 2025 I had not exercised in about 6 years or gone to a doctor in a decade. Even then my exercise was just playing basketball. The last time I was running to just run was in high school.
In October I was sick enough to go to the doctor and got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes with a 10.6 a1c and weighing in at 271lbs.
By June I was still sedentary but I had dropped to 227lbs through diet and medicine. I completely changed everything about how I ate from cutting out soda and going almost completely to water and doing homemade meal replacement shakes to get me through the day. So with less weight on me I started walking and then started my C25K journey.

I was doing really well and looking forward to my run days and then on my original day to finish the program my ankle hurt on a few minutes in. People on the sub recommended I take a week off and I did. I ran today pain free with just a little rusty soreness from not running in 5-6 days.

I am ready to work toward finishing my 5k in 30 minutes and getting a 10k in. I am currently down to 211lbs so I don’t know why my weight loss slowed for the last 9 weeks.

After almost 2 weeks of no running to rest a calf injury I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I kept up my strength training/low impact days and I think that helped.
The me that started this program 4.5 months ago would be so proud of today’s me! And last years me would wonder what we were thinking lol
Keep going everyone!

Heyyy everyone! I just ran my first 5k in the gym on the threadmill!!!

42.27 Minutes

8:28 tempo apparently

HR didnt get good measures... but probably then around 150

I ran most of the time on 8 level and from time to time i slowed down for some walking

Its not mega time obviously but im super happy and proud that i was able to make it!! Wanted to quit at the 3km and the 4th but somehow kept going ...

Wanted to share with you :)

What was your first time ?

I'm done with W3D3, and I am dreading W4, I go at a pace of ~8 /km but I'm almost breathless by the end of 3 minutes, what am I doing wrong, and how can I survive W4

Just wanted to post a win for today!!!

Last week I posted in this lovely community about how down I was that my W3D3 run was so unbelievably hard out of nowhere. All weekend, my legs have felt heavy and achy, my body has just had enough, I've taken myself for a walk on Friday and did fuck all yesterday besides grocery shopping, but even then I woke up today feeling not 100%. My watch was yelling at me that me readiness score was low and I was getting in my head that I couldn't do this.

But I took my own advice from last week and ran slow. Instead of level 8 on the treadmill, I stuck to level 7 for my runs exclusively and I felt a MASSIVE difference. Instead of feeling like a failure, I felt strong and capable and obviously the last five mins felt nice once it was over, but it was so much easier than my W3D3 run. I must have honestly just been going to fast. I now feel so much more excited for the other two runs this week and it makes me feel like I can tackle any of the future runs too!!!!!!

Going slow really works, huh? Time to run a marathon!!! (I'm kidding, I'm just feeling very proud of myself)

Is there any physiotherapist within budget for daily physiotherapy for L4-L5 and L5-S1 disc bulge?

I’m 70 years old and it took me a year to finish C25K, but now I’m doing the Parkrun Improvement plan in Runna and I’m 8 weeks into that. Today’s Parkrun was filled with puddles and slippery leaves, so if the next one is on a dry day I’m sure I’ll do even better!

i was doing fine with my slow runs (walk/jog intervals haha) for 2-3 times a week. after about a month, i found out about this program and started it. no pains on my body, keeping it safe and injury free until one day, i messed up.

i couldn't keep up with my MWF sched so to compensate for the missed runs, i would squeeze in extra days. no rest days in between run days. started feeling slight pain/discomfort and thought "no pain, no gain" (stupid).

from that day, i keep waking up with sore ankles/heels. stopped running for a week. did an easy jog and it hurt so bad again. one week rest again and walked for 2.5km, boom pain the next day. this is devastating physically and mentally, i just wanna exercise 😭

I “ran” 2.3 miles in 33 min (3.7 average time). It seems obvious to me that running 30 minutes, as the program claims, does not necessarily equate to running a 5k. Seems a recent couch potato would have to be running faster than a 9-minute mile. Math isn’t a strong suit - but the maths don’t seem to be mathing. If I’m NOT wrong, why build the program around this mystical 30min mark? Now, I’ve got to devise my own system to incrementally add my last .8 mile AND quicken the pace. I’m sure I’m missing something obvious but it seems the program - especially toward the final weeks - could’ve been better structured.

Sometimes, you can only just do the thing. Took almost a week off because my schedule didn’t work - planned to run in the mornings but my toddler was always up begging me not to leave… was on call, was exhausted.
This morning I said no matter what I’m doing the thing!!
Yesterday was my first child’s 3rd birthday! After what is probably many months, I had ONE drink with my partner to celebrate.
Dunno if it was the alcohol, or the longer run, or the different route or what but …. This was ROUGH. Covered less distance than before; shittier splits. Just DYING.

Look old, feel old, not all days are winning … but better than nothing!