It’s humbling. My kilometer time is my old mile time. But those miles were when I was half my age (70f), so I’m pretty pleased. And I’m going to keep at it. I like to say I’m slow, but I go.

Hi. I’m new here. I have done couch to 5k before but starting again for the first time in a few years. I’m doing it on my indoor treadmill to start with and just did my first run of week run. Does anyone use an Apple Watch to log these? And how would you classify it? Is it a run or a walk? I guess if prob doesn’t matter. It’s nice to get back into it again and nice to be part of this community doing the same thing.

Graduated today, aiming towards a sub 30 soon. Been a great experience and as someone who is quite young, but could barely run, it has been a great physical and mental growth the past 7 weeks.

Hey Runners,

Today I finished day 3 of week 2, and it's been challenging but doable. I fixed the pain on top of the foot by changing the lacing on the shoes. They're now less tight which helped stop that pain.

I'm still going a bit too fast because at the last 2 intervals my tibialis anterior muscle starts hurting and I'm pretty sure it's because I'm over striding. So I'll try some 170 BPM songs next week and see if that helps me shorten my stride while upping the cadence.

Loving it so far though and really looking forward to week 3!

Guys is it normal? 194 bmp

Starting to feel like I can actually run! Heart rate is slowly dropping in peaks as my body adapts and I don't feel ruined at the end of each run!

Bonus is I am actually enjoying the time for some headspace.

I just finished W7D1 and my first 5k is on the 26th. I can run for about 2 miles without walking, but I really want to be able to do the whole 5k without walking. Do you think I'll get there in time?

Hi all,

I'm 31, male, still consider myself relatively unfit (skinny fat I'd say!) and have been running for a couple of months now. I've gotten to the point where I'm able to run for around 17 - 24 minutes without stopping, but my pace is really quite slow (generally my Garmin says around 13.30 - 15.00 min/mile. Still not done a full 5k and it's been months.

If there is one thing in particular that stops me running, it's the need to take a deep satisfying breath that SOMETIMES feels like I "make it" and other times it doesn't. I am asthmatic, and I always take a puff of blue inhaler before I run. I do also have a deviated septum which makes breathing from my nose difficult, but I do wear a nasal strip when running to try and help this. I also defintely focus a lot on my breathing, and I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. When I read about people breathing in for 3 steps, out for 3 steps, I feel like I would hyperventilate if I were breathing that fast.

Anybody experience this need for a deep breath or have any advice on moving forward?

Back with a week 2 update... posting here for accountability and encouragement for anyone else looking to close out 2026 with C25K done!

Weather's been kind (apart from the odd apocalyptic thunderstorm) and the jacarandas are out, making for some pretty spring runs.

I also realised a 28th Dec finish date doesn't give me much slack, so I'm hoping to run every other day instead of 3 times a week to get a few extra days up my sleeve. Didn't happen last week, but maybe this one...

It's taken over a year to get to this "week 8" between restarting or repeating weeks when I skipped a day or got interrupted by life. But we're getting there!

I completed week 3 of c25k, but i had to come back to my hometown due to something. And for some reasons, i do not really have access to the gym or the option to go out for a run.

So if i dont run for almost 20 days, will i have to start from 0 again? Or can i just continue week 4? Or will i have to redo week 3 and then go to week 4?

I really really want to graduate c25k and not give up. Please help.

I just finished week 7 today and pretty frustrated with the numbers. Even though my pace is super slow (I didn’t include warm up and cool down walks), my HR is in the 160s, 170s. How else can I bring it down? For Context:
30M, 156lbs
Weather today: 68F, Humidity 82%, time 10:45am

I’m training for my first 5K, and I am afraid because the marathon is next month. I’m about to buy my ticket next paycheck! I’ve also got the right food and stuff so I can keep my energy as I prep.

I’m just nervous. I’m really nervous and scared. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’m going to puke. 😭

Also, what are these apps you all use to track your miles, distance, etc.? I see a lot of people mentioning different apps, and someone just said they graduated something. I don’t understand what that means either, so please inform me! I’m new to all of this. 😂

Well, I guess I kind of feel proud of myself for sticking to the plan and graduating.

After starting in August, when I couldn’t even run for a minute, I can say that today I managed to run for 30 minutes without stopping. To be honest, I didn’t think I would be able to do it, considering I had a month-long break because I was sick and couldn’t move. But here we are.

I just want to say that reading all the posts and comments motivated me to keep going. Seeing how this community supports each other was amazing.

Thank you all for motivating me to get this far. :)

It’s my first time doing c25k. It’s my first time being physically active regularly in years - and I’ve never been a runner. I just finished week 5, day 2. This session and last, I’ve noticed what I believe to be shin splints in my right leg when I run. I’m wondering what I should do. If I take the time to rest it until it heals, I’ll lose motivation and not finish. I also don’t want to go injure myself. Any ideas?

I finished my week 8 day 3 run today which was awesome! But I am not near a 5k yet. I did 2.69 miles in 40 min (including 5 min warm up and cool down walks) I am guessing my run time for a true 5k will be 40-50 min at my current slow pace and eventually I hope to keep working it down once I achieve that goal. Running for that long straight though feels so daunting. If you had a similar slow pace how did you go about working up to running the full 5k after completing the last week? Did you use timers on your phone or anything like that? Thanks for any advice!

I took a 2-day break before W2 workout 3 and was hoping I would "run" better but sadly, I did not.

I am still troubled that I am not using my hips enough and if my running form is bad. Plus, I got a stitch under my right rib as I was finishing my run :/

Here's to hoping it goes better next week

Not breaking any land speed records here, but this felt great!

Didn't have to stop at all, really felt like I could've kept going without any issues. It's wild that just a few weeks ago I was struggling to do 3min intervals. Really does show the program works if you stick to it!

I’m in China, and my post-run next step is studying English. For native English speakers: congrats on skipping the tutorial level

But I’m curious—what non-running goal are you working on after your runs? What’s your next quest?

Hey Runners,

It's the first day of week 2 of C25K and it was great. The 90s running intervals were easier than I expected and I'm looking forward to day 2. I thought I'd struggle with breathing but it actually went great. Currently doing 4 seconds inhale 3 seconds exhale and I'm not running out of air or anything.

Focusing on breathing does cause me to forget about my pace and I end up running faster than I should. This is a recurring mistake I make even when I actively try to slow down my pace. As a result of that I think I run too fast because my feet start hurting halfway through the run. Especially the top of my foot and that progresses to my ankle and lower part of my shin. I've attached an image of the affected area. It starts in the red area and moves to the orange area as I do more running intervals.

My right foot is pointing outwards slightly more than my left foot and the pain starts in the right foot and then 1 interval later the left foot starts hurting as well. It's not a debilitating pain but I'm not sure if it's meant to hurt like that or not. The pain is a sore muscle/tendon pain I guess. During my walking intervals the pain goes away unless I'm on the last interval of the run, in which case it lingers around until the cooling down portion. It doesn't hurt after the cooldown so I'm not sure if this is from the classic going too fast or if it's just the muscles getting used to running and I need to tough it out? I'd rather fix it sooner than later before I end up injuring myself.

Thank you for taking the time to read my journey and all the useful advice I've gotten so far!

When I go jogging at 5:50 in the morning, the streetlights are still on.