If you've tried the Couch to 5k program, post your story here. Did Couch to 5k work for you? Did you manage to do the 5k? Did it give you the running bug and lead to bigger and better things? Or did you end up back at couch again after a while? Let's have your Couch to 5k stories ...
I gained a lot of weight in my 20s and made a determined effort to start losing it to keep up with my eldest son without getting out of breath (then around 2). In summer 2011 started by using a food diary and once I'd reached a less than obese weight (early 2012) I decided to give triathlon a shot. I had always been told I was useless at running in school, the only distance I ever came even close to my peers was the 1500m and as such I had never really 'run' before. I used the Couch 2 5K program to get me to 5k and in May 2012 I did the South Manchester Triathlon (with a 6k run) - at that point I was typically running 4:40 - 5:00 min/km. Over the remainder of the season I gradually transitioned to more mid/fore foot landing (from heel striking badly). By 2013 I was doing low 40 minute times for the 10k at the end of an Olympic Tri! At the end of 2013 I picked up a calf tear and was struggling to walk let alone run for 3 weeks - so I went back to C25K with a group of locals and 4 months after the injury I could finally run 5k again! Then in summer 2014 I went sub-40 minutes for a standalone 10k. I gave the marathon a shot in 2015, but found I picked up lots of injuries/niggles and had to walk/run the last 10km; plus it was Manchester Marathon which was measured short so strictly speaking I haven't run a marathon yet... I've been doing a mix of multi-sport (cycling/running/swimming) races and fell races since then, have done the basic run leader coaching qualification and am just enjoying running socially, training, racing and gradually getting in to coaching at the moment.
I used to do a couch to 5k each winter, when I dropped my cycling mileage during the grim weather. It was always a bit of a slog, effectively starting from scratch every year, so one year, I just kept going. The programme definitely works for me - I've done too many too much, too soon starts to running, and C25K forced me to begin in a more sensible way. My times are nothing to write home about, and I don't compete, but I typically run two lots of 5 - 7km in the week, and a "long" run of 12 - 15km on the weekend.
