My reality - 6 months to get to 20 minutes

[sunshine35114]

Well actually 9 months, but 3 months injury around the middle somewhere (so I took to biking until the injury was healed)! I just wanted to say to everyone out there who reaches a point where they think they cannot do it, and loses motivation, that you can !!!! I have been determined, from the start, that I will do a 5k run, and if it takes 12 months then so be it. Obviously I'm still not there yet, but I am buzzing off the fact I have finally reached 20 minutes non stop - and without gasping for breath at the end. I know now that I will be able to get to 5k, and hopefully before the end of March. I was a smoker for approx. 20 years, and have done no proper exercise for about 22 years, so this was a really big thing for me to do. I don't want to put anyone off starting the program, and the majority of people seem to manage to do it in far less time than me, but for those who think they will never do it (as I did numerous times), keep at it - you WILL succeed, and I really mean it when I say 'if I can do it, anyone can'

[Simongeorge]

That's fantastic, well done! You showed amazing determination to get through it, the 20 minutes is really the 'hump' , I won't say it gets easier but it only gets fractionally harder each time. Stick with it, you've got it!!

[Lauraeliza30]

Congrats! After the 20 minute run, everything is downhill from there (but in a good way, lol). Soon you will find yourself running 40 minutes and wanting to do more. For me, 40 minutes was my 5k time so I kind of had to push further than the program. To be able to run a 5k in 30 minutes is my ultimate goal but for now I am grateful I have finished the program. Actually, yesterday I did Week 4 run 1. For a few months I had been running with no clear goals or any plan, so I found myself slacking a bit. I would still get out and run but I would stop after a mile and then walk and then do a combo run and walk. So, after a two week break from working out I decided to pick a starting point on the couch to 5k and go from there. Week 4 r. 1 sounded like a good place and I am bummed that i struggled through week 4 r1 but I was glad I was faster than the first go around and I completed it. So I am planning on just following the program or doing an accelerated version. Meaning doing two runs and then moving onto the next week. For me at this point it is really just having a plan! Now, I need to find a good transition plan to doing a 10k. Sorry for the ramble, your post just really inspired me not to quit. I had started the plan in April 2012. If you allow it, it does become a way of life.