Finally learned to love running at 46 with this app after a lifetime believing that my body wasn’t suited to running. Only downside is the music in early weeks is great, then unfortunately gets repetitive from week 5 onwards. This becomes an issue when runners need to repeat runs more than twice before being ready to progress to next run, and end up unable to bear the song repetitions week after week. Be amazing if the app could be updated with no song repetitions at all.

Just about to start week 4 and really enjoying it. I look forward to the next run!!!! Can’t believe I’m saying this! I was the couch potato. But I have read that you can change the voice of the trainer but can’t see how to do it.

After several years of varying degrees of immobility due to a spinal injury, I’m now 3-4 months post op and have started to feel well enough to start low impact jogging. This app has helped me immensely.

This is a terrific podcast! I’m so grateful that it has motivated me and keeps me motivated to put on my running shoes. Awesome! Thank you x

I used to run regularly in my forties but stoped because of knee pain. 12years later I’m back running again. My physiotherapist recommended this app and it’s been great-thank you!

This has really helped me lose weight and has helped me become more fit.my son has also started trying this and it is doing a tremendous job of keeping him healthy and fit.all in all this is a good podcast if you want to lose weight.also if you ever stop you can always go back instead of just going onward.

This has helped me increasingly as I have definitely been helped by the runs and now I run every day!

First time using the app, instructions are great, shame they don’t have songs playing while your doing it rather that instrumentals.

I had to go back a few weeks after sustaining an injury. I was playing Week 5 Run 2 and it stops abruptly in the middle. I thought I’d done it accidentally, but it is indeed a lot shorter. I had to improvise for the rest of the run.

Other than that, I love it!

These podcasts are fantastic. I ran the programs some 6 or seven years ago and haven’t looked back. My wife has just tried to download from the apple store and message says they are temporary unavailable. Please can this be fixed so they are downloadable/usable again. Please.

I also can’t download which has made my training a bit boring. Can anyone explain why?

Cannot download or play a single episode. Completely ruined my training plan in the middle of week 4. Please fix this.

Wanting to use these podcasts on my garmin watch so I don’t have to carry my phone with the C25k app but they are unavailable! Please bring them back

Wanting to start the program but just says currently unavailable.

I have to say that this podcast has got me so much fitter than I have ever been - but it is currently not accessible and I STUPIDLY never downloaded the episodes.

Can the links please be fixed?

Suddenly, I can no longer download or even listen to these podcasts. What has happened.

I love this app, but I try and play / download and I get a message to say it’s unavailable. Is this a wide problem or local to me. Can anyone help?

Let me start by saying, I have never ever run before nor did any sports in my entire life! In fact, I hated anything sports related be it at school or later in my life. I had zero will power, motivation or stamina. I am also very passive, low energy human being. I am an antipode to an athlete. You get the picture. After having a baby and even more so during COVID-19 my weight ballooned to the point I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror. So I decided to do something about it. I downloaded this podcast and went for my first run and never looked back. I can now run for 30 mins with ease whilst enjoying myself in the process. It also became a new way of being for me. It wasn’t always easy, but the instructions are very good and guide you through the entire process. Everything Laura says will happen- will happen, so persevere knowing you will be able to run at the end of this podcast if you stick to it. If I could do it - so can you! Oh, and my weight is gradually fading away as a result. Thank you NHS and Laura!

This podcast changed my whole outlook on exercise and started a habit that I still continue 3 years later. The programme is excellent and I recommend it to everyone. The music in this podcast is kind of annoying to me personally, I find it a little cheesy, but as they mention in the podcast you can download alternate versions from online with different music and hosts if you prefer that.

It is such an amazing surprise to realise that, ‘yes, I can really run’ which of course you can using mind over matter to begin with plus motivation from Laura. It gets addictive. It give you goals. It gives you achievements. It give you health & happiness. 😃

I started in December having not exercised for years and was dreading it! But it’s excellent, starts slowly and works up to a good pace for any level. I’m now running 5km 3 times a week and hit my PB yesterday of 27.34 minutes. Actually quite enjoy it, thank you NHS! CB

Joined a running club in January completed 1st session then back into lockdown 3. The club uses this podcast as “homework” during the week. I decided to carry on and so glad I did. I’m 52 and at week 1 I could not run 90 seconds, now I’m running with week 8 going to week 9 next week. Never did I think I could do this and I’d highly recommend to have a go.

The one minute run on the first week nearly put me off, as I struggled greatly with my asthma. I persevered and now I’m running 25 minutes without even getting out of breath!

Thanks to this app! Laura’s gentle guidance and encouragement helped greatly too.

I’m now training to run in a charity event.

Onward and upward !

so excited to try this tommrrow xx

I keep coming back to this particular program because I find Laura’s voice motivational and kind. The music is great because in the beginning you need to find your own pace and not pace to music necessarily until you are actually running. Once you have completed this thankfully Laura has made a graduate program to bring your running up a notch and here she introduces pace. For a beginner this is ideal and I am so grateful to Laura and the NHS for bringing us these effective running podcasts.

I can’t believe I can run that long none stop!!!

Week 6 here we come

Up until March 2020 I ran two 5K runs per week plus Parkrun 5K on Saturday mornings. Then the gym closed and Parkrun stopped amd so did I. My fitness rapidly declined and I thought ‘I’m 71 so maybe time to stop running’. But I badly missed it. So in January I started Couch to 5K. I thought I would never be able to get my fitness back but I’ve completed week 6 and feeling great thanks to this brilliant podcast and Laura’s soothing words of encouragement. In three weeks time I should be back to running 5K in under 30 minutes.

I like it’s no nonsense approach. Not too intrusive and surprisingly encouraging. I like that the narrator, Laura, gives a personal perspective. Even if it’s not really Laura 😂. The pacing seems good. I was able to run a bit so I started on week 3 as I thought I might get bored. I did week 3 twice. I am on week 5 now and I am managing. Will update after week 9.

Great!!!

Does anyone know what the first and last songs are——-???

They’re just so energising- love them.

Did my 2nd run 1st week today

1st one difficult

2nd run found it easier

So pleased with myself ..

really easy to follow .. feel so much better 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

This is a great app

for beginners like myself that has never in my life been able to run 🏃‍♀️.

I only started yesterday thought I would not last 20mins, but hurray I did it ! Getting up this morning believe it or not I could really feel it in my legs. So something is working.

Hate to say it , but I am looking forward to doing it again. Never felt like this in such along time, as I suffer with my mental health.

So fingers crossed , I will start & feel good about myself.

Please change the music .

Thank You

Started this app in October, as I was getting a bit podgy round the middle during lockdown. Having never done any real exercise for my adult life, this is the first time I’ve managed to stick at it. It’s currently a freezing cold 27th December, but I look forward to my runs three evenings a week, and am now starting week 8 of the challenge. I’m able to run 25 minutes non stop, and would not have believed myself capable of this 6 weeks ago. The app really does help you keep going and focus on the challenge. I feel fantastic. Thanks Laura for all the encouragement ‘go on... you can do it!’

This is the third or fourth time I’ve C25K. It’s a really good programme in that given sufficient time you can get to 30 mins running easily (not 5k). Having done it I think 3 times now (it’s so easy to lose fitness) the watch-outs are:

- Music - terrible (why can’t they improve this - we need bouncy music for running)

- Stretching - never mentioned (the first two times I did this programme I had an achilles niggle - this is just because I didn’t no how to stretch - hired a PT, now sorted)

- Tempo - weeks 5 and 6 are too rushed (if you’re new to running, suddenly going up to 25 mins is a struggle, you can get around this by repeating all of those weeks 3 times).

Overall good but could be much better now I’ve seen it in hindsight.

Being someone who has always hated running and who has put on weight over lockdown I didn’t think it would work for me but I thought I’d give it a go. I’m now into week 9 (the final week) and instead of being able to run 30 minutes or 5km (the target of the programme) I’m now able to run 11km in 1 hour 10 minutes.

I am really impressed and it really did take me from nothing to being able to run a lot more than 5k. To be honest, if I can do it anyone can!

I love the couch to 5k app already and I only downloaded the podcast so that I could run without using up my data. I don’t usually run to music found the music really distracting - it’s not the right tempo, messes up my pace and therefore my breathing too! I also thought the voice wasn’t very motivating - compared to the app, where you can choose whose voice you’d like. I’ll probably stick to the app and hope they upgrade it to let me download the tracks!

I am real ‘couch’ level fitness person and I have made it to week 4 and am surviving. I would go as far as saying I am enjoying the process. If you really want to be one of those people you see jogging happily in parks and by the sea this is for you. The phasing of jog to walk to jog is genuinely manageable. The increase to more jogging each week is enough to challenge you but not to defeat you. I was so unfit to begin with that I repeated weeks 1 and 2 before moving on. I would encourage anyone feeling in a fitness rut to give couch to 5k a go.

This podcast series helped me to form a solid exercise routine and have a change of pace in the morning. I love waking up early & going for a run when the day feels like it’s the most peaceful!

Weeks 1-6 were a piece of cake and there was a lot of helpful advice to run at my best. Once I got to Week 7 though, it felt more challenging but I still managed it! Then, on Week 8, it felt easy all over again!! Finally, with Week 9 finished, I felt completely accomplished.

I could definitely see the progress I was making week-by-week! Now I truly feel like an official runner. I can’t wait to see how far I’ll keep going!

Thank you, Laura, for all your coaching! Going for morning runs regularly has honestly changed my life in an unconventional way, LOL. Onward to 5K+! x)

—

🤍 “There’s always something left to give” 🤍

Ok so I had to download the podcast as I wanted to do a run in an area with no WiFi. It’s a bloody good job I’ve used the app before as this podcast, doesn’t tell you when you get to half way!

Feel sorry if someone unfamiliar with the runs found this out after 25 mins and a long walk back home!

Maybe it’s the NHS trying to help out us fatties, “hahaha we won’t tell them when they need to turn round so when they finish they have the extra walk back”

Excellent app for beginners, taking it one step at a time and being able to achieve the targets set for you within the app. I have finished the course but still use the last week to run 30 minutes as a great motivator.

I was sceptical about going back to my evening run after almost a year of not running. This app gave me a gentle kickstart which help me to build my stamina & strength gradually. I look forward to my runs now even after a hectic day @ work 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾.Naomi Oladosu

The running program itself is great - my fitness has greatly improved over the weeks, gradually increasing the time you run for without being too challenging. However, the music is mediocre at best (and gets repeated in later episodes), so in later weeks where I just had to run with no walking breaks I made my own playlist from my iTunes library.

Before I started this program I struggled to run for 2 minutes and became exhausted running for a bus. I have now completed this program and can easily run 5k - and it feels amazing! I will recommend this podcast to everyone! I now look forward to running a 5k every couple of days. I am now aiming for a 10K, and one day a half marathon. I struggled in some weeks but I kept with it and the outcome is amazing. I never thought I would be able run to 5k. Please listen to this podcast - you won’t regret it!!! It has changed my life.

This is the 2nd time I’ve done this programme - utterly my fault I gave up the first time! One tricky day and I crumbled. This time I’ve followed Laura’s advice and redone weeks where I’ve struggled. I can now “comfortably “ run for 25 mins! My pe teacher of 30 years ago would be stunned!! Thanks Laura, you’ve helped me stay sane through lockdown!!

I used to hate running but I’m on week 4 now and really enjoying it. The first two weeks were hard and some days are worse than others but in general I am now looking forward to running! Thanks Laura.

This is a second time I’m using this program and it is really helpful again.

I’ve done this before I had my kids and was surprised how well it worked. Week after week I was getting better and better, happier and even more determined to progress.

Now, after 5 years, running only around my 2 kids I started again. It’s like having a personal trainer right there with you encouraging you, challenging you and cheering on all the way. It is completely reliable, well structured and simple enough for anyone to just get started.

I’m about to start week 7. Who’d have thought when I started I could just about run for 90 seconds. The last few weeks have got tougher but I’m surprised how much stamina I have than when I started. And I’m actually enjoying my running.

Music not bad and the coaching is good.

Highly recommend.

I never thought I’d be able to run longer than a few mins. This plan really eases you into running and helps you enjoy it. I am now on week 7 doing 25 min solid runs each day. The key is to keep going, you will be surprised at how much you can run!! Your stamina increases tremendously and whereas I used to hate running and general cardio, I now look forward to my runs!

I have just completed w5r3. I never thought that 6 weeks ago that I could run for 5 mins let alone 20 by this point in the plan.

If you are thinking of getting into running by using this, and I recommend that you do, follow it to the letter. I have done and with the aid of Weight Watchers blue plan I have lost 27 lbs in 9 weeks. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Looking forward to completing the full course :)

Go Laura!!!

I am a fairly unfit pensioner and I have just finished Week 5 of 9. So far, the pace has been just right for me. My coach is Sara Millican and she is involved just enough. I feel confident I will be able to manage 5K by week 9 🙂

A great starting point for a non runner, low active person. I am on week 7, never thinking I could be running for 28 minutes before starting this plan.

It really does work! Keep on going and stay motivated. Personally I am finding the last weeks tricky, could do with more vocal direction maybe.

From next week I will most likely just listen to music or podcasts if the right length.

Couldn’t have reached this point without the app, amazing.