Demotivated at week 5

[chroniclowerlegpain]

from 5 mins to 8 mins to 20? Not a hope!

[sheps Graduate]

You can do it. I thought exactly the same - I promise - so I repeated R1 a few times, then R2 a few times and then, just this morning, I did 20 minutes.

If I can, you can. Take it slowly.

How has the rest of the plan gone for you?

[Pauline17 Graduate]

God I remember looking at that run and thing it must be a mistake. It's not. You can do it !😁

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Loads of people completed this run today. Read their posts.

Believe in the programme and yourself. If you tell yourself you can't do it, you won't be able to do it. This is where the legwork turns into headwork.

[Hidden]

Nearly everyone thinks that at the start of week 5 and turns out we were all wrong. Almost everyone seems to do it first time too. Only way you can fail is if you give up. Go for it because I can tell you it feels amazing when you finish.

[damienair Graduate]

Don't be demotivated. The plan works. If you don't feel ready yet then relax, repeat week 4 and come back to week five again. Week 1, 2, 3 and 4 are preparing you for this and you will be OK. Believe it or not I actually found it easier when the runs got longer. The gremlins will be screaming at you that your not ready, but you should be fine. Please don't give up, your half way through. And It's all down hill after week six so hang in there. Think about all you have achieved so far. And you don't have to do the plan in 9 weeks, you can take as long as you like. Most people will repeat a week or two.

Keep running.

Damien

[Irish-John Graduate]

Hey! You got from 0 to 5 minutes! Now just - slowly and steadily and in your own good time - to five minutes then tack on 180 seconds like you did to get to eight - and now you just have to 'turn around and run back the other way and tack on a miserable little 120 seconds'

Used to have to pay 10P for 180 seconds on the phone back in my day! If it was the Inland Revenue on the other end that call lasted for HOURS - if it was one of my girlfriends that 180 seconds lasted about 10 nanoseconds

It's mostly a mind game going onward from this - don't let the gremlins put you back in your misery on the Couch going 'I wish I could...but I can't' "

You got this far so the ONLY thing stopping you from getting to Graduation is your own illusory fear, trust me.

[Gran4z Graduate]

Yes you can - think positive ⭐️

[Emm1978]

I thought the same as you ..I completed the run this morning ..not gunna lie it was taught..just go slow & take in the sights..it feels amazing when you know you have completed it ..good luck ...not that you will need it ..

[Likac66 Graduate]

I was the same - convinced I wouldn't be able to do it, but I did. I didn't repeat any runs just went through the week. I told myself it was just two 10 min runs. And today I completed week 6, which meant 25 min run. Like the others have said, trust the programme. You are ready to do this.

[Shivani05 Graduate]

It's not 5 or 8 minutes - it's a total of 15 and 16 minutes. The walking breaks are just for stamina, which you have built up if you've reached here. Trust the program and trust yourself. You can do it. Good luck!

[PippiRuns]

I asked the same question a bit more than a year ago healthunlocked.com/couchto5... I survived and now I run 25k a week. You can do it. You really can.

[Kbanana]

I'm just about to start week 5 next week and my gremlins are going wild also. But then I think that there was a point that running for a 5 min stint seemed impossible yet here at the end of week 4 I can do that so I'm sure in a couple of weeks this week will look easy for us too. We can do this!

[Gillma Graduate]

Here's a mind-changer I sometimes remember to try. Try thinking of your body-mind as a 5 year old- and you as the perfect parent. Just say 'come with me, let's make a start. We'll just walk till we feel like running and we'll run as slow as we like and stop whenever we want. We can sing as we go. We'll have a really happy half hour together.' Or something that works for you 😉x

[mrrun Graduate]

Of course you can do it, it's all in your head. Go slow from the beginning, choose some music, and go for it. Will you get tired? Probably, but you can still nail it. You simply can, if you want to!

[froggyrunner Graduate]

Let me know! I'm in the process of repeating run 1 because I can't believe I'll ever manage 2 and 3!