With my week 5 run 3 looming on Friday I was wondering out of all of the runs, which have people found the most difficult ?
We’re all different, and all have different good and bad days, but just out of interest please share your most challenging runs with me.
I think one of the early weeks was surprisingly hard - week 3 I think - which blindsided me becauae the intetvals were so short. Definitely not w5R3! In fact that one was remarkably easy despite my fears. I think I told myself that it was going to be so much harder than it was; the brisk walks during the interval training runs are so close to jogging that you really are ready -you've done 20 mins of cardio, you just don't think you have! It was easier than the W5R2 you've just done too.
OMG did I feel proud of myself at the end though. I hadn't run that far in one go in over 15 years when I did it so its not that I'm secretly quite fit either. Just pace yourself and you'll smash it.
Then use that knowledge for the coming weeks; you are ready, you can do it.
If we all said W5R3 it might not have been such a good idea to ask the question.
Any run is as hard as you want to make it.........or, if you slow down, as easy as you want to make it.
It honestly wouldn’t have put me off doing it at all, I don’t dislike challenges 
The first run (in week 1) was by far the hardest. I was totally unfit and foolishly came out the traps like a greyhound, a huffing and puffing greyhound 
Then i discovered this forum and learnt all about being slow and steady. Since then it's been less arduous but still challenging.
You shouldn't worry about week 5 run 3. You've already run for more than twenty minutes. Just drop your speed until you feel comfortable and you'll arrive at the finishing tape in no time.
Week 1 run 1, it nearly killed me 😬
Week 1 run 2 and week 6 run 1! I found the week 6 harder than week 5!
Week 1 Run 1 - it was that bad I almost gave up there and then. 🤢
Week 6 run 1 was my hardest! From smashing the 20 mins I thought it would all be easy from then on. Wrong! Was glad to see the back of the walks 😂
The 1st... it seemed to last forever...
Week 1 was hard for the obvious reasons but week 2 was my most difficult. That's the week I thought I'd never get any better because I was struggling with an additional 30 second, I really wanted to repeat it but this group told me no and I'm glad I listened
I would have said W5R3 a couple of weeks ago as I was quite concerned about it but in fact rather than being the toughest physical challenge it is really just a mental leap of faith. You have in fact already run for that length of time albeit with short breaks and it does actually seem to go pretty well - just take it steady - when I did it I was actually a little slower than normal and breezed it
For me, I think, the toughest is actually W1R1 - making that commitment and actually stepping out there and starting the programme, I found that quite a shock to the system but am now on W7R3 tomorrow and kicking backside - once you have overcome the trepidation of the first run then it's onwards and upwards
For me the hardest runs were the second runs from week6 on, think my mind was saying during run1 “I am going to do this, no way can I wimp out”; but the second run of a longer time I would have the feeling of, I did this last time because it was new and such a challenge, can I make that effort again; then the third run was easier as I had done it twice before, so knew I could do it. It may have also been that as I ran a out and return, then I knew where my new turning point was, so was more aware of the distance.
I think mine was wk5R3, despite having followed all the other runs to the letter, I found this one was hard from the beginning. Knowing I had further to go meant I started doubting myself right at the beginning (I overthink things 🙈!). Ran through it and completed it, made sure I kept a steady pace and didn’t overface myself in terms of speed. Graduated today 🙌, first time ever after starting about 10 times before 😁!
w5:R3 was actually quite enjoyable. To stop going to fast I put Back Eyed Peas "pump it" which slowed me nicely. I think there might be something to this running business after all- I'm starting to enjoy it 😳👍
W6R1 is notorious for being the toughest. Although I was so aware of that fact that I found it wasn’t that bad 😂
I think I found week 4 toughest as my breathing wasn’t sorted out by then. By week 5 it seemed to have sorted itself out.
I did my week 5 run, Round 3 the hardest, I could only manage running for 17 minutes before it got too much. I will be repeating that round on saturday afternoon.
That’s still a great achievement though, that’s the longest you’ve run without stopping so far !
W6R1 and W6R2
W1r2, realised I was in for the long haul. I’m now on week 9. Week 6:r3 wasn’t easy but definitely first couple of runs were the worst
W1R1! January 2017. Me and my beautiful Black Labrador Winston 😁😍Those few seconds of running that we thought we're going to be our last!
We persevered though and although we haven't ran consistently, we ran for 2 hours 15 mins on Friday. Not sure about the distance as I managed to press pause on Map My Run😠 but it was at least 15km. We don't run fast miles, we run steady miles up hill and down Dale in the North Pennines and it's amazing what we are capable of. Keep putting one foot in front of the other...xx
All of them😄
I did my 20 mins, could probably have gone a little longer but chose not to as I didn’t want to be too tired out for week 6 run 1, I’m having the weekend as rest days then back at it on Monday.
Yes, the very first run was tough but really for me week 9 was hard. I had a bit of a ‘wall’ at around 25mins (still do, tbh) and unfortunately week 9 for me landed in Christmas week, so it all went a bit wrong! I ended up doing the week twice before I felt happy to say I’d completed it properly. As you say, everyone has their own challenges x
Most challenging run today
Taking breathers on longer runs
⭐️Beyond Couch to 5k runs ⭐️
Holiday runs
Rubbish runs
