So I am planning on doing the third run, week five of my Couch to 5k app and it is quite literally a walking warm up, followed by a continuous 20 minute run.
I struggle with running even with intervals sometimes and constantly get out of breath. What do I do? I am so nervous and just don’t know how on earth I will be able to run for 20 minutes straight.
Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated 
Constantly out of breath?
Uh oh... that's a clear sign you're going waaay too fast. No wonder you're struggling.
Top tip (from everyone here): S L O W D O W N
If you're thinking 'run' ... stop right there. Starting thinking 'JOG' instead. Nice and slow, nice and easy ... your jogging should be nice and relaxed and your breathing is the best indicator of how hard you're working. Out of breath, gasping - very simply, you're going too fast!
You should try and aim for a pace that means you finish feeling like you could on jogging for a lot more time if you had to. So that means, going at what we call a 'conversational pace' or a 'chatty pace' - one where you can comfortably hold whole sentences at.
Have a look at these videos which should act as a good reference for you for the rest of thr program:
youtube.com/watch?v=9L2b2kh...
and:
youtube.com/watch?v=kQ5wQ5N...
Hope they help!
John
Hi John,
I’ve just come back and managed to run 2.79km in 25 minutes (excluding the cool down walk). I covered less distance this time and went SUPER slow for the first half because I didn’t want to tire myself out too quickly. To illustrate, I looked more like someone who was stealthily tip-toeing behind another person (except in running form).
I kept my legs moving throughout and didn’t necessarily stop but I feel as though I didn’t make enough progress as I “ran” less distance than the other two runs this week by a fair bit.
Any tips for my next run?
Nice one. SUPER slow is exactly the way to do it. And keeping your legs moving is always helpful 
BUT... you seem quite fixated on distance and wanting to make sure you 'progress' by going further each time.
Why? It really isn't that important. Speed and your desired distance will come in time but they really should not your focus during C25K.
Despite the catchy name, the objective is to manage 30 mins, 3 times in Week 9. Only 10% of folks here manage 5k in that time.
My tips for your next run? Just the one:
.... do exactly the same as you've just done.
Cheers
John
PS you will actually go further as the runs get longer. But please don't worry about your pace or distance.
Okay John, I’ll try not to-Thank you for all of your advice! It’s extremely appreciated!
The advice given by John_W is all good......slow down.
This breakdown of W5 may explain why you are prepared for the next run........oh, yes you are. healthunlocked.com/couchto5...
You can do this.......slowly.
Hi IannodaTruffle,
If you check out my above reply I have given an update with how I got on with this run.
Any tips on how I could do better for the next time I run 20 minutes or more in one go?
My tip is that you need to come to terms with the fact that "better" does not necessarily mean further or faster.
This plan is gently building your stamina and aerobic base, along with increasing your resistance to injury and that is best done at a nice steady pace.....not flat out.
Do not imagine that experienced runners go out to beat their pbs on every run........that is the sign of a rookie runner.
Keep it slow and steady.....there are no quick fixes.
Thank you for your advice-I will take it on board!
Congratulations 🥳 you are winning 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🏃🏻♀️🏃♂️
I agree with a John and it sounds like you ran an extra five minutes, don’t run further than the plan says even if you feel you can. I cannot explain it but if you increase your distance/pace too quickly you are likely to injure yourself.
Stay slow and forget speed and distance they can come later if you want them to.
I did this two years ago and fixated on the 30 min 5k then injured myself a few runs after graduation trying to go too fast. Only just recovered enough to restart this year.
Now I’m running slow it’s what I call my walking pace run (it’s literally only a tiny bit faster than my walking pace). I’m enjoying it all much more and haven’t had to have weeks off for being sore/minor injuries like I did first time round.
Learn from my mistake 🙃😉
Week 5 Run 3 ☀️ 
Week 5 Run 3
Week 5 Run 3
Week 5 Run 3
