Advice please Week 6

[Grim2Great]

Hey everybody! I have to say Couch to 5k is amazing and i am floored by how well I have done! i have not run like this since I was forced to at school, now I enjoy it... which feels crazy!

I have asthma and it has felt like the running has helped and not caused me any issues. However, last week I got this cold/flu/covid type thing and can feel my lungs are a little tight. It's been 1 week since i ran and worried my stamina I have built up will have dropped. I'm not 100% recovered, yet really want to go out and give my week6 r3 25min run a go

Did anyone take longer breaks between runs? How did it effect you? Is it advisable to start the week again to rebuild up the stamina and fitness?

These are probably really silly questions, but hope someone can help with some advice

[Mummycav Administrator Graduate]

Hello  Grim2Great …congratulations on your progress so far…you’re doing great!!! As a fellow asthma sufferer I completely sympathise with you…and yes it took me longer to work my way through the programme but it wasn’t my lungs that let me down it was just life!!!

You won’t lose any fitness by missing one or two weeks…but…I would re run the last run of the last week I’d run…just to confirm to myself I could still do it…that’s just me!!

The programme takes as long as you need…just remember to keep it slow so those lungs aren’t working 10 times harder 😉

[Cmoi Graduate]

Here's the FAQ extract I posted yesterday in response to someone else's query about running when unwell:

Illness, and other parts of life, can strike any of us at any time and annoyingly, it stops us running. The big question is when to start back and, if you are in the middle of the programme, where to start back. Only you can know. The advice about colds is that if it is above the neck, you can run, below the neck do not. I am a wimp and like to enjoy my running and through experience I have learned that it takes longer to recover enough to manage physical exertion, than it does to get back to everyday routines. Performance and enjoyment may be below par, even when you feel almost fully better. Give yourself a rest and come back fully fit. If you have missed anything up to two weeks of regular running, you are unlikely to have lost much condition, so pick up where you left off and gauge how that run goes. If you miss longer, just drop back a run or week and see how it goes.

[Elfe5 Graduate]

Not silly questions- very sensible ones!

You have already had excellent advice.

I’m just adding that a brisk half hour walk can help judge readiness for running after illnesses. If you are still tight chested & tired during /after walking, your body is telling you to wait!

[GoogleMe Graduate]

Here with a slightly different perspective, partly because it was precisely this query about a break due to illness and how to return that brought me to the forum for the first time 12 years ago, gulp!

1) A lot of folk with asthma over the years here have recommended a buff covering nose and mouth in cold weather

2) My suggestion would be to attempt the scheduled next run when you feel like it (and I do mean when you feel like it, not when an unwarranted anxiety about fitness draining away pushes you into it). Running is a different experience every time so doing a different, notionally 'easier' run will not give you any reliable information about your readiness for this run. You'll know to start off very gently so this will be useful learning and if you find that the full session feels too much, well, you'll just give it another go another time. I'd disagree with the idea that a brisk 30 minute walk is a particularly good indicator of run readiness (at any rate I might still be waiting to run 12 years later as a brisk walk is more trouble to me than a loose run of the same duration) However, that doesn't mean that it isn't a very good idea to have been outside for a walk first and not running until the day after that at the earliest so you can assess the impact.

[drl212 Graduate]

You're doing really great! And good questions.

You're battling the cold, exercise, and a bug - all of which can affect your asthma.

I would listen to your body. It will tell you when it's right to get back out there.

Give Week 6 Run 3 a try. If it works, great, if it doesn't, drop back and repeat.

Run your way.

Do keep us posted...

[Grim2Great]

Thank you so much everyone for your kindness and time to give me such thoughtful advice. I'm still feeling a bit chesty and wheezy so I decided as many of you suggested that listening to my body would be sensible. I'm sure I will be better in the coming days and will give run 3 a shot. And if I need to cycle through a couple of weeks I will. The goal is to get to week 9 and then keep going. As long as it takes I'm sure without couch25k I'd be a lot more wheezy during this. I'm different I'm sure to the experience of many, but have been surprised by how much it has help strengthen my lungs.

Thank you everyone! I genuinely appreciate your time and support!

Once I get back into my trainers I'll drop a note to say how it all went 🏃

[Grim2Great]

Heeeey everyone, thanks so much for your support. I got back out 2 weeks after my last run and everything was ok. I repeated the start of week 6 again to build my confidence and then completed the last 25 minutes run! I started week 7 but got a knee pain now so will rest up again But anyone in the future that stumbles upon this. Everyone's advice was great. Listen to your body. And a couple of weeks off your training should not impact things. You probably will still be all ok, give it a go, push yourself while listening to your body. Thanks everyone that replied. Really appreciated the advice and support.