Your jock posting is always super helpful, but I’ve got a question! I’ve been doing couch to 5k for awhile, probably the third time over the course of my life, because I need more cardio and running is the easiest to fit into my schedule because I can just put on shoes and go out the door, you know? I can do 20 minutes of sustained jogging, I just hate every minute. I’ve read about how your pace is supposed to be something that you can sustain a conversation during, but I don’t think there’s a pace slow enough that isn’t a walk where I could do that. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks for your time!
hi hi hi I'm glad I could help! The short answer is that you're fine to keep doing what you're doing, actually! the much longer answer is below
So, you're correct that "conversational pace" is ideally supposed to be your ideal easy run / jog pace, but it's really not uncommon for beginners to not really have an "easy" pace because you feel extremely out of breath even if you're going as slow as you think you possibly can.
Short digression. "Conversational pace" doesn't mean that you should be able to recite poetry fluently — if you can burst out a short sentence or do a decent sing-along to your playlist, that's okay. If all you can do is grunt and say "yes" or "no", even when jogging very slowly, then yeah, you want to be able to eventually build an aerobic base where you can jog and have enough breath left to communicate. It just means that you have a goal to work towards.
Anyway. One thing to keep in mind is that "you shouldn't run any harder than X" is a rule of thumb that's geared towards runners who want to optimise their efforts, whether that's a hobby runner who wants to get faster or an athlete who's stacking up easy miles to rest for the quality workouts. But it's not, like, a hard limit. For most people, there aren't negative consequences to doing high-intensity cardio for 20 minutes a few times a week. If you were training for a 10k and needed to hit a certain (higher) mileage, then the fact that you finish all your runs feeling very out of breath might have been more of a concern, because it would be less sustainable. But if you want to keep training at your current volume, you don't HAVE to change it up if you don't want to. Genuinely, the best exercise is the kind of exercise that's convenient to you, so you can keep doing it consistently. If you keep running those 20 mins every few times a week at the same speed, it will eventually gets easier in terms of effort. Once it starts to feel easier, congrats, you're done! Keep on doing those 20 minutes but enjoy being able to breathe better. Maybe you'll hate it a little less, but even if you don't it'll still be short and convenient, which is what most people want in a workout 💪
IF you want to change it up a bit, you could try doing some intervals. Jog then walk until you catch your breath then start again. Jog then walk briskly. Jog faster then slower. Whichever feels more fun or rewarding to you. You can lengthen the C25k schedule for your purposes if you want to fit in longer walking breaks.
(Another common recommendation you might see online is to go slower. yes. even slower. I KNOW; you're probably thinking "I might as well just walk. I'm going slower than if I was walking." But, actually, the mechanics of running and walking are different enough that it could be worthwhile to condition your body for running if you jog at a glacial pace vs. if you were walking briskly going faster. HOWEVER. In your case. I think it's not really worth it, especially because jogging slow as hell can be quite frustrating and your objective is to make it as painless as possible. So I'm bringing this up for completion's sake in case you want to give it a go but I wouldn't recommend it.)
