# This 5K is a bad idea for me, right? If not, tell me how to make it work, please! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2025, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727 "2025-06-16T22:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/21 "2025-06-18T03:21:33Z")
To heck with the naysayers! I love the goal! This however is the key takeaway: > [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > Build up slowly. Don’t set a timeline on your goal. It may not be this year. Or next. Just continue to make gradual progress to it. You have made amazing progress in losing fat mass and there is no reason to think that there isn’t more progress to be had. Losing fat mass decreases the force on the knee during run. A key part of hitting your goal. Do it with nutrition that preserves muscle mass. A training program has different workouts to hit different things. Gradually walking farther, gradually putting in short periods of walking more quickly or running a bit as tolerated, is one part of the training. Building cardiorespiratory fitness that is not limited by your knee joint is another. That includes options of low to no impact exercise for longer periods and/or greater intensity. Swimming, water running, the elliptical… It is a great goal. It may be a long term one. But small steps consistently made is your path. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/22 "2025-06-18T09:57:24Z")
Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts. I think I’ll back down on my goal for now. I’m just getting impatient and want to do what I want to do RIGHT NOW. Life doesn’t always work that way, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/23 "2025-06-18T10:35:30Z")
**If and when** your doctor says it’s OK, there is a programme for working gradually up to 5k: > **[Couch to 5K](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couch_to_5K)** > > Couch to 5K, abbreviated C25K, is an exercise plan that gradually progresses from beginner running toward a 5 kilometre (3.1 mile) run over nine weeks. > The Couch to 5K running plan was created by Josh Clark in 1996. He developed the plan for new runners as motivation through manageable expectations. The plan aims to get the user working out for 20 to 30 minutes, three days a week. The daily workouts start with a five-minute warm-up walk and works up to running five kilometres without a walking ... ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/24 "2025-06-18T10:49:29Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > there is a programme for working gradually up to 5k: Yes, I love C25K programs, especially the Zombies, Run! Stuff. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/25 "2025-06-18T18:14:09Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I’ve run a TON of 5ks, and a few 10ks. I also have bad knees, both from running and from my volleyball days. Me, too, but in the past and my bad knees were only from running. I have arthritis in both knees, but I’ve also lost about 70 pounds (more to go) and started exercising. Just walking, but I was surprised at how quickly my stamina improved. Listen to your body and obey. Consistency is the key. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/26 "2025-06-18T19:25:08Z")
I just got back from the orthopedic surgeon’s office with my mom, discussing her need for a replacement for her bone-on-bone arthritic knee. She walks with a walker while still recuperating from spine surgery. Her femur is at an angle from the lack of cartilage in the knee and she’s developing bone sputs. She’s started falling because her knee goes out. I could not imagine trying to run on that. And even if she was younger and able to build up more muscle mass I couldn’t imagine that training to run on that would be healthy for her hips, or her other knee. I’m with @markn_1 on this one. I’d tell her she was crazy if she told me she was going to run! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/27 "2025-06-18T20:39:53Z")
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#): > > I’m just getting impatient and want to do what I want to do RIGHT NOW. Life doesn’t always work that way, I guess. You spent a lot of years getting slowly heavier, slowly deconditioned, and slowly older. You can make the comeback on those first two significantly faster than you made the deterioration. Not instant, but a hole that took e.g. 20 years to dig can be climbed back out of in 1 or at most 2 years. Age? Aye, there’s the rub. That one is a friction that’ll be retarding your progress forever. Not stopping, just retarding. So the more diligently and sooner you tackle the other two issues, the sooner / faster you’ll be in shape. Accept life for how it is, not how we wish it was. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/28 "2025-06-18T21:34:12Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > **If and when** your doctor says it’s OK, there is a programme for working gradually up to 5k: Yeah, start with 5a or b, and work your way up to k. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727/29 "2025-06-18T21:36:35Z")
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#): > > think I’ll back down on my goal for now. I’m just getting impatient and want to do what I want to do RIGHT NOW. “RIGHT NOW” is clearly unrealistic. But goals are powerful things, useful even if never hit. I’ve personally reached for a few for myself that turned out to be a bit beyond my grasp, but that’s what a heaven’s for, as the aphorism goes. Seriously I have no regret for having never achieved some of what I was working towards, the failed striving got me better off anyway. I am pleased enough I got as close as I got. The key is having subgoals to getting to the goal that for now is on the horizon. And being able to check off, nay celebrate, every achievement on the path. It may be trite but maybe sometimes it really is more the journey than the destination? I don’t know what order your subgoals would be. Maybe it is general cardiorespiratory fitness and weight loss required to get the knee fixed first so you run. Or maybe you can get to where can walk the distance before all the way there? Maybe assistive technology is part of it? That’s where your medical team can help you set your first set of targets, a good PT as well as your doctor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-5k-is-a-bad-idea-for-me-right-if-not-tell-me-how-to-make-it-work-please/1019727.md?page=1)