Hi guys,

I’m putting this post up to try and gauge if my progress is normal. From the ages of 18-23 I was a 20 a day smoker and almost completely sedentary, and I am now 25 and have been a non-smoker for over two years. I am 67kg and 5ft 8’inches. I am also asthmatic but it’s not severe, and I take a single puff of my blue before I go running. I do also suffer from anxiety which makes me worry that something might be wrong with me, but I do get concerned about my progress.

Today I did W3D1 of Couch to 5K and it was my first run in a while. I haven’t done a C25K in over a month. I started it again this summer but really did struggle to get past week 5.

So, I used my fitness tracker to calculate some metrics. For my jogging periods, I am running at a pace of about 6 minutes 30 seconds per km. I find myself suffering from ‘air hunger’ when I’m running... it feels like I can’t take a deep enough breath to satisfy my demand for oxygen, but I still manage to make it through the 3 minute runs. I’m worried there could be a problem with my heart, which is why this is happening. After I finish a session, it takes about 15 minutes to breath at a normal resting rate.

I would appreciate some advice! Thanks all.