DIY C25K MP3s
Learn to run by making your own MP3s for the Couch to 5 Kilometre beginners learn to run program.
Do you want to make your own MP3s or podcasts for the C25K program with voice prompts to tell you when to start and stop running and your own selection of music? Don’t have much computer experience? This is the place for you. You might as well skip the intro below and go straight to the tutorials index here. The tutorials are written specifically so that people with limited computer knowledge can follow them easily – well, I tried, anyway.
Not sure what C25K is or why you might want to make an MP3 for it? Read on!
Would you like to learn to run? The Couch to 5 Kilometre (C25k) program from Cool Runnings is one of the most popular running programs on the net, and has helped thousands of people to build their running skills, fitness, and endurance. The program starts on week one with eight one-minute runs, interspersed with 90 seconds walking, and slowly builds up, until by week nine you are cruising through a thirty-minute run. You can find the original program here, and some more information about it here.
Particularly in the first week, it can be difficult to keep track of time, and know when to start and stop running. You may want to try carrying a stop watch, but a much more convenient option is to load a track onto your MP3 player, with prompts to tell you when to start and stop running, and some cool tunes to keep your motivation up!
The first time I heard of this idea was from a guy called Robert Ullrey. He created an awesome set of podcasts for C25k, and made them freely available on the net. You can find them here. I did my first three weeks using his podcasts. Only thing is, I’m not a big fan of his taste in music. He likes fast house techno-y style beats, I’m more of a cheesy 80′s chick myself 
So I looked for, and found, a way to make my own personal MP3s with my own voice saying things like, “It’s almost time to run… are you ready? GO!” and my own choice of music in the background.
The solution is a free software called Audacity that can be easily downloaded and learned, even if like me your computer skills are a little sketchy. It took me a little messing around, so I’ve presented this series of tutorials to help others who might have the same goal get through it quickly and easily.
Happy Running!!!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi,
Having trouble downloading Audacity. I love cheesy 80′s – any thoughts of making your personal MP3s available for download?
Lyn.
Hi Lyn, thanks for commenting! I will be making my voice tracks available for downloading as soon as I clean them up a bit, but I won’t be making my personal tracks with music available, because you can get in quite a lot of trouble for that if you don’t have permission to distribute the songs you have chosen.
Yes, please do dowload your voice tracks.
I dont have a microphone on my computer so I cant do it and Im on week 3 of a running program..would be great not to be looking at my watch every 30 seconds…
I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU! for your great instructions on how to make your own running podcasts. Also for sharing your voice only tracks as I really hate listening to my own voice
I was about to start wk 7 and had been using roberts podcasts but it was getting hard going listening to his music choices for the long runs.. so finding your site has been fantastic timing! I downloaded and installed everything and sat with your instructions open and the audacity program open and followed step by step. It took me longer to chose my music than it took to combine and make into the podcast! I went out with it tonight and oh boy what a difference it made 
I can’t wait to go out again now!!!
Thank you Thank you Thank you!
This is awesome! I used Robert’s podcasts and they worked great. But yes, I’d like to make my own. And I love the 80′s. I am still using his podcasts now because it tells me how long I’ve ran. But now I can make my own. THANKS!
Hi there -
Loved your tutorial and made my own podcast… Have loaded it into itunes where it plays, but cannot seem to sync it with my ipod. It just will not copy over… Any ideas why?
Thanks,
Mandy
I’m sorry, I’ve never used an Ipod so I can’t help you… anyone else have any ideas?
Thanks for the great tutorial Ness!
The problem I had with existing C25K mp3′s is that I couldn’t find any that included a “Turn around and head home” prompt.
My runs are along a cycleway so now I can make my own prompt to turn around start heading back when I’m half way through the session and always end back up on my doorstep as the session ends.
@Mandy, depending on what type of Ipod you have, Mp3′s and certain other files may not play on your ipod, but you can find a rebuild file usually in your Ipod, double click it. Otherwise, you can find one online for your brand of Ipod.
Thanks for all your work here. I’ll definitely be using your voice files, after having just done basically the same thing on my own for Week 1′s runs.
There are several freeware programs that will take mp3 files and join them into a single long mp3. I’ll probably go that route, basically recombining all tracks from an album or CD, and then just import that big mp3 and your voice track into Audacity. Most of those freeware programs let you easily change the order of the songs that you wish to join, as well as letting you choose multiple files from multiple directories.