Pain in my side, pain in my shins....

dont run with shin splints it will only get worse. You need to strengthen the muscles in the front of your legs and rest. The good news is that you can still bike (high cadence, low stress) and swim. I have been told that most shin splint issues come from bad or wrong shoes, or a quick increase in either weekly distance or speed. I am just starting again after a 2 week layoff from running.

I've gone through a few bouts of shin splints since starting to run a little less than a year ago.  Sometimes I'm able to fight through it, otherwise I've had to stop running, walk home, down some ibuprofen, and lay on the couch until the pain stopped.

If you haven't already, look at getting fitted for shoes to make sure you have the right kind for you.  The smart thing to do with shin splints is rest.  I'm not smart though, and I just run through them.  If it doesn't go away after a week or two of rest, or it gets worse, it might be time to get checked out by a doctor to make sure it's not something worse (stress fracture, for example).  Since you're only on week 4 of Couch to 5K, I'm guessing a stress fracture is not in the works.

As for the pain in your side, "side stitches" are the result of something to do with your diaphragm.  When you feel one coming on, focus on breathing steadily and deeply, and timing your breathing every so many steps, etc, until it subsides.  No problem with running through side stitches, the pain is entirely benign.

Umm......if you have only been running for 4 weeks, then perhaps intervals are not such a good idea?

Your body needs time to adapt to the demands of running. 

IMHO you should have waaaaaay more time under your belt before you even attempt  intervals.

Otherwise you really do run the risk of getting injured...........

 Here is some info:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=3kqUP3upHQ4C&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=how+much+run+base+before+speedwork?&source=bl&ots=dBpIwTRWKj&sig=83lgs51CHUlPklkQw3fWAq_m45c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=V0YKT_uKHIXy0gGi9ZG1Ag&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=how%20much%20run%20base%20before%20speedwork%3F&f=false

Best of luck to you.

Hi J!

Okay, nowhere in either Couch to 5K program here do I see 5-minute intervals ... so don't do them.

Are you doing the 16-week Aggressive or the 28-week Conservative? The instructions say clearly if you have weight to lose, you need to do the 28-week Conservative. So do that.

Yeah,  I'm assuming that when you say 5 min. intervals, you mean that you are running for 5 min straight then walking some. Right?  If that is the case, then make sure your pace is nice and easy.  Really really easy.  So easy you can have a conversation while doing it.  The pain in the side sounds like a "stitch".  Some people have had success with doing some sit ups to alleviate those.  I haven't actually tried that though.   

If you are, in fact doing classic "intervals",  then I agree with the above.  Stop.  Good luck.  

Hi.  Apicek is probably right that the side pain is your diaphragm.  Diaphragm "spasm" can be pretty intense/sharp but not as much a concern as shin splints.  The side pains mean you are likely pushing yourself too hard so as others have said you need to ease up a bit.

On a treadmill start walking at 3 to 3.6mph for a few minutes to warm up then bump the speed up to maybe 4.5 - 4.8mph-ish for your 5 minute intervals (I started at 4.6) and then walk a while then repeat.  Slow down if the side pains come on - with side pains use your stomach, not your ribs, to breath deeply while running.  Three deep inhalations should calm the side pain. The deep breathing stretches the diaphragm and should alleviate the pain and temporarily lower your HR.

I started running (too fast) last march and thanks to advice here I slowed down and dramatically increased my running times.  At the same time my HR lowered as well and last week I ran 40 minutes continuous.