diff --git a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/util.ts b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/util.ts
index 0352a94a17..aee077c726 100644
--- a/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/util.ts
+++ b/core/src/plugins/kubernetes/util.ts
@@ -262,7 +262,14 @@ export async function execInWorkload({
   const api = await KubeApi.factory(log, ctx, provider)
   const pods = await getCurrentWorkloadPods(api, namespace, workload)
 
-  const pod = pods[0]
+  const runningPods = pods.filter((p) => checkPodStatus(p) === "ready")
+  if (runningPods.length === 0) {
+    throw new DeploymentError({
+      message: `No running pods found for ${getResourceKey(workload)}`,
+    })
+  }
+
+  const pod = sample(runningPods)
 
   if (!pod) {
     // This should not happen because of the prior status check, but checking to be sure