Couch to 5k - weeks 1 to 3

Week 1

For the runs in Week 1, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute warm-up walk, then you will alternate 60 seconds of running, with 90 seconds of walking, for a total of 20 minutes.

Week 2

For the runs in Week 2, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute warm-up walk then you will alternate 90 seconds of running, with 2 minutes of walking, for a total of 20 minutes.

Week 3

For the runs in Week 3, you will begin with brisk 5-minute warm-up walk followed by 2 repetitions of the following; 90 seconds of running, 90 seconds of walking, 3 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking.

A couple of months ago I heard a colleague speaking to another colleague about running, he said that he was a former runner and he used to really enjoy it. The key thing he said was that the first few weeks would be difficult but, within a couple of weeks you’d really begin the feel the benefit. I’m not usually susceptible to the power of suggestion like that which is why I never have any idea what the radio or television ads are actually trying to get you to buy, but for some reason this really resonated with me. I’m not sure what it was, maybe I was feeling a bit down or having a fat day, but I just decided that I’d go for it. My colleague went on to say that he felt that the best way to get into running was interval training where you walk a bit and then run a bit to stop you overdoing it and he suggested a couch to 5k app which would give you a running plan to help you build up into a proper runner

I went home that night and downloaded the NHS couch to 5k app, I was surprised that there were literally hundreds of choices so  plumped for this one as it seemed the most ‘official’. I set off my first “run” which was a five minute warmup, followed by 60 seconds of running, then 90 seconds of walking repeated for 20 minutes and then a five minute cool down walk. The app is narrated by a selection of famous voices, I chose Jo Willey, who tell you when to walk, when to run and give you ticks and encouragement as you go along. I don’t know how I managed it, but I did the perfect route which took me to my front door at the end of the cool down. I found it really hard, especially on the middle few running sections but I managed to run the whole time that the app instructed me to run and I had a huge sense of achievement once I’d finished.

The first couple of weeks were difficult at first, but I found I was very quickly able to do things which to start with I found really almost impossible. I also feel really good in myself, which is an added bonus. I’m definitely going to keep going with the programme and see how far I get through.