Week 4 of couch to 5k is all about longer running intervals compared to walking intervals. This is what that looks like.
- 5-minute warm up walk
- 3-minute run
- 90-second walk
- 5-minute run
- 2.5-minute walk
- A repeat of steps 2, 3 and 4
- 5-minute cooldown walk
Bookended by stretching, of course.
That is 16 minutes of running, and 15.5 minutes of walking.
I’ve now done two of these. On both, towards the middle of the run, somewhere in the 2.5-minute walk, I started feeling tired, and my legs felt like they were burning. But I persisted. The trick is to keep going, however slow. If you stop, getting started up again is not easy.
The great thing about this is that I always feel good after my post-run stretch. Like I told a friend of mine when we were discussing this, I feel tired, but not exhausted. I have to remind myself that the snag I hit during the run is more a mental hurdle than a physical one. I just have to push through it and get to the end.
The third run for week 4 is tomorrow. I’m not dreading it.
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