Couch to 5K: Week 5

The three runs for week 5 of Couch to 5K are not all the same. There’s a gradual increase from run 1 to run 2. Run 3 is a different beast altogether. There must be a logic to it that I don’t see, but it’s an inordinate increase, and I’ve been dreading it for days.

Run 1

1. 5-minute warm up walk
2. 5-minute run
3. 3-minute walk
4. Repeat 2, 3, and 2 again
5. 5-minute cooldown walk

Run 2

1. 5-minute warm up walk
2. 8-minute run
3. 5-minute walk
4. 8-minute run
5. 5-minute cooldown walk

Run 3

1. 5-minute warm up walk
2. 20-minute run!
3. 5-minute cooldown walk

The old me would have given up without even attempting run 3. Or I may have settled for a shorter running interval.

But I just ran it today, and smashed it. According to Strava, I had set personal records for my fastest mile and fastest 1km ever. What’s better is that even as I was finishing it, I felt like I could have kept on going.

The next few weeks don’t scare me anymore. While my legs do feel sore, I’m feeling such an emotional high I could go running again tomorrow if I wanted to. I am not going to, because rest is important. I will do some stretching instead and let my body recover. On Saturday, we fly to Glasgow for the weekend. I will be doing my Saturday run at a completely new location, and I’m excited for it.

Follow my Couch to 5K progress here.