Cary and I started the Couch-to-5K program last summer. It’s a 9-week program, and we didn’t get started until August, so by the time we were finishing up week 9, it was starting to get too cold to run outside. We’re too cheap to join a gym, so we stopped the program one day short of the finish line.
This year, we began the program in late March/early April. This week marks week 8. As the chart in the link above shows, the program starts out very easy, alternating between 60-seconds of running and 90-seconds of walking. The amount of running time increases each week, and eventually, the amount of time spent walking begins to decrease. There’s a definite hump at around week 4, and by the end of week 5, the goal is to run for a solid 20 minutes.
On Tuesday morning, we completed our first 28-minute run. By the time we were done, I felt like I could keep running. Hopefully, once we finish out the final week 9 (3 sessions of 30-minute runs), we’ll be able to continue running to the point where we’re doing it every day.
Eventually, we plan to participate in a 5k run. Cary has already promised a friend that we’ll do the Eve Carson Memorial 5K in November, so we have plenty of time to get up to speed (haha).
And of course, a nice side benefit to all of this running is the weight loss. I’ve managed to lose about 9 pounds since we started running, so that’s nice.
I’ve found that for me, there are two important requirements for enjoying a lengthy run: scenery and entertainment. Cary and I run around the lake in our neighborhood, which makes for an interesting run, especially when we see 20-40 turtles sunning on a large branch in the middle of the lake on hot days (One of us will usually announce, “Turtle meeting!”). And lately, there have been quite a few families of ducks and geese as well. Adult geese are annoying, but their kids are kind of cute.
As for the entertainment, I’ve found that time spent running passes much more quickly for me if I listen to podcasts instead of music. If I have to listen to music, I set the iPod for “shuffle” so I don’t know what song is coming next. Predictability makes the running tedious. The downside to shuffling songs is that occasionally, when a slow song gets tossed into the playlist, it can ruin my rhythm. I really need to make a running playlist.
