Couch to 5K Update

I finished day 3 of week 4 in the couch to 5k yesterday. I am SO proud of myself because this was the hardest week and I am a bit scared of what is to come next week. Here's my review of the couch to 5k program.

Let me start from the beginning. The first week was pretty easy for me. I wasn't a runner at all but I did a lot of other types of cardio so I wasn't exactly a couch potato. I would get a bit tired during the last 2 or 3 runs but I completed the runs with no problem.

Week 2 reversed the run times with the walk times and in the last 2 or 3 runs I would find myself glancing at the time to see how much longer i had to run.

In week 3 you walk and run the same number of minutes. This also introduced the 3 minute run. I had to pick songs wisely so I stayed motivated throughout the 3 minutes. i found the 3 minute walk after was very necessary. I think this was the first week I didn't find it easy but it was doable.

Week 4. Ah, week 4. This week was a 3 minute and 5 minute run with minimal walking times in between. On day 1, I thought i would die. i had to slow down my pace  (from 5.5 to 5.2) on the last 5 minute run in order to complete it. When I was done, i felt like I would throw up like the contestants on the biggest loser. Honestly, this took everything out of me.

I didn't work out the next day because I was in the middle of moving and I really felt I needed to recover. On wednesday, I woke up and I was not mentally prepared to try it again so I decided to do it after work. Which I thankfully did not put off. It was hard too but actually not as bad as the first time. I still had to slow down for the last 5 minutes and I had to keep mentally motivating myself ("you can do it" "you're a gazelle" "imagine a lion is chasing you").  I didn't fell like throwing up after and I was quite proud.

Yesterday was a totally different story. I was actually looking forward to running. I completed the runs a lot easier than the last 2 times. I didn't have to slow my pace for the last  run and in fact I increased it for the last minute and a half.

I don't konw how I will fare next week because I hear there is a 20 min run in there but i have chosen to trust in the program. There is no way I could have done what I did yesterday 4 weeks ago so it is definitely making me better. Sometimes I really wonder if I will be able to run 30mins without stopping but we'll just have to make it to week 7/8.

Some tips

1. Run to music that motivates you (and is not too slow). I find some songs really motivate me to keep going. Sometimes I focus on the music instead of the time.
2. if you are running in a gym, run next to someone who is doing it easily. i find it motivating to look next to me and running at a 6.5 easily. I tell myself if they can do 6.5 for 30 mins straight, I should be able to do 5.5. for 5 mins
3. If you are running on a treadmill, cover up the time. You don't want to focus on what you have left. I use the zenlabs app on my ipod and it tells me when to run and walk...so I can focus on something else.

There you have it. I definitely recommend the couch to 5k so far. No significant weightloss yet but I can definitely see and improvement in my legs.

Let me know if you have specific questions in the comments.