I finished my first week of Couch To 5k feeling great.
I’ve never been a runner and my adult life has been spent mostly at a computer desk. The idea of running is really intimidating. But I like to hike and I used to go mountain biking whenever I got the chance.
I’ve tried running a few times before. It’s a lot of work. I got sore legs. My heart was going to explode. I gave up. I felt guilty.
It took a while to come around again, but I finally got into the right mindset to start the Couch To 5k again. I decided that I would only run on trails. I love being outdoors and doing outdoor activities. Running on a road in the sun has been really demotivating in the past. A local state park, Ferry Beach State Park, has a really nice trail system and is very close to my home.
On day 1 I was nervous about that first run after the warm up. I wasn’t sure I would be able to run for 60 seconds straight, frankly. I decided to run much slower than I can, trying to pace myself, knowing I was going to be active for a half hour. It wasn’t as hard as I expected. By the end of the workout, I felt like this was doable. I decided to buy a pair of running shoes and stick with it.
One week down, on my 40th birthday.
My iPhone is my coach. I use the C25k app for the workout pacing and I use Motion-X GPS for tracking my speed, distance, elevation, etc.
Here are my numbers for the week.
Week 1, Day 1 (map)
Distance: 1.88 miles
Elapsed Time: 31:31.8
Avg Speed: 3.6 mph
Max Speed: 6.0 mph
Avg Pace: 16′ 49″ per mile
Week 1, Day 2 (map)
Distance: 2.02 miles
Elapsed Time: 33:01.9
Avg Speed: 3.7 mph
Max Speed: 6.6 mph
Avg Pace: 16′ 20″ per mile
Week 1, Day 3 (map)
Distance: 1.99 miles
Elapsed Time: 31:33.4
Avg Speed: 3.8 mph
Max Speed: 7.8 mph
Avg Pace: 15′ 51″ per mile
