Week 5- Couch to 5K – My Experience

I can’t believe I’ve finished Week 5 of Couch to 5K already! It seems to have flown by. It seems like ages ago I was running for one minute at a time, and well, this week was quite the step up.

Week 5 differed from the previous weeks in many ways. Firstly, all three runs in the Weeks 1 – 4 were the same. In that if you were running for 1 minute and walking for 1 1/2 minutes, you’d repeat the same interval pattern for all three runs. In Week 5, the three runs were all different.

The fact that they were different made me apprehensive at first. I’m the type of person who likes to know ahead of time what I’m doing. I like to know what to expect, you know? I find it so easy to motivate myself if I think “I did this a few days ago, I can do this again today”.

Anyway, I got through it, and here’s my overview of how I found Week 5 of Couch to 5K.

Couch to 5K Week 5 Run 1

Run 1 of Week 5 kind of reminded me a bit of Week 4. Week 4 consisted of two runs for five minutes and two runs for three minutes (16 minutes running in total). Run 1 of Week 5 is 15 minutes in total so it’s actually less running, just one interval is a longer duration. I didn’t find Run 1 of Week 5 too taxing as I felt ready for it.

Couch to 5K Week 5 Run 2

Week 5 Run 2 brought the total amount of running time up to 16 minutes again, but with fewer intervals. I found the second eight minute run tough towards the end but mainly because I planned my route wrong and ended running in direct sunlight in the middle of the afternoon.

Couch to 5K Week 5 Run 3

Err, come again? A 20 minute run with no stopping? Say what? Is this a glitch? Hint – it wasn’t. I checked the Couch to 5K app the night before my run and noticed it said running for twenty minutes non stop. I did a quick search online to read other people’s thoughts, and many were as apprehensive as I was. I know twenty minutes of running in total is just four minutes more than what I’ve already been doing. But it’s twelve minutes more of running non-stop than I am used to. People were saying it wasn’t that bad and it was “mind over matter”. But what if my mind was telling me my body couldn’t do it?

Anyway, I persevered. I laced up my trainers and got out there. I’m not going to lie, at times it was tough. Not even because I was out of breath, but I just kept thinking “I’m all hot and bothered, I could just stop and no one would know”. I also had a bit of hip pain and honestly I need to stretch it a bit as it hurt today when I went on a walk. But you know what, I did it. I just kept with the mentality of “I’ve done ten minutes, it’ll be such a shame to give up now”.

I’ve read people online saying that Week 4 was their biggest hurdle, but Week 5 and running continuously for twenty minutes outside was mine. The positive is that this app is meant to get me running for 5K or thirty minutes non stop, and now I’ve got up to twenty minute already with four weeks remaining, I think I can do it? Another positive is that I felt so good after. I know exercise releases endorphins and it was partly that, but it was also a sense of achievement.

I’m going to take a few days to sort out this little niggle in my hip by icing it and do some gentle stretching. But I’ll be back soon to report on how I find Week 6!

Would you ever do the Couch to 5K app?