Couch to 5k week 3 and 4

I’m behind on my running posts. Why? Just swamped.

Anyway, here is the latest.

Week 3 of the program (like prior weeks) took us longer. Part of the reason was due to ice storms in NC which made jogging and driving to the gym hazordous. One day, we shoveled snow and ice as a substitute exercise.

Week 3 seemed to be a dull and boring week for the program. With so many starts and stops, I found it frustrating. As Seth Godin says we were probably in “the dip”. We expected it and are doing the program anyway.

Aside from it be a dull week – probably also to do with running on treadmills, week 3 wasn’t hard. We ran the required times and got in our miles.

Week 4 started out more daunting than prior weeks. It was the first week where we were to run more than we walked. The strategy goes thusly:

Warmup 5 minutes
Run 3 minutes
Rest 90 seconds
Run 5 minutes
Rest 2.5 minutes
Run 3 minutes
Rest 90 seconds
Run 5 minutes
Rest 2.5 minutes

Those 5 minute sessions required establishing a pace. Up until then, I think we got away with just winging it. You can do that if you get tired and you have only 30 secods left.

When you’ve got 2 minutes left and you get tired, you realize how important thinking ahead and pacing yourself is.

Results so far:

Both Kim and I feel more energetic. The other day Kim showed me that her jeans were so loose you could probably fit a football in the front. Before our new plan her pants were tight. I don’t know if I’m losing any weight or not. But Weight loss wasn’t my goal. I want to just keep up my energy and keep a good attitude.

So far, my goal has been met. We’ve had some very stressful weeks the past month and we passed through them with flying colors.

– Brad Isaac