Last summer, Jason and I participated in a few different 5k run/walks. I am definitely not a runner by nature so it posed quite a challenge. We tried to get a jog in at least a few times each week for training, but it wasn’t very regimented. I didn’t see many gains and probably walked as much during the last 5k of the season as I did in the first one.

This year, we’re trying the extremely popular couch-to-5k program. Friday, April 2nd was our first workout.

For Week 1, the schedule is as follows (do this 3 days in week 1):

1. Walk 5 minutes for warm-up
2. Alternate between 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking until you reach 20 minutes (25 if you count the warm-up)

Getting Started

Our first run of Week 1 was on a Friday. It went pretty good and wasn’t difficult to where it takes away all your motivation. We ran again the following Monday and it still felt pretty good.

Then it started to rain. And by rain, I mean it poured. If it were 60+ degrees and pouring, I would have still entertained the idea of a run, but it was only 40 degrees out and cloudy. So we set our sights on Friday.

Cue the family emergency that thwarts even the best intentions. Again, our run would have to wait. Thankfully by Sunday, the madness had died down enough to sneak in the last run for the week.

Thoughts Overall

Though it took more than a week for us to complete Week 1, it feels good to know we were able to fit it in even when life handed us trash (lemons are nowhere near adequate to describe the weekend we had). The 60 second intervals for Week 1 were just enough to get us a little tired but not long enough to make us hate running—really important when you get easily discouraged.

Next stop, C25k Week 2. I’m not really sure how it will go, but there’s no harm in repeating Week 1 if need be.

Update 04/20/2010: While we intended to move on to week 2, we recently suffered the passing of a family member and have not yet had the time to get back into a routine.