Couch to 5K : Week 5

This week, I realised how seriously impressed I am with this programme.  At the end of this week, I ran for a whole, uninterrupted twenty minutes.  To be honest, even now, I can't believe I managed to do it and the run was fairly comfortable.  It seems almost crazy to think that five weeks ago, I struggled for the minute runs!

We knew that this week, we'd be in for some serious runs as there were three different podcasts, one for each session, instead of repeating the same sequence three times in a week.  The walking to running ratio jumped up quite quickly too this week and when Laura announces you'll be running for how ever many minutes, it can be a bit daunting.  However, this week seemed to be more of a mental challenge than a fitness one, and this was reiterated during the podcast.

I think for beginners who run this is a huge part of the battle, it is for me anyhow.  I am so used to be extremely unfit and not used to doing any exercise that I assume I won't be able to do it, before I've even given it a try. However, when I actually start with the runs, I find it easier to continually run instead of stop/starting.  I'm not sure if it helps me focus or I slow down too much during the walking parts that I find it difficult to start again, but I found the twenty minutes more comfortable than the earlier session of two eight minute runs with 5 minutes walking sandwiched in the middle.

I still haven't decided if I want to sign up for the mile run.  I'm at a precarious stage at the moment and I'm concerned that if I don't do it, it will knock my confidence and I will consider myself a failure.  This week, I have committed myself to making the decision; I'm going to measure the distance I cover during this week's session and if it's more than a mile and I complete it with reasonable ease, I will sign up.  I'm still working on the whole mental battle thing and telling myself I can do it, but after the 20 minute run, I'm feeling more confident that I'll be able to push myself to complete the whole 30 minutes or 5K in the final week.  Woohoo!

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