Couch to 5K - Week 6 and beyond

I have a confession to make.  Two confessions, actually.  The first is a little embarrassing..... I listen to teenage pop music while I run.  Yes, this includes Kate Perry, Ke$ha, Black Eyed Peas, Far East Movement and Lady Gaga.  Artists I normally don't listen to or even know their music but somehow I need it in order to run for 30 minutes straight.  To keep me musically balanced and so I don't feel like I've lost all taste in music I mix in a little Cut Copy,  Hot Chip, Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem. 

And here's my second confession.  I skipped Week 8.  At the end of Week 6, I was jogging 20 minutes, Week 7 was 25 minutes.  Week 8 is 28 minutes and Week 9 is 30 minutes.  So, I just skipped right over Week 8 because I knew I could add on another 5 minutes.  That extra five minutes was one of the longest 5 minute stretches of my life, but I slowed down just a little and kept on jogging.  This week I will slowly add on two minutes so that by Sunday I'm jogging 36 minutes straight which is 3 miles!

Couch to 5K Week 6

Starting a running program is as hard as dieting.  There is no easy way and it's something you must work on almost every day.   I really struggled with motivation when I first started this program and I would even get a little anxious when I would start a workout knowing in five minutes I would have to start running.  After two plus months of the Couch to 5K training now the walking intervals seem invasive to my stride.  It's quite amazing to think that in January I could barely run 60 seconds without feeling completely winded and now I'm running in intervals of ten minutes and even going 20 minutes straight.  I still haven't mastered running and have 3 more weeks of training which happens to coincide with my first 5K! 

Week 6 increases from a 30 minute workout to 34 minutes.  Here is the breakdown of Week 6 training, workouts 1 and 2.

Workout 1 - 5 minute warm up, jog 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, jog 8 minutes, walk 3 minutes, jog 5 minutes, 5 minute cool down. 

Week 6, Workout 1

 Workout 2 - 5 minute warm up, jog 10 minutes, walk 3 minutes, jog 10 minutes, 5 minute cool down.

Week 6 Workout 2

 

 

Workout 3 will be jogging 25 minutes with no walk breaks.  I will check back in on Monday when I complete that workout!

Couch to 5K Week 5: COMPLETE!

Last week I set out to jog for 20 minutes with no walk breaks, along with a 5 minute warm up and cool down for the Week 5 Workout 3. And, I did it. TWENTY MINUTES STRAIGHT BITCHES. That's a huge accomplishment for me. Just twenty more to go! Woo!