The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week five, day three.

Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk.  20 minute run.  Five-minute cool-down walk.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 144 bpm and peaked at 168 bpm. Including the warm-up and cool-down walks, I did 2.16 miles in 33:39 for an average speed of 3.86 mph.

A variation on this workout is to run for two miles instead of twenty minutes.  Yesterday, I briefly thought of doing this.  There were a couple of provisions, though.  First, how would I feel this morning?  Second, could I keep up a decent pace?  I felt okay.  But, I could not maintain a quick enough pace.  As a result, I went for time again as I have been doing all along instead of trying for distance.

My first long run segment was just a little longer than twenty minutes.  I ran 1.50 miles in 20:39 for an average pace of 13:44 (4.37 mph).  Though I had considered going for distance, I just did not have it in me to try to push for thirty percent more distance.  Just as I was starting to run, I got an ache at the top of both hips.  This lasted for about five minutes.  By that time, I was very much ready for a walk segment.  Of course, in this workout, there isn’t one no matter how much I wanted it.  I had plotted an out and back course that would have been about two miles if I went all of the way.  I now knew I could not make that distance and, turning around earlier, went for time instead.  Even this was a push.  Coming back, near the end, I decided to add just a little bit to the time and distance by running all of the way to the corner.  At this point, I was more than ready to pull off the VFF Classics and walk barefoot through the cool grass.  Of course, I did exactly that.

To make this workout just a bit more difficult, I ran without a podcast to assist.  While having a fast beat going in my ears may have helped, I kind of liked being able to listen to my surroundings, what I could of it any way.  With all of the huffing and puffing I was doing, I’m not sure I heard much else.  I was okay, though.  It was just heavy breathing, but not labored.  I was still keeping an eye on my heart rate to keep it in line.

My first long run segment is complete.  When first starting the Couch to 5K program, I could not imagine running continually for a mile and half.  Now, I’ve done it.  Just over half of the program has been completed.  To run 5K in thirty minutes as the last workout of the program, I will need to substantially increase both my speed and my endurance.  I know the endurance will come.  I hope sufficient speed does as well.  I would really like to complete the program matching both time and distance.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week five, day two.

Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk.  8 minute run.  5 minute walk.  8 minute run.  Five-minute cool-down walk.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 139 bpm and peaked at 163 bpm. Including the warm-up and cool-down walks, I did 2.15 miles in 35:20 for an average speed of 3.66 mph.

This workout went better.  It certainly wasn’t easy, but it was not the struggle the last was.  I didn’t feel like I had to stop during a run and I even started running a little early.  I started my timer at the beginning of the Beatsmith podcast.  At 6:30, I was wondering where the run beeps were.  I thought I had missed them.  So, I started running just in case.  Then, the beeps came.  There was a period near the beginning of the second run segment where things flowed smoothly.  I was in the groove, moving along easily at an 11:09 pace.  Surprisingly, this came only thirty seconds or so into the run segment.  Then, I lost the groove and had to push again.  It was nice while it lasted.  I hope to find it again.  I have quite a few workouts left to search for it.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week five, day one.

Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk.  5 minute run.  3 minute walk.  5 minute run.  3 minute walk.  5 minute run.  Five-minute cool-down walk.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 130 bpm and peaked at 154 bpm. Including the warm-up and cool-down walks, I did 2.00 miles in 34:43 for an average speed of 3.45 mph.

This was another tough workout.  I think being away for a long weekend, driving fifteen hundred miles, and changing my schedule twice threw me off.  I delayed W4D3 by one day.  Then, I delayed this workout by another day.  It was tough getting up this morning.  It would have been so easy to just stop running.  But, I forced myself out of bed, ate half of a banana, drank some water, and got ready to go.

The workout started well with a 3.5 mph warmup walk.  I mostly kept my speed down on my first run, starting out at 5.0 mph and slowing to 4.5 mph.  The second run was still hard.  My “aggressive shuffle” slowed to 3.2 mph, slower than the warmup walk.  Even week four was faster than that.  I was almost ready to give up and was looking at my watch to see how close I had come to finishing.  Then, the slow-down beeps sounded on the DJ Beatsmith podcast, just in time.  I rallied a little during the walk and managed to make it through the third run also.

While starting the week four workouts was hard, I think getting out of synch with a schedule and then trying to regain it is harder.  But, I made it through another workout and that’s what counts.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week four, day three.

Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then two repeats of: three minute run, 90 seconds walk, 5 minute run, two and a half minute walk. Brisk five-minute cool-down walk.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 117 bpm and peaked at 144 bpm. Including the warm-up and cool-down, I did 1.79 miles in 32:06 for an average speed of 3.35 mph.

This was a difficult workout, though the difficulty was more from my situation than from the workout itself.  I was away visiting relatives for a long weekend and staying in a hotel.  I was tired from a long drive and had not rested sufficiently to do the workout as usual on Friday morning.  Not wanting to delay it too much and throw off my schedule, I did my workout Saturday morning.  This would still give me a rest day before Monday.  It would have been easier if it had not been raining.  Instead, it was raining hard.  Where I had thought of doing my workout was along the paved side of the highway near the hotel.  But, I did not want to get sprayed by the passing cars.  So, I wimped out and used the treadmill in the hotel.  While using a treadmill is supposed to make the workout easier, this didn’t.  The room had not been used for a while and the air was stale.  There was no fan and just a little ventilation, which I did not remember to turn on until half way through the workout.  I hopped off the treadmill and flipped the switch during the walk after the second run.  It didn’t help much.  It was still muggy and I missed the passing breeze you get from moving air, either from a fan or from moving outside.  My energy was down also.  I got up late and only had a single piece of candy before rushing to the fitness room to workout.  I kept my speed down, only hitting 4.5 mph on the run and later slowing to 4.0 mph.  But, I made it through week four.  I look forward to resuming a regular workout in week five.

I have been wondering what makes week four so difficult.  It seems so much harder than week three.  I now know why.  I took a look at the program and added up the total run times for the interval run segments.  I think my calculations are right.  Here is how the runs add up:

• Week 1 – 60 seconds X 8 = 8 minutes
• Week 2 – 90 seconds X 6 = 9 minutes
• Week 3 – 90 seconds X 2 + 3 minutes X 2 = 9 minutes
• Week 4 – 3 minutes X 2 + 5 minutes X 2 = 16 minutes
• Week 5.D1 – 5 minutes X 3 = 15 minutes
• Week 5.D2 – 8 minutes X 2 = 16 minutes
• Week 5.D3 – 20 minutes running (no walking)
• Week 6.D1 – 5 minutes X 2 + 8 minutes = 18 minutes
• Week 6.D2 – 10 minutes X 2 = 20 minutes
• Week 6.D3 – 25 minutes running (no walking)

The remaining weeks are run only, progressing up to 30 minutes.

Here is what we can see from the run time totals.  Once you start, the entry levels don’t change much for the first three weeks, only  increasing by one minute of running time.  However, there is a substantial increase from the nine minutes of running in week three to the sixteen minutes of running in week four.  This is why it feels so difficult.  There is 77% more running in week four than in week three.  But, you’re prepared for it.  The first three weeks teach you how to push through when you don’t feel like running.  In week four, you push through again, going at a little slower pace if you need to.  It seems there are two gently sloping plateaus in the Couch to 5K program.  There is the initial jump from nothing to the entry level plateau.  There is a second jump from week three to week four, which gets you from the entry level plateau to the finishing level plateau.  Once you get through week four, the percentage increase per week and per workout reduce.  The mixing of the intervals in week six after only running at the end of week five teaches you that it is easier to keep your rhythm and to keep moving, than it is to stop the rhythm and then have to reacquire it again for the next run interval.  Completion of the Couch to 5K program is within your grasp.  Keep at it!  You can do it!