Couch to 5K

I’ve never been much of an outdoorsy person.  In fact, I’m usually content to stay indoors and read, watch TV, nap,  etc. I’ve never been what you’d call active. I’m definitely a laidback person. For several years, now, I’ve had quite a few friends who’ve taken up running. I thought they were crazy. Who would run for fun? Certainly not I. Or so I thought.

I’ve also heard of Couch to 5K for a while.   I didn’t really know anything about it, though, except that it sounded like something related to running. I had no interest in it whatsoever. Until recently, that is. A good friend of mine got the C25K app on the App Store, so I thought I’d check it out as well. There were several free versions available, but in some cases I want the real thing. This was one of those cases. I went ahead and bought the app (1.99) and looked it over. You can have buddies who also use the app, and you can see each other’s progress. There are also several animated trainers available to choose from that give you instruction: Constance, Billie, Sergeant Block, and Johnny Dead. He’s a zombie, by the way. I chose the Sgt. because he’s the easiest one to hear (i.e. he’s LOUD).

My initial plan was to just do the workout in my house, which is what I did the first day. There’s a huge beam that’s sort of in the middle of the house…it connect the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I figured I could run/jog a Figure 8 between that and our couch and loveseat, and that’s exactly what I did. Eventually, my sons started running and jogging with me. They thought it was a fun competition. About halfway through, one of their friends came over to play, and then he started in with us as well. So there were 5 of us running a Figure 8 around the living area. I’m sure that would have been fun to watch as an outsider. Ha!  Anyway, then I remembered that their friend’s mom, our neighbor, also walked and jogged on occasion. So, I texted her about the app to see if she’d be interested in doing it with me, and she said she would. She downloaded the app as well. SO, now I have a Couch to 5K buddy! This is my first workout week (I did download the app last Friday and did the first workout in the house that day, but I’m not counting that one), and so far I’m enjoying it.

With the app, you have the ability to log your workouts, follow your buddies’ progress, see 5K events that are local to you, and customize your app settings. You can even repeat workouts if you feel like you need to. Here is my 1st week’s progress:

This is a pretty nifty app, and I think I’ll continue to post my progress. For week 1, you start with a brisk 5-minute walk to warm up, then alternate 1 minute of jogging and 1.5 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes, followed by a 5-minute cool-down walk.

So, there’s where I am now. Are any of you doing Couch to 5K? If so, let me know and we can be buddies!