In a previous post ‘running for fat loss; beginners guide’ I mentioned that my girlfriend, a complete none (or rather never!) runner, decided to follow a Couch to 5K (C25K) plan.
She wanted to run a 5km event, namely the ‘Race for Life’ the largest women-only cancer charity fundraising event in the UK and really wanted to complete the course running as much as possible rather than walking.
With 13 or so weeks leading up to the event and having never stepped out for a run before (certainly not in the 5+ years we have been together) she took her first steps on a walk-run-walk-run journey following the NHS C25K plan. After 9 weeks on the plan she was able to run for 30 minutes without stopping, which was a huge achievement and she spent the last few weeks maintaining her training in order to improve her pace and distance covered.
Admittedly the training wasn’t easy, but really it was nowhere near as bad as she had thought it would be. There was a great satisfaction being able to run for 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes and so on without stopping week to week. It certainly helped having the podcast play during training to keep motivated and on track.
At the race day last Sunday she managed to get around the course in sub 50 minutes (hard to say exactly because it was very busy and the starting line was crowded to the point that you could barely walk out), which is a fantastic result. She managed to run for the most part despite it being a very hot day with a few hills and only slowed to a walk on a handful of brief occasions.
I have to say a massive WELL DONE to her; I’m really proud that she did the training and completed the course and hope she keeps at it! Love you xx
Photos: SW2FL