So I’m getting ready for a 5K “Fun” run on Thanksgiving. My husband and I ran the turkey trot last year, but I was about 20 pounds lighter than I am today. Given that I will be carrying around some extra weight, I decided to start my training early. I started with one of the Couch to 5K apps that you can get for your phone. I run on a treadmill so I don’t need one of the GPS enabled tracking apps to track distance, time or calories. I progressed pretty well through weeks 1 and 2. Week 3 was a little daunting, and I completely shut down when I saw what week 4 had in store for me. Then I hurt my shoulder and then my neck/back, so I had to take some time off.
This week I decided to get back into the swing of things and get back to a training plan, but the C25K just wasn’t working for me so I decided to take my own approach to getting ready for the race. This is by no means a Dr. approved program, and it shouldn’t be taken as such. I did however discus the training plan with my personal trainer, and at least he thought it was a good plan. It only takes 30 minutes for a session and I’m trying to get in three a week, but I will more realistically will only be able to fit in two. I also throw in some light weight training to keep everything balanced.
| Duration (in minutes) | Activity | Description |
| 5 | Warm up walk | Walk, 0% incline |
| 5 | Warm up run | Jog 1 MPH faster than walk, at least 3% incline |
| 2 | Rest walk | Walk, 0% incline |
| 2 | Interval 1 | Jog .1 MPH faster than Warm-up run, 0% inline |
| 2 | Rest walk | Walk, 0% incline |
| 2 | Interval 2 | Jog .1 MPH faster than Interval 1, 0% inline |
| 2 | Rest walk | Walk, 0% incline |
| 2 | Interval 3 | Jog .1 MPH faster than Interval 2, 0% inline |
| 2 | Rest walk | Walk, 0% incline |
| 2 | Interval 4 | Jog .1 MPH faster than Interval 3, 0% inline |
| 1 | Interval 5 | Run 1 MPH faster than Warm up run, 0% incline |
| 2 | Cool Down Walk | Walk, 0% incline |
| 1 | Cool Down Walk | Walk, .5 mph slower than Rest walk |
In one day I was able to increase my distance and my calories burned. On Monday, 22 Oct, I logged 1.64 miles and 296 calories. On Tuesday 23 Oct, I was able to get in 1.8 miles and burned 335 calories. Once I get my warm-up walk up to 3.5 MPH I’ll revamp this intro program to create an intermediate program (which I will post once I go over it with my trainer). If you have questions or comments, please let me know.