Couch to 5K

I'm kind of a rare breed. You see I'm half couch potato and half want to be athlete. I'm not quite committed to either all the way.

But I decided this year I would try to lean more to the athlete side and by athlete I just mean moving as in running, biking, swimming, walking, just not sitting or eating.

I set my goal of running the Gasperilla 5K which is located in Tampa, FL on the beautiful bayshore which was exactly 10 weeks away from when I set my goal. Then I found a training plan and decided to do The Couch to 5K running plan since it seemed the most manageable to do.

It also has an awesome iPhone app which took all the thinking out of the intervals. The little voice on the app told me when to run, when to stop, and when to just keep going. It costs 99 cents but is totally worth it.

See how you have that red headed 5K finisher who is your biggest supporter? She's great!

I also printed out the schedule and put it on my fridge so I had to look at it all the time and I crossed out each workout I did. It is only 3 days a week so I would say pretty manageable and I could do what it asked me to do! It wasn't super difficult and thought the pace was perfect.

I will say it wasn't always easy but I kept thinking if I want to do the next workout I need to get through this one. Building up stamina and endurance isn't pain free either, I was sore the next day often and really had to push myself though some of the workouts. But it is SO worth it!! I can't believe I can get on the treadmill and run for 30 whole minutes now! It really is an amazing feeling.

The Couch to 5K program gives you the choice to do your workouts outside or on a treadmill. I choose to do them on a treadmill which I liked since I could track how far I ran easily and exactly how fast I was running. I didn't trust myself to really push myself running outside; on the treadmill I could put the speed at what I wanted and I would have to run or well I would fall off and I try to avoid falling off treadmills.

But in 9 weeks I was able to run my first 5K in 36 minutes!!!!!  I was and still am so proud! My goal was to just be able to run the entire thing and not stop under 45 minutes and I by far exceeded my goal.

So if you are looking to get in shape the Couch to 5K running program is awesome for someone who wasn't in any sort of shape to begin with. If you have any questions or what some motivation feel free to comment :)