I'm over halfway through the Couch to 5km programme, it's the first time I have undertaken a fitness challenge like this one. I'm not a natural runner, so it has taken some effort to get here, but as I was running this morning, I was thinking about what I have learned so far on this journey.

  1. It's OK to reset, it's not OK to give up - at the end of week one, I thought I had made a mistake. I was suffering with painful ankles and calves and I started to entertain that idea that I couldn't do this. A bit of investigation and research and I came up with an alternative approach that reduced the pain and kept me going.
  2. If you need to repeat a week, do that - whilst I was researching, I kept repeating week 2, making small changes each time to see what would work. I did week two a total of three times before I felt I could move on.
  3. Prepare properly - it seems obvious, but stretches and the right equipment can be the difference. The pain I felt in Week 1 and 2 were alleviated by getting shoes with more support for my 'over pronating' feet, better socks and then finding a stretching regime that really works for me.
  4. Take it slowly - a bit like lesson 2, it's OK to do this at your pace and ignore everyone else. Watching other runners is fatal, they are all better than me - so trying to keep up with a pace that is anything other than mine is not a good move.
  5. Reward yourself - I promised myself a new pair of cheap earbuds when I got to week 5 / run 3, two thirds of the way through the programme. It felt like a milestone to run 20 minutes, and so I treated myself to a prize. Now, I'm thinking about what to get myself at the end of week 9.

So far, the programme has been hard but the results have surprised me - in week 1 I struggled to run for 60 seconds and never thought I would get to run for 20 minutes. I have a way to go before I can hit 30 mins, and then a full 5km - but I'm confident with this programme, I'll get there.

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