Welcome to Week 5 of the Couch to 5K! Take a deep breath and congratulate yourself for making it this far - this marks the midway point of the training program, and that is an achievement in and of itself. Give yourself a moment to take stock of your emotions - if you're not proud of how far you've come, you should be. Four short weeks ago, running for a minute straight had your legs protesting and you short of breath by the end of the workout - now you've run 5 minutes straight. Your endurance is growing and your confidence is too, because you've started to realize the truth - with the right pace, running isn't a physical challenge for you; it's a mental one. If you don't believe me, remember the first five minute run you did; on minute four, were your legs tired? Mine were. But I kept running, and you did too - because the truth is, if your mind says you can run that last minute, then you can - and you did.

Well, that's take that truth and push it this week. This week has The Big Day we've all been secretly fretting over since we started; W5 D3 is creeping closer. Maybe you're nervous. Maybe you're not. But the truth is? You can do it. And you will do it. Your legs may tell you that they want to stop, but your mind knows - you can do it. You are ready for this. You. Are. Ready!


This week, the workouts are:


Workout 1: Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)


Workout 2: Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)


Workout 3:
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.



Don't forget to check in on this thread after you run - this is it people; put your money where your mouth is!