🏃couch to 5k, the actual NHS plan

not an influencer version. the free NHS one, week by week, current as of writing

01
Week 1: brisk 5-min walk, then 1 min running / 1.5 min walking, repeated for 20 minutes total
02
Week 2: brisk 5-min walk, then 1.5 min running / 2 min walking, 20 minutes total
03
Week 3: brisk 5-min walk, then two rounds of 1.5 min run / 1.5 min walk, then 3 min run / 3 min walk
this is where people usually quit apparently. I didn't but wanted to
04
Week 4: brisk 5-min walk, then 3 min run, 1.5 min walk, 5 min run, 2.5 min walk, 3 min run, 1.5 min walk, 5 min run
05
Week 5: three runs across the week, day 3 is 20 minutes running with no walking
day 3 is the one that matters. first time I ran the whole thing
06
Week 6: day 1 is 5/3/8/3/5 min run-walk-run-walk-run, day 2 is 10/3/10, day 3 is 25 min straight
07
Week 7: brisk 5-min walk, then 25 minutes running, no walking
08
Week 8: brisk 5-min walk, then 28 minutes running
carbs are the sport by this point, eat before the run or regret it
09
Week 9: brisk 5-min walk, then 30 minutes running, that's the 5k
test it in training, don't wear new shoes on this one (learned the hard way)