I recently finished a 9 week Couch to 5K program which I’m really proud of. What follows is a reflection beginning with why I started the program, how it went, and what my next steps are.
Motivation to Start
Last year I started getting into powerlifting. Before that, I’d been pretty sedentary and getting more overweight each passing year. After about 6 months of training I competed in my first powerlifting meet and felt pretty proud. During that time however, I did approximately zero cardio. So, I decided to pick something with a low barrier of entry to start building up some endurance mainly to improve my work capacity and recover in and out of the gym. I began by just walking regularly and increasing my daily step count goals. Then I decided to give c25k a go. I downloaded an app and got started.
Getting Started
The first week started with jogging for only a couple minutes at a time broken up with about equal intervals of walking. For all 9 weeks, I did 3 sessions per week on non-lifting days (no back to back sessions). It felt pretty easy in the beginning but there were small things that I needed to figure out. Do I bring water? I started off carrying my phone to see when to switch from walking to jogging. I bought earbuds to hear the cues and keep my phone in my pocket. I started leaving my water bottle off to the side of the track I was on and just took a few gulps or sips each lap. For weeks 2-4, the first day was the hardest adjusting to progressively longer times without walking breaks. But once I proved myself capable, the other 2 sessions of the week were easier. I bought a smart watch, some running shoes, and subscribed to spotify. I kept wanting to buy more stuff but spaced it out, rewarding myself each week with an equipment upgrade. In the later weeks I bought some new clothes as well. Another way I increased my enjoyment was to not just run on the same track every time. I got out to a local park and used the track at the school where I work.
Over the Hump
Week 5 definitely felt like a turning point. Getting up to a 20 minute continuous jog was daunting. Especially since the longest interval without a walking break before that was 8 minutes. After the halfway point however, I was kind of zoning out and felt fine. I even found myself smiling and enjoying the run. I have tried to run before and often got shin splints and joint pain but I think all the squats, deadlifts and general strength I built up from 6+ months of lifting really helped mitigate that this time around. Early on I felt some knee pain and did some suggested stretches and exercises and it eventually went away. During some sessions, I might feel some slight pain in an ankle or around my Achilles but nothing too bad. Only once can I recall getting a side stitch during a session and it was near the end so it was easy to ride out. I also started not taking any water with me, I just hydrated before and after and didn’t feel like I had to have a drink during a session.
Getting to the End
After week 5, I finally felt like finishing the program was doable. Week 6 day 1 was easy peasy and I thought day 2 would be as well but for some reason it felt harder than expected. The air quality where I live started getting bad so I did this week on treadmills and it wasn’t as enjoyable as outdoors. Day 3 was alright and it was kind of nice realizing that was the end of the walking breaks. I shifted from listening to music to audiobooks. Air quality stayed bad during week 7 so other than a couple random good days, I mostly finished up the program on treadmills. I tried to up my speed a bit on week 7 and it went fine, during week 8 I think the fatigue got to me and I had to drop the speed to a crawl to be able to finish. I also kept lifting 3-4 days a week during the program, I think that contributed to the build up of fatigue. Week 9 got better. I stopped doing any lower body accessories in the gym, just hit the compound lifts each 1 day per week and did upper body accessories on the weekend. For the last session, I cranked the speed at the end and kept going until I hit 5k to put a finishing touch on my last day on the program.
Testing myself
Around week 6, when it felt real, I signed up for a race (A park 5K) that would take place two weeks after I completed the program assuming I didn’t have to repeat any sessions. I planned to run twice a week in those 2 weeks and do a deload on my lifting to do a small taper going into it. My son ended up being born then so I only ended up getting in 1 run a week and didn’t lift at all. I was pretty excited. I’ve started to enjoy running a bit rather than just suffering through it to meet my fitness goals. I read a couple books, Born to Run and Comfort Crisis, earlier this month as well, which contributed to improving my mindset around running.
My understanding is that cardio isn’t a great weight loss tool but I did end up losing around 1kg per week during the 9 weeks I did the program. I was also experimenting with my diet which was probably the main driver of that, but having a goal and thinking holistically about my health and fitness probably didn’t hurt.
The race I took part in was the 2025 Bangkok Coffee Run. There was a 10K and a 5K. For the 5K, we did 1 lap around the park. The 10K participants ran 2 laps. The 10K was released at 6am and then we lined up and started at 6:10am. Luckily, they did provide some coffee beforehand to help me wake up a little.
I had set a goal of finishing in under 40 minutes. In my run the week before, I did 5K in around 38 minutes so I knew it was a reasonable goal. The time wasn’t so important, I just wanted to be able to do the whole thing without taking walking breaks. Having all the other people around did get me going a bit faster than I had planned.
By the 2nd kilometer I had a stitch in my left side and halfway through the 3rd, I had a matching stitch on the right side so by the 4 km mark I felt myself hunching over a bit. I straightened out and told myself running through side stitches isn’t going to lead to any kind of injury (I was assuming that was true, had no idea) so I could just bear the pain and get to the end. I did notice that my knees and ankles felt totally fine so that was a good sign.
Around the 4.6 km mark I was feeling almost done, I slowed down and was about to throw in the towel and just walk the rest of the way but turning the corner, I saw the end. I then started to run as fast as I could. It wasn’t competitive in any way but it did feel nice passing people left and right in the last little stretch. I crossed the finish line and collected my medal, free mug, took some photos and drank tons of water. I made it in just over 36 minutes, better than I had hoped.
What’s Next
After the race, I ended up signing up for my next powerlifting competition so running will take a back seat to my lifting priorities for the next few months but I plan to keep it up once or twice a week so that when I do try to set a new goal, I won’t have to start completely over in building up my ability. I have noticed an increase in my work capacity, in particular for deadlifts which is the most taxing of the main lifts. As I mentioned previously, I’ve got a newborn at home now so maintaining and improving my fitness is more important to me than ever. Not only do I want to be around for a long time to see my children grow up and be physically active so I can go on all sorts of adventures with them, I also want to set a good example for those around me including my family, friends and students. Thanks to all who read, I wish you luck meeting your goals and I hope to continue pushing myself further as well.
