Run for your life

If anybody had told me this time last year that I would be running 5k three times a week, I would have laughed at them. I was the girl who forged notes from my mother every week to get out of doing sport at school.

 

Over the years, I tried fitness classes and hated them all. I was far too uncoordinated (and unfit) for aerobics and spent most of the class praying for the torture to end. I joined a gym for a while and that was a novelty for about a week until I realised I hated that too, although I did enjoy the hot tub. My workouts grew shorter and my hot tub sessions longer until I stopped going after a month.

 

I walked like a demon to slim down to nothing for my wedding, but with three kids coming thick and fast over the years since then, my fitness routine consisted of housework and running around after the kids. A combination of post-natal depression and IBS kept my weight down (not a diet plan to be recommended), but my energy levels hit an all time low.

 

I used to look at people out running and think they were fitness freaks, yet I was always attracted to running for some reason. It was faster and less boring than walking and was one of the few exercises that I could potentially fit into my routine as a busy working mum. I just didn’t think I would be ever be able to do it myself as I was so unfit.

 

Today, I am starting the final week of my Couch to 5K programme and will be running for 30 minutes nonstop. After doing three runs this week, I will have completed the programme and I can’t believe it. I am a runner! I feel so proud to say it and the benefits have been huge — increased energy, improved mood, healthier eating and such a feeling of achievement.

 

Taking up running can seem like a terrifying prospect, especially if you feel out of shape or unfit. There are lots of Couch to 5K apps and plans out there, but I found the NHS one great. It’s totally free and designed to help absolute beginners to get into running.

 

 

The plan involves three runs per week with a day of rest in between and a different schedule for each of the nine weeks. The plan works because it starts with a mix of running and walking to gradually build up your stamina. You download the podcast which features a narrator called Laura who is like your own personal trainer, keeping you motivated through the runs.

 

When I started the first week, I could barely run for 60 seconds at a time but now I am running 28 minutes and about to do my first 30 minute run. The longer runs are not easy and there are days when I struggle with my breathing or stitches, but the Couch to 5K website has tonnes of advice on everything from what to wear and the correct way to run to how to get rid of a stitch. And you feel incredible afterwards!

 

I really struggled around week four and considered going back a week, but I went on the website forum for some advice and got numerous replies straight back from other runners a bit further ahead on the programme who encouraged me to keep going. My sister, who is even more of an exercise-phobe than me, is now on week seven of the programme.

 

So to any mums out there who would like to exercise but think they can’t do it, get off the couch and get your runners on because if I can do it, you can too.