Couch to 5km - Week 1 Day 1

I've been moaning for ages about wanting to get fit and lose weight. I start at 100 miles an hour with grand plans like exercising for an hour every single day in September and naturally I cant keep up the pace and fail... I know I do this and so I vowed to just dial it back and try to exercise more often than not. I've been doing pretty good, a bit sporadic maybe but I've still managed 12 sessions in 22 days (granted three days had two sessions because I was super motivated those days..)

So when H emailed me yesterday to say his company was entering a team in the PwC Cool Night Classic Corporate Run/Walk in November and he was going to do the 5km run, and did I want to enter the 3km walk something crazy must have come over me as I said I'd do the 5km run as well...so much for taking it slow and not putting pressure on myself!

So I've got 7 weeks to get myself in shape so I don't conk out halfway and embarrass myself...bring on the couch to 5k programs, I need to do this right. I downloaded an 8wk program from intraining which looked pretty good but I'd have to keep an eye on a stopwatch for all of the intervals. So I headed to iTunes and found a great Couch-to-5K iPhone app from Active.com which has a 9 week program with audio cues for warm-ups, cool downs, when to run and when to walk so all I have to do it set up my playlist and go. I usually use RunKeeper to track my exercise but at least this app has GPS and tracks distance & pace so it will be a good substitute for now.

Because I've only got 7 weeks, not 9 I will have to blast through the first two weeks to make sure I'm on track for the race but last night I thought I'd stick to the Week 1 Day 1 session to see when I was in for:

Week 1 Day 1
Brisk 5 minute warm-up walk, then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Finish with a 5 minute cool down.
Duration 30:00, Pace 9:54 per km, Distance 3.03km
203 cal, Cal from fat 30%
Avg HR 133 BPM, Max HR 155 BPM
Zone 1: 13:39
Zone 2: 13:04
Zone 3: 3:53