Resting allows your joints to recover from what is a high-impact exercise, and your running muscles to repair and strengthen.Īlternatively, you could do Strength and Flex on your rest days. Having one between each run will reduce your chance of injury and also make you a stronger, better runner. Structure is important for motivation, so try to allocate specific days of the week for your runs and stick to them. You can, however, repeat any one of the weeks until you feel physically ready to move on to the next week. The pace of the 9-week running plan has been tried and tested by 10s of thousands of new runners. The programme is designed for beginners to gradually build up their running ability so they can eventually run 5km without stopping. Week 9įor your 3 runs in week 9, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk, then 30 minutes of running. Week 8įor your 3 runs in week 8, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk, then 28 minutes of running. Week 7įor your 3 runs in week 7, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk, then 25 minutes of running. Run 3: a brisk 5-minute walk, then 25 minutes of running with no walking. Run 2: a brisk 5-minute walk, then 10 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of running. Run 1: a brisk 5-minute walk, then 5 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking, 8 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking and 5 minutes of running. Run 3: a brisk 5-minute walk, then 20 minutes of running, with no walking. Run 2: a brisk 5-minute walk, then 8 minutes of running, 5 minutes of walking and 8 minutes of running. Run 1: a brisk 5-minute walk, then 5 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking, 5 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking and 5 minutes of running. Week 4įor your 3 runs in week 4, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk, then 3 minutes of running, 1-and-a-half minutes of walking, 5 minutes of running, 2-and-a-half minutes of walking, 3 minutes of running, 1-and-a-half minutes of walking and 5 minutes of running.

Week 3įor your 3 runs in week 3, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk, then 2 repetitions of 1-and-a-half minutes of running, 1-and-a-half minutes of walking, 3 minutes of running and 3 minutes of walking.

After this, you will alternate 1-and-a-half minutes of running with 2 minutes of walking, for a total of 20 minutes.

Week 2įor your 3 runs in week 2, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk.

After this, you will alternate 1 minute of running and 1-and-a-half minutes of walking, for a total of 20 minutes. Week 1įor your 3 runs in week 1, you will begin with a brisk 5-minute walk. This One You Couch to 5K app gives you a choice of coaches and helps you track your progress.Īs well as Laura, who features on the NHS Couch to 5K podcasts, you can also be coached by celebrities Jo Whiley, Sarah Millican, Sanjeev Kohli or Michael Johnson. Or, get the entire programme as a smartphone app:

Make a 2k build