Heather: I'm back and more importantly, so is Pippa. Welcome along to the next in the series
of our Couch to 5K. We're into those final two weeks building into that final effort. Today
I'm going to be catching up but with our wonderful volunteer Pippa, and finding out how she's been
getting on after her couple of weeks off, as well as going into the detailed training of
what's in store for you for the next two weeks and getting you ready for that target 5K.
Hopefully, you guys have been ticking along nicely and made the most of those extra two
weeks of training that I gave you. Well, for those who have just joined, or if you want a bit of a
memory refresh of just how far we've come in this series, let's take a look back
at where we've come from. [music]
Pippa: Okay, here we go, session two. First one without Heather's supervision.
I'm halfway through now and it really doesn't feel like we're halfway because
I've just got up to like five minutes of running and there's quite a big jump from 5 minutes to
30, 35 minutes. Although I feel good and confident in what I've done so far,
I am really doubting my abilities to get the next four weeks done and to actually do the challenge.
Heather: I found a wonderful volunteer, our production manager Pippa, who agreed
to be coached to a sub-30-minute 5K, and most importantly, share her experience along the way.
She's fitted this around her busy work life, as well as filming herself and I think you probably
agree that she's done a rather good job of it. You might have also met her training partner,
Wilma. Yes, Wilma is a puppy. If you haven't seen her yet, check out some of the older videos.
Well, anyway now we have reached the end of week six, and I know there were some
fairly meaty sessions that a few of you were a little bit worried about,
most importantly, the 25-minute continuous run and you weren't alone, it's one that I know Pippa
has been quite concerned about and I'm dying to find out if she's managed to complete it.
[music] Heather:
All right, Pippa, it's so good to have you back, how are you doing?
Pippa: Good, thank you. Heather: How long did you
end up having off in the end? Pippa: In total, I had about
three weeks off, which was quite intimidating to come back after that.
Heather: Where did you pick it back up because I know I sort of gave you the
option to see how you were feeling. Pippa: Yes, I picked it up about halfway in
week five, just to check if I could still run again, and then I started
properly from week six last week. Heather: Oh, nice, so that means,
and I know you've been worried about it, you had the 25-minute run, have you done it?
Pippa: It's all getting serious now, so I've clipped back my hair and everything.
I did do it and amazingly, my stamina held up over these three weeks,
but my pace has definitely dropped and I'm a lot slower than I was before, but I still managed it.
Heather: I'm really not worried about pace at the moment, especially as you've had time off. I think
that's awesome that you've managed it because I know you were worried before you had time off and
the fact you've now done it, that's brilliant. Pippa: Yes, it was quite daunting when I saw
it on the plan and I was thinking, "How am I actually ever going to be able to
run 25 minutes?" I feel quite happy with myself. Heather: You should do, yes. Well, I think some of
the viewers are probably grateful as well because it gave everyone another couple of weeks, so we
sort of went on pause for a bit. I think there'll be people thanking you for that. I don't know if
you can remember, our last video we did together, I gave you some of those exercises, were you
aching afterwards, how did he feel after those? Pippa: Yes, I did, my glutes had definitely been
engaged and stairs were a little bit harder the next day, but I feel like it is helping
give me a bit more power. The one I'm struggling with more is the leaning forward because that,
I feel, is making me run faster than I should be, so I just need to work
on getting that in the right position. Heather: Okay, well, it's great to have
you back anyway. Pippa: Thank you.
[music] Heather:
Well, those of you who did watch our last Couch to 5K, will have seen me go on about the importance
of strength and conditioning. I can't reiterate that enough, especially as you might want to reach
the end of this program and start to either run for longer or run faster or a combination of both,
but enough about that for now, let's take a look at what's in store for the final two weeks.
Session one is a 5-minute walking warmup, and then your main set is going to consist
of 10 minutes of jog followed by 5 minutes walk, 5 minutes jog, 2 minutes walk, 10 minutes of jogging
with a 5 minute walking warm down. Session two is a 5-minute walking warm-up.
Your main set is going to be 30 minutes of consistent jogging,
followed by a warm down of 5 minutes walk. Session three, a 5-minute walking warmup with
your main set, it's going to be 5 minutes of jog followed by 2 minutes of walking and
then you're going to repeat that a total of 6 times and finishing it up with a 5 minute
walking warm down. [music]
Session one, warmup 5 minutes of walking, and then your main set consists of 15 minutes of jog,
5 minutes of walk, 10 minutes of jog, followed by 2 minutes walking, and then a final
5 minutes jog with a 5-minute walking warm down. Session two, it's a 5-minute walking warm-up
and your main set is a 35-minute jog continuous with a 5 minute warm down at a walk.
Session three is a 5-minute warm-up to walk and then your main set is 5 minutes jog,
2 minutes walk, but this time you're going to repeat that a total of 7 times, followed with
a 5-minute walking warm down. [music]
Like I mentioned, Pippa questioned a few weeks back, the sessions and some of these longer
runs are starting to ramp up quite quickly and a few of you are either struggling or a little
bit worried about these longer continuous runs, as is one of our viewers who sent in a message
here. This message from Garth says, "I've been going along with this Couch to 5K training,
but I have a question. I'm now in week seven-" Cool "-and that is 25-minute runs. It is going
well but my heart rate after 25 minutes is over 180. My maximum is about 190 and resting is 47.
I am 69. The low heart rate crowd says I should be training under 150."
Then he said, he's managed to do it by doing 1 minute running, 1 minute of walking.
"Is it harmful to have a high heart rate on these runs in the Couch to 5K?"
First up, that is an impressive heart rate range, but ideally, you do want to be keeping your heart
rate under control and making sure that you're still working aerobically because that's really
about building the building blocks now that you can then add on any speed or distance later on,
so if that does mean walking, that's totally fine. Maybe try running just on flat ground,
avoid any hills, anything that will keep your heart rate a little bit lower and if you can still
run any slower, I'd imagine you're already running fairly slowly to try and get your heart rate down,
but pace really doesn't matter here. I've reiterated this enough, but it's about
trying to make sure that it's a comfortable kind of conversational pace on these continuous runs
at the moment and then once you reach that 5K, that target, you can start to add in
some speed work or add in some longer runs, but you'll already have that great base and you'll
find you'll be able to progress so much quicker. Well, like I said, it is getting tough now. Pippa
admitted that she did struggle a little bit on that 25-minuter, so today, it's a 30-minute run,
and I going to do it with Pippa. I don't know whether she's going to appreciate that or not.
[music] Pippa, I'm not going to tell you how far or
how long we've been going, but how you feeling? Pippa: Okay, it's hot but I'm definitely out of
breath so I'm hoping we've done quite a lot. Heather: I'm not going to tell her just
yet. [chuckles] Halfway. All right, you've done your longest run in, as we discovered, how long?
Pippa: Six months. Heather: You must be pretty chuffed with that.
Pippa: I'm so chucked, I literally don't understand how it's possible.
Heather: "I am so chuffed as [unintelligible 00:08:22] just makes me feel really good," and
to have witnessed it, I don't know if I was actually any help.
Was I annoying you chatting away, was it--? Pippa: No, it was actually really good because you
were chatting, which was keeping me interested, but I also had the music on low for when there was
no chatting, so my brain was constantly engaged. Heather: We found the right recipe.
Pippa: So we say. Heather: Bring on 5K. Oh, actually yes,
we need to-- it was 4.47K. Pippa: So close.
Heather: Yes. Heather: Just another half
a K and then you're there. Pippa: Thank you.
Heather: Well done. All right, I'm going to let Pippa recover there. Hopefully, you guys
are still on track. You've just got a few key sessions left, so make sure you nail them before
the test, that 5K. Of course, we'll be back in two weeks to find out whether Pippa makes that 5K,
so join us there. Good luck with those few sessions and we'll see you then. Hopefully,
you've enjoyed it. Give us a thumbs-up Like, if you have and remember, you can follow us
on social media too. [00:09:17] [END OF AUDIO]