What comes after Couch 2 5K?


This was the question on my mind as I was approaching the end of the Couch 2 5K plan. I spent a lot of time pondering particularly during and in the immediate aftermath of completing the final week of the plan. My initial thought was to just continue repeating week 9 of the plan until I got to the stage that I could comfortably do it well and then reassess from there. I quickly realised that this would probably not work out well for me. The thing that got me through Couch 2 5K was the structure and steady increase in time and distance throughout the plan.

So, I decided I would train so that I could run 10K. At this point I did not have a race in mind and was just going to make sure I could run the distance. After getting through the first week of my new plan I decided to have a look at whether there were some nearby 10K’s that I could aim for. I decided to sign up for the Glasgow Men’s 10K on 17th June.





I used a 10K training plan on the Hal Higdon website and adjusted the plan to suit the time I had free. I found that the plan gradually built me up to the point where I could confidently run more than 10K without stopping.

The race itself was a great deal of fun, I went into the day a little anxious as my race number hadn’t been delivered but I was able to pick up a replacement number really easily when I arrived at the start. The atmosphere amongst the runners was great even as everyone took shelter when the heavens opened prior to the start. Looking back I think I probably went off too quickly as I did 5:01, 5:02 and then 05:03 for the first 3 kilometres but you get caught up in the swarm of people and go along at that pace. I started to struggle when we entered Glasgow Green and managed to make it to the finish line in 54:00. I had 3 targets for the day in my head, the first was to run the whole distance without stopping to walk which I achieved. The second and third targets I had in my head were times I would like to run. My aim was to have run it in under 60:00 and my ideal target based on my training was to run under 56:00 so absolutely delighted with 54:00.




My initial thoughts when starting on Couch 2 5K were that I may be ready for a 10K by the time the Great Scottish Run came around in September. Given how well I felt I had done with both Couch 2 5K and the Glasgow Men’s 10K I made the decision to enter the proper Great Scottish Run so my next adventure is to be a HALF MARATHON!!!!

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