---
title: 'Couch To 5K: Week 1 | Starting Running For The First Time'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=YACmfwcBDnM'
video_id: 'YACmfwcBDnM'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 705
---

# Couch To 5K: Week 1 | Starting Running For The First Time

> Source: [Couch To 5K: Week 1 | Starting Running For The First Time](https://youtube.com/watch?v=YACmfwcBDnM)

## Summary

This video is the first in a series following Pippa, a complete running novice, through the Couch to 5K program. The goal is to help her run 5K in under 30 minutes within eight weeks, with the first two weeks focusing on introductory jog/walk intervals.

### Key Points

- **Challenge Introduction** [00:00] — The video introduces the Couch to 5K challenge and a volunteer, Pippa, who will be guided through the program over eight weeks.
- **Pippa's Background** [01:03] — Pippa is a producer who was relatively fit before lockdown (exercising 5x/week), but hasn't run much since and considers herself a complete running newbie.
- **First Two Weeks Plan** [02:30] — Week 1: 5-min walk warm-up, then 8 cycles of 60-second jog / 90-second walk, followed by 5-min walk cool-down. Week 2: 5-min walk warm-up, 6 cycles of 90-second jog / 2-minute walk, 5-min walk cool-down. Three sessions per week with 1-2 rest days in between.
- **Pacing Guidance** [03:30] — Jog at a 'conversational' pace (able to say a few words). Walking should be brisk but recovery walks can be slower. The focus is on duration, not speed.
- **Handling Missed Sessions & Hills** [05:28] — If a session is missed, don't panic—add a day on Monday as long as you keep rest days. For hills, walk steep parts with effort; for tight calves, stretch and roll, and ensure a full 5-min warm-up.
- **Essential Kit** [07:53] — Key items: comfortable running shoes (to prevent blisters/injury), sweat-wicking clothing, a timer (watch or phone), optional headphones, and optionally a way to carry phone/water.
- **Pippa's First Session Experience** [09:35] — Pippa found it manageable because of the walking breaks, but felt at capacity by the end of each jog. She expressed concerns about calf tightness and fear of failure, but is hopeful about becoming a runner.

### Conclusion

The Couch to 5K program begins gradually with walk/jog intervals to build endurance safely, supported by proper footwear and pacing advice.

## Transcript

Cash to 5K is a challenge and it's one that we've covered in videos in the past but I actually wanted to find someone who we could take through it step by step to share it with you guys so I needed a guinea pig, one who's happy to share their journey over the next eight weeks.
I'm delighted to say that I have found a wonderful volunteer now I need to go and let her know exactly what she's led herself in for.
Before Pippa arrives I should probably give you a little bit of background so Pippa's part of our team she works as a producer and is basically an all round amazing problem solver. As for Pippa's running background I'm going to let her share you in on that one but one more thing
you're very lucky because you are going to get to meet Wilmer yes Pippa has a puppy called Wilmer she's just awesome.
All right hey Pippa how are you doing? How good? How are you? I'm good are you looking forward to this? I mean we are going to get you running 5K in under 30 minutes in just eight weeks. I mean I'm very nervous so I'm going to make it complete full of myself on the internet
but if you manage to get me to run 5K under 30 minutes I'll be super chuffed because that has never happened ever. We will do and we might get Wilmer running that as well and now I know you're not a true
couch potato but where are you at with your running at the moment? Well I mean I've definitely been in couch potato since coronavirus hit the UK we've been in lockdown so that's basically the past three months four months and I could count the amount of times that I've exercised on my hands
but before that I was relatively fit exercising about five times a week either in the gym or netball but I am 100% not a runner if you saw me running in the park it would be because I either
lost the dog or I was late for something and I have no idea where to start I just don't even know where it all begins and there's so much to think about you know when you take running seriously and you want to start building it up with like pacing and breathing and terrain and so I'm a complete newbie
cool excited to see a proper runner. Well we've got a lot to cover by the side of it I mean I know you've done netball in the past and you know quite a lot of hit sessions in the gym so you're used to pushing your body but in a different way then I guess. Yes definitely. Cool well I think it's time
that we share with you the first two weeks of what we've got in store and also going to chat with you guys so you can follow along at home. So first week three sessions with either one or two days rest in between and they're all going to be the same to start with so it's a five minute warm up which is
just a walk and then the main set is 60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking and you repeat that eight times through and then it's a five minute walk as a warm down and the second week
only increases slightly again three sessions with the same one or two days rest you spread it out all the same again so a five minute walk to warm up and then the main set this time is going up to 90 seconds of jogging but the rest increases as well to two minutes of walk and you repeat that six
times and then the warm down is again five minutes of walk. All right so now you know what you're in for for the first two weeks. How are you feeling and you've got any questions before we get going? I mean I have lots of questions. Oh gosh. I'm not trying to avoid doing the actual running.
Firstly how fast am I walking in running? Okay I mean it's hard to like put an exact number on but your walk is like you're going for a walk with Wilmer you're kind of you are going somewhere you're walking to the shops and you're not just going for like a walk with a friend so you're thinking right
I want to get somewhere maybe like you're walking to work because I've seen you want to work so it's brisk and then and then when it comes that's for your warm up so build and then for the jog I just want you to be jogging because if you're not used to jogging it is literally so that you can
still say a few words so maybe you're chatting to Wilmer or if you've got a friend to run with so that you can talk. You're not you're not finishing because you've finished and you've then got to go back to walking not stopping so we want it to be continuous and then the walk in those in between
bits can be a bit slower if you need to just get your breath back so it's kind of conversational running and then walking that's still moving forwards but as a recovery walk. Right okay and then so then each session am I trying to get faster or I just keep the same pace? No so at the moment because
naturally we are at any slight but we're progressing the distance so you don't want to try and change too many factors at once so we're not going to be changing the intensity we're just changing the the length of each effort and then overall a tiny bit more in total so we're just concentrating on
that and then the pace will come in later on so the first two weeks it's purely about just getting used to running and sort of finding your comfortable zone. Right okay and then if I you know skip the day what happens there? Okay well at the moment it's three per week so you've got like a little bit of leeway
to still have so if you skip one day you could hopefully still fit all three in in the week but if say it gets to Sunday and you haven't done it then there is no harm putting that one on the Monday as long as you've still got a day off in between and just don't panic like maybe give me a call and
see how you're doing or something but I don't want you to sort of back them all up so you're then doing you're like we're meeting two weeks after and you haven't started and you're going to then try and put all six in to one week don't I don't want you doing that so no no no no like cram learning or anything
like that so try and always keep a day in between and if you go off that model you've still got a spare day each week to play with so to speak. Cool and then I think the last bit is obviously we live in Bath and it's a dickessy hilly yeah and I get really tight calves so what what do I do there
okay well I know you've got some some nice new shoes which have got a bit more of a heel toe rise so that should hopefully help a little bit and yes hills are the same pain of our lives around here but you can use them to your advantage so if you are starting off in your like you want a really
hilly route and like some of the really steep hills around here it's okay to actually walk that but walk it really hard on it if it's on your running part and then obviously on the recovery bit you're going to have to really say to make sure you've got enough recovery because the hills do naturally
make your work harder so don't you worry about pace or anything like that and then as for tight calves just make sure you can start to get a little bit of a stretching routine and some rolling but we'll talk more about that maybe in the next week but yeah just keep an eye on them and if they are
getting uncomfortable tight or it's it's increasing then yeah ease off a little bit and make sure you just got plenty of stretches after and also it's really important you get that full five minute warm up before you start each time so we'll keep an eye on that okay great and then last year I guess
is there any sort of running etiquette I need to know as a complete newbie that's a funny one isn't I like because I think because I've run all my life I have to actually have a think about that one it's not quite like cycling there's not as many things that you could do wrong so I wouldn't worry
I think at the moment in COVID times if you're running on any paths just remember to like shout as anyone up ahead because you know I know some walkers get oh you can get like worried if they suddenly hear a runner like up behind them so don't be afraid to just sort of maybe your breathing's heavy
enough to be able to hear you or just be like some cough or like say I'm coming through but other than that I would say smile to other runners that you pass all right now you've asked all your questions I
think there's no more procrastination it's time for your first session are you ready okay I think I'm ready I think Wilma's ready she's definitely ready and you've got plenty of walking so I think she'll be fine definitely okay all right good luck let's go see you in your back all right whilst
Pippa is out on our run we probably should have a look at Kitten as you can see Pippa came prepared she had the full set of running Kitten you don't need to go and splash out on the loads of new kit but I would say investing in a decent pair of running shoes is essential it'll make such a difference
if you don't have the correct shoes it could lead to blisters and even worse some sort of injury so make sure you've got something that's comfortable and offers you the amount of support that you need and again a good pair of socks will also help with that comfort side of things now as for clothing
it doesn't need to be so specific comfort is keys for getting you coming back to your next session but if you've got something that's sweat wicking that'll help to maintain your body at a nice temperature if you're obviously in really hot climates then you might need something that's a little
bit more technical talking of technical you probably know just Pippa has a nice polar watch you don't need to go to the extremes of buying a sport specific watch for this program it's all based on time so you just need something to basically be able to time yourself with whether it's a basic sports
watch or even your phone with a timer that's completely fine if you are using your phone you might want to have something to carry it in if you don't have a pocket because you want to have your hands free and talking of that headphones are another option if you're motivated by music then by all
means use them but try to find somewhere to sort of put it out the way so it's not distracting you and finally water and a lot of people ask about water obviously we're starting off pretty short on these runs so unless you're somewhere really hot I would say you probably don't use
carry water with you if you do try to find somewhere carrying it so that you can still be relaxing up a body and concentrate on form rather than having to hold something in your hand
how was it oh it was a carry yeah I was good I mean I am really unfit so I'm definitely excited for that to change well that's good I mean it would be kind of if it was really easy you were like
oh I'm super fit I kind of defeat the object but was it harder or easier than you expected I think I think it was it wasn't as hard as I expected because the walking really helped but I definitely think at the end of the running I was sort of at my capacity and I needed those walks okay I was very
grateful so there so thank you and while she was doing it didn't bring out any like hopes that you got for this whole program or anything you're really worried about I mean I'm worried about my calves but
I'll go home and do like a proper stretch session now and then yeah I guess I'm scared I'm going to fail in front of all these people but I'm really that's normal isn't it yeah that I will become a runner that you will get me regularly running yeah hopefully I'll learn you know to be using it
as a stress reliever like so many people use it whereas right now it's more stressful so okay well we'll hopefully get rid of that stress side of things if you've got any questions before you go off for your next sort of these two weeks you've got another what if you've got another five sessions before we
touch base again I mean I think I'm okay now but I will probably be bringing you like please do please do or seven Wilma did you enjoy that she seemed to be pretty cool with it too I think I think definitely next time I'll go without her though because she yeah she was far more interested in sniffing
anything as much as she's a beautiful camera model yes it's better to run without her thing awesome well we look forward to the update in two weeks time thank you
I'm massive thanks to Pepper because I know it's really going out of her comfort zone to be doing this and to be on camera so please give her plenty of encouragement and even better if you're in the same situation as Pepper then join in and follow the program and let us know how you're getting on
you can do that in the comments section below so we'll be back in two weeks time to find out how Pepper's got on and also give you an update of the next two weeks of the program so see you then if you've enjoyed it give us a like and remember to check out our session meter channels and give
that as a follow two