The Story of Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K is one of the most popular exercise programs in the world, created by my office mate Josh Clark. He created the program in 1996 after getting over a relationship break-up by running. His system builds from a few seconds of running, to longer distances, over a series of weeks. I really should give this a try.

And, if you want to hear more, here’s a longer audio-podcast version of the story. And here is Josh’s own write up.

5 Comments leave a comment below

  1. Definitely try it! I NEVER thought I would be able to run any distance, but I got through the couch to 5K. Every week, I would find myself doing something that I didn’t think I was capable of. It’s very empowering!

  2. Zombies, Run has a couch-to-5K app as well. Good if you want to go the gamification route: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombies-run!-5k-training/id566596422?mt=8&at=11l7ja&ct=tss

  3. I started with couch to 5k and now I run 15-20 miles a week. I never knew who was behind it, thank you for sharing!

  4. This really works! I started with it several years ago and over the course of the first several weeks, sweated and whined and slogged through it. The really nice thing I found is that you basically give yourself over to the voice coming out of the app, run, walk, run, stop, walk, run. By the end you can really do a 5K.

  5. “should”???
    Do you mean “Will”….?
    ;-)