Today marks week one, day two of my Couch to 5k odyssey.

I am currently ill-prepared to remark on the effectiveness of the program, aside from a marked improvement in my “need to puke” feeling following a running session. Today I only kind of needed to puke. But I didn’t!

I can also say for sure that I feel good and can appreciate its approach to avoid burnout or feelings of being overwhelmed. It’s very carefully metered so that you are pushing yourself but not killing yourself.

For those unfamiliar with the general idea, a quick distillation is:

• Do a warmup walk
• Jog for a period
• Walk for a period
• Repeat 2-3 for 20 minutes

Every week the ratio of jogging to walking gets slightly more skewed in the jogging direction. Supposedly within about 2 months time you will be ready to take part in a 5k (3.1 mile) run. I don’t currently have a concrete goal in that regard, though maybe I should. I just kind of want to not be a fatty anymore.

One instrument of my apparent continued success that I find to be invaluable is an accompanying app. I don’t feel the need to pimp one in particular. I’m sure any of them will work. I opted for a free one that simply beeps when it is time to switch modes from walk to jog or back, and then beeps twice when you are done.

This is really awesome. For one thing: I don’t have to think about anything while I’m doing this, allowing me to concentrate on breath control and not tripping or running into things like a dummy. For another (almost more importantly): when I hear that beep, if I’m walking, I know I have to start jogging. There’s no thinking maybe I’m counting wrong or rationalizing or bargaining. “BEEP”. Go. The end.

Either way, I hope to continue to check in with my progress as time goes on.. I have day 3 scheduled for tomorrow and I’m actually looking forward to it, so that’s a good sign!