Today was the last run of week 2 of the Couch to 5k running plan. My running partner and I both found it relatively painless. Tiring, yes, but easier than earlier runs without a shadow of doubt. It’s another milestone as well, and takes us to a quarter of the way to our first 5k run at the beginning of week 9.

Weather was fine - sunny and no breeze to speak of (a shame - I like running with a bit of wind to keep me cool) - and shoes were fine too. I’ve noticed a marked difference between running on grass and on a tarmac surface, the latter being easier by far.

Things will be interesting next week. I am moving home this afternoon and over the weekend (I’ll be writing my posts but won’t be able to get them online until next week) and will be living too far from my current running partner to go running with her in the mornings. Having to meet someone at 6am has been a major help getting me to actually get up and run in the mornings - I hope that having started I (and she) will be able to carry on despite having to run separately. We shall see.

Week 2 continued in fine style today. No problem getting up - I was up well before my alarm, which was set for 5:30 for a 6am run, went off. Perhaps there is something to this exercise lark after all. I’ve certainly been feeling better than usual for the last few days, though that could easily be my imagination.

No rain today. Suits me! And a repeat of Monday’s run. Strangely, while the second run of week 1 was easier than the first, this run (the second of week 2) was harder than Monday’s run. Both myself and my running partner found today’s run tougher than Monday’s, which was confusing (but both finished the run as planned). We’ve both pretty much put the difference down to our bodies not recovering from Monday as much as we might have liked. If anyone has any idea of alternative reasons for this, I’d be happy to hear them!

If the same happens next week, I think we may have to leave an extra day after the first run of each week. We’re running Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the moment - maybe Monday, Thursday and Saturday would be better.

And once again, my ankles, shins and kness found the whole experience much better than previously. Decent running shoes really do make a huge difference!

About ten years ago, I started smoking. Looking back on it now, I reckon is was a fairly stupid thing to do. Didn’t seem that way at the time. Looking back, if I had the same choice, I wouldn’t start again. I don’t know anyone who can say honestly that they would start smoking if given the choice all over again.

And finally, in October last year, I stopped smoking. It wasn’t my first attempt at stopping, but it was the last.

And for the last few months, I’ve been wondering what was different about this time. Every time I tried before and lasted for any length of time, I still wanted to smoke. I’d get cravings in the pub, or on the way to work … several times a day, even four months after quitting. This time, after week one, I’ve not seriously entertained the notion of smoking at all. No cravings. Stopping, this time, was a piece of cake.

So as I said, I’ve been wondering what was different this time. My best previous attempt was 4 months, without so much as a drag. Like this time, I wanted to stop. Like this time, I felt proud of myself after just a few days. My motives were for the most part the same. I didn’t have noticably more or less stress this time. I was socialising with the same group of people as now, and of them the same ones still smoke.

I did read a book though, in the meantime. And no just any book (scientists have yet to prove the effectiveness of Tolkien’s The Hobbit as an effective anti-smoking tool). No, I read Easyway, by the late Allen Carr. And it has taken me this long to realise that that was the catalyst - the difference that made the difference.

I read the book rather grudgingly. A friend of mine had quit for about a year and attributed her success to the book, and she lent me her copy. As it happens, she’s smoking again, so perhaps I should give it back. I read it, and promptly forgot about it. I didn’t quit at the end. I didn’t quit for another 3 months.

October came around, and I came to the realisation that I didn’t want to smoke any more, and so I stopped. Over the last few months, I have realised that in the meantime - between reading the book and quitting - the book was sinking in. I was realising that smoking is nicotine addiction. I was realising that I hated the fact that I was addicted. I was realising that I was making excuses for myself to smoke.

My previous diatribes and rants to non-smoking friends about the freedom to choose, nanny states, and being in complete control of my smoking - even going to far as to claim I enjoyed it, which I’m now not sure even I believed - rang hollow. I found less and less excuses for other people, and started to find it harder and harder to explain to myself why I was smoking in the first place.

And so I gave the addiction the boot. Once I made than mental leap and understood why I was smoking and why I had been unable to stop, then ditching the weed was easy. It was that key step that I needed - the realisation that I was addicted to nicotine, and it wasn’t a hobby or a habit.

That realisation also helped me understand why nicotine replacement doesn’t really work. Patches, inhalers, gum … none of these help the smoker address their addiction. They’re being weened off the nicotine but they’re still nicotine addicts and most will eventually start smoking again.

This realisation had some side effects. I now do not think of myself as an ex-smoker, but rather as a non-smoker. And I know I’m never going to start smoking. There is no such thing as just one cigarrette, I now know - because one would inevitably lead to more.

It was about three weeks in to stopping that I realised that I wasn’t counting days or weeks any more - essentially, at that point, I was finished with stopping smoking. The process was complete. I’d never experienced that before when stopping - I’d always just kept counting. I was thinking in terms of the time I’d spent without cigarrettes so far. I referred to it as “quitting”. But this time, I had stopped. Past tense.

I’ve started to notice the physical effects now. I don’t have my cough any more. I can play squash and go running without my chest burning as badly and as quickly as it used to. I can taste my food (and I like it!) and wine is a whole new experience. I’m loaded too - saving £200 per month. According to people who know me, I look healthier. I certainly feel a lot better.

Finally, I now understand why I disliked ex-smokers so much when I was a smoker. It was 2 things - the pity they had for me, and the knowledge that they had done what I still had not been able to.

All of which brings me to the reason for the title of this post. Stopping smoking is easy. Really really easy. Trying to beat it without understanding what it is you’re trying to beat is like climbing a mountain. But if you think critically, and are honest with yourself - and in doing so realise that you’re addicted to the cigarrettes - then that mountain becomes a molehill. And in a few weeks, when you wake up in the morning and realise that you aren’t a smoker any more, you will wonder what the fuss was all about.

Another wet day today - seems that’s par for the course for my Couch to 5k saga, and the first time we’ve experienced a week-on-week increase in the running. The last run of last week was relatively easy, actually - far better than the first run. Today, unsurprisingly, was significantly tougher, though it didn’t sound on paper as though it would be.

Today’s run was 20 minutes again (with a 5 minute walk for a warm-up, of course), split into 6 sections of 90 seconds running and 2 minutes walking (so technically 21 minutes total). The last 30 seconds of each run were taxing on the lungs and the legs, though playing an hour and a half of racketball yesterday probably didn’t help matters.

I felt better after the run today than I did after the first run of last week, which I suppose is a good thing. I don’t know if that bodes well for next week or not.

I usually play squash 3 times a week - tuesday and thursday mornings before work (too hot in the evenings and I like starting the day with a bit of a run now) and sunday mornings. Yesterday, my squash partner and I decided to try something a little different: racketball.

I’ve not played racketball since school, and all I remember from then was running for what felt like hours for a single rally. Good fun.

So, we started poorly - both of us only just able to hit the ball. And it took a while to get used to the bounce and the rackets. However, once we were comfortable, we had a great game. Our squash can be a little one-sided (my opponent hasn’t played much before and I played for years at school), but this was much more even and we both got a good run around.

My aching legs are telling me that it was well worth it. I think we’ll be doing this again.

Racketball is usually played on a squash court in the UK (I understand the American version is rather different), and lots of squash clubs allow racketball on their courts. Most decent ones will also have rackets for hire. It’s also a great way to improve your squash game.

Today may have been the first real test for me and my running partner since we started the Couch to 5k Running Plan. Not in a physical way - the run today was much less demanding (I thought) than the previous two - but in a mental way.

I’ve sorted my bed out. Don’t worry, this is relevant. I snore. [”Stop! You’re off on a tangent” I hear you cry.] A cure for snoring (and this works - my wife is a big fan of this method) is to raise the head of the bed 4 to 6 inches. Unfortunately, doing so made our bed start squeaking far more than usual. As a result, I don’t think my wife or I have had a decent night’s sleep in months. A few days ago, we removed the books raising the head of the bed. I snore again but when we both get to sleep now we’re sleeping properly, and I can’t express how much of a difference it makes - it’s phenomenal.

Anyway, back to the story. On running days, my alarm is set for 5:30am. That gives me enough time to find clothes and stagger round the flat blindly to find enough change for a cup of tea at the end of the run. Today, I woke up (of my own volition) at 5am, feeling awake. That hasn’t happened for a while. So I got up and began my morning stagger.

When I noticed the weather. It was raining. Bordering on torrential. I just stood there for a few minutes, to really take in the weather, before going off to make myself a cup of tea. Several thoughts were running through my head. Would my running partner have seen the weather and just gone back to bed? Should I just go back to bed? Is it actually humanly possible to run in the rain? Is it sensible to run in the rain?

6am, as it usually does, turned up at the expected time and I decided to go out anyway. If I ran alone, so be it. This was the third run - the end of the first week, and no magic water falling from the sky was going to stop me finishing the first week! My thinking is that there are several key accomplishments in any plan like this, and achieving each just spurs you on to the next - and makes failure all the less acceptable. The first accomplishment was going out for the first run. The second is finishing the first week. And so on. The next will be finishing week 2.

I arrived at my running partner’s place and she was up and ready to go. So we ran in the rain. And hail. And high wind. We ran on the road, which hurt (I’ve still not sorted out my shoes, so my knees and shins really suffer if I run on road rather than grass). And we finished our first week on a high.

One week down, eight to go. It will get tricky in week three - I’m moving to the other side of Hove so will have to run alone in the mornings. It’s going to be harder to get up and go when someone isn’t expecting me at a certain time. I’m hoping that having done two weeks of the plan by then the move won’t be a problem, but we’ll see.

Like a chump I played squash again yesterday, and then went for another run this morning. 2nd run in week 1 of the Couch to 5k Running Plan. I have learned two things thus far:

1. Run With Another Person.
   Running is dull and you’re more likely to actually do it if you have arranged to meet someone else at a specific time.
2. Buy Decent Shoes.
   Mine are at least 11 years old and well worn. As a result, my knees are suffering today.

Actually, the shoes thing is really important. The difference it made when I picked up my squash shoes (right - Asics Gel Tactic Indoor Trainers) was phenomenal. I expect the same kind of improvement when I eventually sort out some decent running shoes.

This morning’s run was easier than Monday’s, for certain. I’ve not turned into Roger Bannister just yet - still wheezing my way along at a nice leisurely pace over a nice short distance - but any improvement is a good thing, and I’ve been more than once (which in my opinion takes this from “something a tried” to “fully fledged hobby”.

Tomorrow is a nice day of rest (was supposed to be squash but opponent is unable to make it), and then the third run of the week is Friday morning. I’m actually looking forward to it.

After a month of procrastinating, and almost entirely as a result of starting this blog, I put on some shorts and trainers and ventured outside to complete the first run of the Couch to 5k Running Plan.

So before anything else, I must apologise to anyone from Brighton & Hove who had the misfortune to see me out and running last night. My legs do not often see the light of day. As it happened, however, the light of day yesterday at around 9 to 9:30pm was more of a wet, very windy darkness. Perfect time to start - few witnesses.

I am something of a geek. I like coding. I like building websites. I like tshirts with coding and website jokes on. I get most of xkcd. I have a map of the internet. I wasn’t always this way, however. Back when I was younger I played a lot of sport. Fives and squash, every day. I was fit and healthy.

And then I left school and discovered beer and the art of sitting in front of a computer and working. My active lifestyle quickly gave way to hours in darkened rooms, nights on the tiles and a diet of … well, mostly bacon, pie and pizza, if I recall correctly. Not overly healthy. Surprisingly enough, I gained weight.

Soon, I shall post a photo here - a “before”, if you will, to be joined at some point by an “after”.

I gained the weight slowly. Very slowly. So slowly as to be virtually undetectable. I didn’t weigh myself, and rarely exercised, so didn’t really notice my fitness packing its bags and leaving. And then one day, not too long ago now, I realised that I was unhealthy. I had even picked up a smoking habit along the way somewhere.

In October last year, I stopped smoking. Phew. No more inhaling poison many times a day in the vain hope of satisfying an addiction that I grew to despise. Incidentally, if you are a smoker and say you enjoy it, I say “bollocks”. You’re full of crap and you know it. And the sooner you admit to yourself that you hate it, and that it’s killing you, the sooner you’ll be rid of the damn things and the easier you’ll find stopping.

Back to the subject at hand … after a few months of being smoke free, I decided to take the next step towards improving my health and start doing some exercise. It started with a few games of squash - 3 a week to be precise. While a step up from my previous exercise regime - which was primarily based on Red Alert and World of Warcraft - it’s not had the desired effect. I’m enjoying playing, and will continue to do so.

I decided to see if I could bring myself to do some running again. I ran for a few weeks in 2006, and that was fine, until knee pain forced me to stop for a couple of weeks and, well, that was that. One thing I had seriously missed in 2006 was a plan of some sort, and aims or goals. It’s all well and good saying “I’m going to run three times a week for half an hour”, but without a specific plan for how you’re going to run and what you want to achieve, you’re - sorry, I’m - just not likely to keep it up very long.

Which seems like a good time to outline my goals. I have several. Short term, I am to run 5k within the next two months and start a routine of doing so three times a week. Longer term, I am to run a half-marathon, and maybe cycle the London to Brighton bike ride next year. I am currently 220lbs (same as 2 Paris Hiltons. No, not the hotel, you sarcastic bastard), and I’m aiming for 196lbs to begin with (and we’ll see where I go from there). That’s all for now.

I’d like to do all of this doing things I enjoy, or can at least sustain. In a perfect world I could achieve all of this while eating waffles drenched in maple syrup and watching Blackadder. This is no perfect world, however. So the current plan involves eating better (and not eating late, which is a serious issue at the moment - my wife works late some evenings so we eat very late), playing squash and running, all of which I believe is sustainable.

Which pretty much brings us up to when I stumbled upon the Couch to 5K plan. It’s also about the same time I decided to start a blog dedicated to health and fitness for geeks.

The Couch to 5K plan is designed to help someone like me - lazy and unfit - to a level where they can run 5k (about 3 miles in real money) three times a week, in the space of about 2 months. 3 runs a week, of increasing “difficulty” (for want of a better word).

The first, which I have the pleasure of repeating twice this week, is a relatively simple one. Five minutes brisk walk to warm up, followed by a run for 60 seconds, then walking for 90 seconds. You repeat this 60 seconds on, 90 seconds off routine for 20 minutes. And that’s it! “Even I can do that”, thought I.

And this morning I managed to finish the first run - a fact I am actually quite proud of, despite it being of a level that should be considered very very easy. It was harder than I anticipated - I had thought that the squash would have had more of an impact. Or perhaps it did, and I was just starting from a worse position than I originally thought.

My initial thoughts are that 2 more runs will be fine this week. So far, so good. It’s a relatively small jump to next week’s runs as well, which is very encouraging - same warmup, but 90 seconds on, 120 seconds off, for 20 minutes.

I’m interested in tracking my progress, so for the next couple of weeks will be trying out some tracking programs and sites. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please let me know.