8 weeks to become a hero
You’re Runner 5, a vital member of one of the last outposts of humanity at Abel Township. Over the course of an eight week, 25 workout training programme, you’re trained to help collect supplies and protect the town from the encroaching zombie apocalypse.

Okay, so this isn’t a book, but it is a story! So I’m going to review it anyway. I’m a huge fan of the original Zombie, run! app, in fact, I helped fund it on kickstarter (best ten bucks I ever spent) so look for my name in the credits. I did couch to 5k about two years ago and had been running 30 minutes a couple times a week on a regular basis when….

student teaching happened.

Then my daughter was out of school for the summer.

And life.

And stuff.

So when I went running again, I knew I would pretty much be starting over, hence me buying this app. I wanted something new and motivating, using the same 5k app would have just made me sad. Plus I wanted more story! So I’m breaking this review down into three parts: The Story, The Workout, and The Tech.

The story: In terms of plot, it’s not as good as the main app. This is really more of a character development exercise than actual plot. There’s some intrigue. Someone is stealing supplies from your base and Sam is searching for his dead girlfriend’s lost sister, but mostly you’re meeting people and learning about them. Still worth it? Yes. Character development is fantastic. And if you’ve used the original app, heartbreaking when you realize who one of the characters is. The mini-plots get resolution and overall you’ll feel like a hero when you finish the training. This is a different experience than reading a book or even listening to the audio book because it requires more imagination. You’re runner five. Therefore your character doesn’t really develop and you have to picture the zombies chasing you. Not hard in a creepy park with zombie noises filling your ears. The only thing I wished they’d changed was that toward the final weeks they started going into story mode during the walking/stretching parts and doing nothing during the running parts. I got the app to distract me from the running bit not the nice breaks. But that won’t be an issue once you graduate to the main app.

The workout: I was really impressed with the set up. It was different from any other couch to 5k program I’d ever looked at before and way more effective than the last one I did. My time improved a ton. I’ve included the weekly summary at the bottom. The trick is to run the full time of the free form runs because they’re what gets longer, not the walk/run drills like in the traditional C25K program. I loved the built in stretch breaks and exercises. I think they helped a ton.

The tech: Mostly the tech worked great. Sometimes it would get stuck and I’d be in walk mode a minute or two longer so the run would get cut into by a minute or two when the audio caught up. Gosh darn. Glad it never happened the other way around though because I would have gotten angry. Sometimes the music didn’t start, but that was rare. Otherwise it worked perfect. Great program and would absolutely buy again

Week 1:
10 minute walk
1 minute walk/15 second run x 10
10 minute free form run

Week 2:
10 minute walk
30 second run, 5 heel lifts, 1.5 minute run x 5
10 minute free form run

Week 3:
5 minute walk
5 minute free form run
1 minute run, 1 minute walk, 20 knee lifts x 5
8 minute run
2 minute stretch break
8 minute free form run

Week 4
5 minute walk
5 minute run
10 knee lifts, 1 minute slow walk, 1 minute fast walk x 5
1 minute walk, 30 second run x 5
15 minute free form run

Week 5
5 minute walk
5 minute run
30 second walk, 1 minute run, 6 heel lifts x 8
10 minute free form run
5 minute stretch break
10 minute free form run

Week 6
10 minute walk
10 minute run
10 half squats, 30 seconds stretching x 3
5 minute fast walk, 7 minute free form run x 2
2 minute stretch break
7 minute free form run

Week 7

10 minute fast walk
5 minute free form run
1 minute running, 15 seconds skipping x 5
5 minute free form run
3 minutes stretch break, 5 minute run x 2

Week 8:

Day 1:
5 minute walk
5 minute run
4 minutes stretching
20 minute run
5 minute stretching
5 minute run
3 minutes stretching
5 minute run

Day 2:
5 minute walk
10 minute free form run
3 minute stretch
10 minute free form run, 5 minute walk x 2
5 minute run

Day 3:
5k