Well, suffice to say, you learn lessons all the time on this thing. If you want something you have to work for it and hard work pays off are just two.
I will add that I am following a different plan to the NHS with ever so slight different targets. The NHS one is better , I just found this website after I started.
I lost my watch, so the only data I had was start and finish times. As others have said, if you 'just run', you often 'run' better. I consciously tried to run slower and it worked in the sense I wasn't staggering about at the end, and with all these pace monitoring gadgets I probably ran more consistently without them. However,in terms of distance, I ran way way too far of what I was supposed to.. The couch25K Gods will be displeased.
Anyway I did 4K without stopping in approximately the same time as last time, and it was a stroll in the park compared to run 2.
For me, Week 5 run 3 and Week 7 run 2 were the toughies in this course. I think big changes go on in week 5 to 6, and if you get through there and you will, week 7 is where it falls into place .