First 5K

Saturday Morning...The Boyfriend suggested the route that would take me 5K or 3.12 miles. I'm at the end of week 8 and it seems like a fine time to try.

3.12 miles
49 minues (walked 14minutes, ran a 30 & a 5 minute intervals)



Monday Morning....Labor Day. My right hip is bothering me slightly but otherwise I'm no worse for wear after doing the 5K on Saturday. I'll do it again.

3.12 miles
47 minutes (walked 10 minutes, ran a 32 & a 5 minute interval)


Mid way through Week 9

Ran on a treadmill at work for the first time. I am not a fan of the treadmill and all the clocks/timers/counters/pedometers flashing at me. Will run outside in the snow if I must to avoid the treadmill.
25 minutes for 1.8 miles. That's down...And it was flat and I kept the speed between 4.3-5 miles per hour. I feel somehow cheated.
Today lots of my leg and abdominal muscels are soar. The treadmill changes things, and maybe that's a good thing. My right hip is still off kilter though. Not sure if it's a joint pain or a muscel pain.

25 minutes

25 minutes
1.9 miles

Progress is slow.
Race is October 2nd

Week 7

First 25 minute jog

25 minutes
1.8 miles

More

OMFG!!! I just did 20 minutes straight of running! I can’t believe it.

At minute 13 my abs started to complain that this was highly irregular.

At minute 17 my lungs broke the silence and began to protest in the form of wheezing.

I ignored them and kept on running. I had Usher in my ears telling me to give him more so I obliged and keep my feet moving. I hit the 20 minute mark and am still in shock. I honestly didn’t think I could do it. Wow!

20 Minutes!

Guess who ran 20 minutes today? Yup, this moi!
OK and by run I mean jogged.
And by 20 minutes I mean an 8 minute interval followed by a 4 minute and then another 8 minute because that 4 minutes was supposed to be an 8 minute but I hyperventilated and had to stop. But I knew I could do it, I had just done one 8 minute interval so I tried again and Victory was mine! Week 5 is ovah!

And week 6 includes the task of running for a solid 20 minutes! I can't believe this. How about 10 minutes with a two minute rest followed by another 10?!?! I think the solid 20 minute interval will shock my body and help it get accustomed to running longer distances. Like the day trips on Everest to higher altitudes. At least that's what I'm hoping.

Runner's High?

Tomorrow is the start of week 5. Can you believe it? I thought week four was going to kill me. We jumped from jogging for 9 minutes total to jogging for 16 minutes. That’s nearly double!! Holy cow.

I did have a bit of a melt down on Monday, the first day of the week, and proclaimed this wasn’t possible about half way through. With his help I came around and finished with 15 minutes instead of the intended 16 of jogging. Not bad. Today is supposed to be an off day. A day of rest before launching into week 5.

But I felt like moving. I’d been knitting most of the morning and felt sedentary and a bit anxious. I made a quick playlist of upbeat songs, Jump by Madonna, Let it Rock by Kevin Little, Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Bobby Darrin. Then I laced up the sneakers and hit the bricks at 11am on Saturday. Can you believe this? What was I thinking? According to Weather.com it’s 74 degrees outside but there is a breeze and there is shade along the road. This wa my first time jogging without my coach. He’s out of town right now. So it’s up to me to hold up my end of this Couch-to-5K on my own. I strapped on his watch, shoved a key and my Ipod into the sports bra and had a great time. I think I’m starting to understand the runner’s high.

Hills are Hard

We are into week 3. My lungs and knees are angry. Have thrown out 3 pairs of worn out sneakers and a new pair of super lightweight sneaks are on their way. I do look forward to hitting the road most mornings. And we’ve taken to jogging around the neighborhood instead of just on the track. Unless I’m going down, Hills are hard!

Day 4 completed

Today we jumped up to six 90 second jogs. The Boyfriend is talking about taking me off the flat even track that runs around the soccer fields near our house. I am secretly not amused by this idea. However I did note that we went 1.75 miles this morning and I only had one jog where I thought my lungs would explode. Although maybe I couldn’t hear my lungs over the complaints coming from my calfs(sp?). Why oh why calfs are you attacking me? Is it the heels and the walking in Magical Vermont Yesterday? Perhaps.

The plan is to jog on Tuesday and Friday mornings this week.

1 week done, 8 weeks to go!

Day Three

Just finished day three. The first week is over. I’d like to say that breathing is getting easier but The Boyfriend and I both agree that it’ll take some weight loss to make that happen. So far I’m down a couple pounds this week. I’ll do an official weigh in on Sunday mornings to track my progress. I don’t understand why it takes my body so long to cool down. Tuesday morning it was more than hour before I could apply make up because I was sweating so profusely. Of course I did shower and blow dry my hair and run around getting ready for work. I may need to allow myself an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning just to sit and cool down before getting ready for work.

Couch to 5K Challenge begins!

First Day of The Boyfriend’s and my Couch to 5K challenge.

Breathing is the hardest part. And on the 9^th jog I got a bit light headed. It takes about 60 seconds after I stop jogging for my breath to come back. He’s such a trooper keeping track of the times and encouraging me. I think he’ll enjoy the job as a trainer. We just got back and now he’s headed back out for his own run. He’s been working on running with Five Finger shoes so it seemed like a good time to recruit him to help me run. Not that I’m thrilled to be running but this Couch to 5K seems like a nice progressive plan to follow to get me moving again. We’ll see how I do at 5:30 on Tuesday morning when I run again.