Two Weeks Left
I can't believe I'm almost done with the C25K program. I probably say that a lot, but seriously I was one of those people who absolutely
HATED running. I tried a few times to get into it, but I really over did it and just tried to go out there and run and got frustrated when I couldn't make it for more than a few minutes without feeling like my lungs and heart were going to explode from my chest. Over the past two months I've learned to enjoy running and look forward to it on most days.
I have decided that once I'm done with C25K I am going to move on to another running plan. This one will be a One Hour Runner plan, where over the course of 10 weeks I will slowly increase my running time. So by the middle of January I should be running an hour, or 10k-ish (depending on my speed). Once I'm finished with that I think I'll start working on improving my speed. Then it'll be on to the swimming and biking (the latter I'm not overly concerned with, it's just that damn swimming that I am not looking forward to at all).
I've got some new toys to play with today on my run at the Y. See, the track at the Y is pretty small, which in some ways is nice, but it makes it rather difficult to keep track of how many times I go around. To reach 1 mile I have to go around the track 19.5 times, so when I'm doing nearly 3 miles that's a lot of counting. So I bought myself a
tally counter that I'm going to try to use to keep track. It came in the mail yesterday and it's small enough to fit in my hand comfotrably enough and it's pretty sturdy. There's no real chance that I would click it by accident. Hopefully it'll work well. I've also got some nifty new headphones that should fit me a lot better and not fall out like the lame ones that came with my ipod. I also bought a few books about running and have some new ways of breathing to try and some other tweaks to my form. I'm excited to get to the track today and try out all my new stuff.
Week 7 Already
I can't believe I'm less than a month away from finishing the C25K program. When I first started I couldn't imagine running for 10 minutes straight, now I'm running for 25 minutes with no breaks. This week is the start of no more intervals. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I'm impressed at how much I can push my body to do things. A lot of it is psychological really. I just have to think to myself that I can do it, and I do. There have been times where I've been running and I've wanted to stop, but I think to myself that I'm 'halfway through', or 'almost done' and it seems a lot more doable.
Today the weather is supposed to be very pleasant, something like mid 60's, so I'm planning on going to the track and running outside for the first time in weeks. I do love running inside on the track at the Y, but I also miss the fresh air and the scenery. From one side of the track I have a great view of the city. I contemplated going for a run down Alki, but the track is half a block away from the Y, so it makes more sense for me to just go there. After I finish my run I'm planning on hitting up the Y for about 30 minutes on the elliptical. I've been using the bike before/after my runs, but I'd like to give the elliptical a try. Hopefully the cardio room isn't too packed.
My First Race
I just signed up for the
Jingle Bell Run on December 9th. It will be my first 5k run, and it should be a lot of fun. My co-worker and I are going to do it together. We're not going to try to go too fast or anything, but it should be fun and good practice. There are others coming up that I might consider as well, like the St Patrick's Day Dash in March.
The only thing about the Jingle Bell Run is that it's the Sunday between two Decemberists shows (The Long & The Short of It) at the Moore that I have tickets to. So I'll have a rather late night and early morning before my run. But, I figured I'd do it anyway.
I'm excited! Now I've got something in the more immediate future to look forward to.
Week 5 = Done
I can't wait to go to the gym tonight. I think one of the best decisions I've made recently is to join the YMCA. Granted I've only been there three times since signing up, but they've totally been worth it. It's nice to have an indoor track to run on, and the cardio room is nice too. I'm going to have to explore more of their classes at some point, but for now I'm happy where I am.
Last week was week 5 of C25K. I can't believe I've been at it for over a month now. I am impressed with my progress. Saturday I ran for a full 20 minutes without any walking. I was kind of unsure whether I'd be able to or not as I remember running for 3 minutes a few weeks ago was rather difficult. I read a lot of the
coolrunning.com message boards in regards to Week 5 Day 3, and everyone said that it's more psychological than anything. So I took that with me as I headed to the gym Saturday morning. I decided that instead of listening to my podcast, I'd listen to my own music and go at my own pace. I made a pact with myself not to look at my watch until I felt I was at least halfway through my run. When I checked it I'd been running over 10 minutes! It felt good. I also made sure to pace myself. I can run pretty fast if I want to, but I didn't want to run out of energy halfway through and have to walk. I made a point to push myself during the last few minutes of my run, which made it even better.
I'm looking forward to my run tonight. It's back to intervals though. I actually think I prefer running for a longer period of time than doing intervals. It seems like when I slow down and walk for awhile I lose my momentum. I do understand that it's better to take it slow though. I don't want to do too much too soon and end up hurting myself. Today it's run 5 mins, walk 3 mins, run 8 mins, walk 3 mins, run 5 mins, shouldn't be too bad. I think before I'll do about 20 minutes on the bike or elliptical. Last week I did 20 minutes on the bike before running, except day 3 when I did the bike after my run, as I wanted to make sure I had enough energy to run the full 20 minutes.
Next on my list if to get a heart rate monitor or watch that I can clock my laps on. I was trying to do it in my head, but the laps at the gym are pretty small (19.5 = 1 mile) and I seriously lose track after awhile. Currently though I'm just running for time. Once I'm done with intervals I'll start running for distance. I'm hoping I can pull off at least 10 minute miles when the program is done. Maybe even a bit better by the Danskin, though I'm not overly concerned about racing, I still want to do well.
End of Week 4
Here I am at the end of week 4, I can't believe I'm almost halfway through!
Last weekend on my last day of week 3, I started using the Couch to 5K podcasts from
ullreys.com. I must say it's nice to be able to just listen to music and be told when to run or walk instead of trying to time it myself with a watch. I know there were times where I'd mess up when timing it on my own and I'd end up running too much or walking too little. With the podcasts I can just focus on what I'm doing and not worry too much about anything else.
Last Saturday I went for a run around my neighborhood. I've never actually spent much time walking around the area and it was interesting to see everything from a different perspective. I'm thinking that I'll probably do a run every Saturday morning. It was just so nice, quiet and relaxing. Even at 10am, there weren't many people out and about, or much traffic.
This week I made a point to finish my work on time on both Tuesday and Thursday and went for a run around SoDo. Tuesday's run was really good and the first time I ran for 5 minutes straight. I had plenty of energy and pushed myself and did well. Thursday I didn't do quite so well, though I ran when I was supposed to. I just didn't have much energy and I think I might have had some fruit a bit too close to my run because I kept getting side cramps. I felt like I could have done a lot better, but I am happy that I managed to finish my run.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow to my last day of Week 4 and my run around the neighborhood. I'm also planning on checking out my local YMCA this weekend, as they have a special going on right now where the joining fee is waived. They have everything that I'd want in a gym from an indoor track, to pool, to triathlon training groups. I think it would be helpful to have somewhere to run when the weather turns significantly colder and wetter.
