C25K - Week Four

You can see my reflections for Week One, Week Two, and Week Three if you follow these links. Biker Boy and I are doing this Couch to 5K program together and completed our fourth week this past weekend.

Week four really kicks things into a higher gear. The program calls for running for three minutes, walking for ninety seconds, running for five minutes, then walking for two and a half minutes and doing this twice. This kicked my ass.

Running Day 1 - Biker Boy has control of the watch. I tried to be the timekeeper the first week and messed it up so...technological things like "watches" go to the masculine half of this duo. For the first twenty-two years of my life, I never had a working television set. I say it was because I just didn't have time to watch those waste of time shows, but the truth is that I could never figure out how to set one up. But, back to the story. For the first time since we began this running business, I am dying to know how much longer. Oh, dear lord, just tell me how much longer. Plus, I am literally dying. Okay, perhaps not literally, but by the end of that first five minute jog, I am barely lifting my feet off the ground and my breath is coming in ragged sobs. If I had passed me on the path, I would have assumed I had just heard that my favorite uncle had just died and I was consumed by grief.

On the upside, oh, wait, there is no upside here.

Next Day - Hi! Did I have a problem yesterday? Oh, everything's fine now!

Running Day 2 - Things are better now. I am running. I still am a teeny weeny (okay, a lot) bit jealous of the boy for knowing the time, but I just do it, as Nike would advise me. This is challenging, mostly to my lungs. We're also doing this at 6:30 am because both of us have to work at like a normal time in the morning and that's 1) unusual and 2) good because it is LOVELY outside at this time of the morning. No wonder there are so many people walking their awesome dogs. Oh, and running past us. It's a bit embarrassing that this woman who appears to be in her eighties runs by us as if we are standing still.

I haven't had a problem with a stitch in my side since week 1, but towards the end of our second rotation of running for three minutes, I have developed this pain in my side. After week one, I have not once complained about running within my wonderful husband's hearing, for fear of the rebuke that will come from him, but I do pipe up on our ninety second walk, "ummm..." (so quietly) "....I have this stitch..." "Yep. That'll happen." Uh huh.

Next day: All is fantastic here. Why don't we run every single day?

Running Day 3 - Okay, I'm going to be honest. I still feel a bit like I did at the beginning of the week. I must be getting stronger, but I certainly don't feel stronger. The stitch in my side came early and stayed, my right knee protested for much of the running, and I didn't feel good at all. This could be because 1) fall allergies seem to be arriving and I can barely breathe through my nose when I'm not running and 2) I have been riding my bike a lot lately and the seat post may have slipped when I was attempting to fix something else and even though we've tried getting the seat post back to its original, super duper, doesn't hurt NGS's knees level, we're having trouble doing so. Teaches me to try and adjust something on my own bike. I should leave that to the expert in the house.

We're going to attempt week five next week, but if it seems too much, we may be revisiting week four again. Hopefully not, because I like the weekly progression, but I also don't want to detest running and/or hurt myself. On to week five! And blessedly chilly mornings!