C25K - Week 5

You can find week one here, week two here, week three here, and week four here. The Couch to 5K program has really kicked into high gear this week and I'm very excited about some of the progress I've made. Last week was tough, but things are better now.

Running Day 1 - We ran for five minutes, walked for three, ran for five, walked for three, then ran for five. This was okay. I thought it would be impossible for me, but really it wasn't more running time than last week, just spread out a bit differently. Plus, it was like 6:30 in the morning and quite lovely out.

Next Day - My left leg was a little cantankerous. I blame it on the running, BB blames it on the fact that I sit on that leg when I'm on my computer. Whatever.

Running Day 2 - This day we had to run for eight minutes, walk for five, then run for another eight. I was scared! We were in exotic Bloomington, Illinois for the holiday weekend and I learned a few interesting tidbits. 1) It is A LOT hotter there than it is here. We ran at about 8:30 and it was already about a million degrees. 2) Everyone says hello to everyone else on the path. When you're running here, you're lucky if someone even looks at you, let alone speaks to you. It was nice and friendly and I couldn't say hello back because I was gasping for air like a maniac. BB's cousin, who is from Chicago and ran the Chicago Marathon last year (she's out of my league), also commented on the niceness of the locals on the running path. Clearly the midwestern big cities need to learn friendliness!! 3) Eight minutes is a long time.

Actually, this went a bit quicker than I had anticipated. It was nice not having to do rotation after rotation of something. The boy and I did enjoy the change of scenery, though, so maybe we will have to start changing up our running routes around here.

Next Day - Dude, at Biker Boy's family's family reunion, there is so much food. I can't even talk about how much I ate. All the running for the last five weeks has been negated by the food I ingested at this shinding.

Running Day 3 - Oh, man, it is cold in the mornings now. Okay, chilly. Delightful. I have goosebumps when we leave the house, but am quite comfortable once we get moving. Today we have to run for twenty minutes. Remember just a few short days ago when I was bitching about eight minutes?! This is a giant leap and it went really well.

BB had told me when we first started this program that the stopping and starting was really hard for him because he never found a running rhythm. Well, I scoffed at him because I had no idea what he was talking about. Every minute of running was torture and I was counting them down. But after the first three or four minutes of this run, I stopped thinking about the running (shoulders back, head up, breath in, breath out, stand up straight, breath in) and started just thinking. About other things.

I started thinking about how sad I was that I couldn't wear my rings. I started thinking about solutions to this problem (new rings? rhodium plating inside?). I started thinking about creative teaching tricks. I started thinking about how adorable that chocolate lab puppy was. Before I knew it, BB told me it was the halfway mark and we had to turn around. I was comfortable - not gasping, not hobbling along. I am certainly not going to win any awards for speed, but it was not bad.

I finished the run in the rhythm and it was good and successful and pleasant. We had originally hoped this program might improve our flexibility some and it hasn't really done that, so in the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to do yoga more frequently (what? once every other week doesn't count?) to work on that area of my physical fitness.

Next week more intervals at first building toward a twenty-five minute run. Wish me luck!