Celebrating a Running Goal

So I've been running since the beginning of March or so. I think. And I have definitely come a long way. Couch to 5K is an amazing program, and I'm so glad that I stuck with it. Yesterday I had an amazing run, and I'm still kinda high off it so I'm gonna share. Cuz it's my blog, and I can share whatever I want.

So about 3 weeks ago I hit the Week 5 workouts. I did Day 1 (3 - 5 minute runs with 3 minute walks in between) and forced myself to run up this giant hill in the neighborhood next to us. TOUGH, and I almost died when I ran downwind from the gas station, but I did it, and I felt good. Weeks 1-4 had the same workout for all 3 days, so imagine my surprise when the program went to Week 5 Day 2 and the workout was different. 2 - 8 minute runs, with a 5 minute walk in between. Almost. Died. The weather had warmed up a bit, and I was STRUGGLING with the humidity. I definitely did not run for the whole running segments. Then we had Gidget's wedding, and I basically took 2 weeks off. Fail. I was also super intimidated by Week 5 Day 3 - go run for 20 minutes. Dude. I can't even run for 8 minutes, how am I supposed to run for 20?!?!

So last week, I picked things back up. I did the bike on monday since it was raining (10.5 miles in 45 minutes). I did yoga on Tuesday. I did the Week 5 Day 2 run on wednesday. I found that I did better on the longer runs than on the 3 - 5 minute run workout. Did that, felt pretty good, ran about 12 of the 16 minutes if I had to guess. Not too shabby, but nothing stellar. Thursday I did nothing because we drove up to NY for Mother's. Friday I got up and decided to run in the morning. It was nice and cool, so I took Tiger along for the first segment. I did the 2, 8 minute runs again and did a 1 mile loop around the neighborhood. I did the warm up and the workout, minus the cooldown, and went for 2 miles. I ran all the way up a big hill, and took a break for 90 seconds, and then finished out the run. I got back to my house and dropped Tiger off after 1 loop and the first run. I walked for 5 minutes, then did the same thing. I needed a break after the hill, but I forced myself to run it all the way to the top. I felt pretty good about things. I think the cooler weather was a huge help.

Yesterday, my sensor pouch for my Nike+ sensor, and my armband for my iPhone finally arrived. I was SO excited! I put the pouch on my shoe but I couldn't figure out if it would work along with my C25K application, so I didn't use the Nike+ software for the run. The armband was awesome though, it was great to just go run without having to hold anything. So I did 2 miles on the bike for a warmup, and then decided I would test myself and see where I was really at. So I did Week 5 Day 3 - a 20 minute run. And you know what? I ran for 17 out of the 20 minutes! 17!!! I was SHOCKED at myself!! I probably could have run almost 18.5 (I took a 90 second break after tackling a big hill - I hate the hills, but I know I have to do them so I force myself to make it to the top before breaking) but I was so EXCITED that I made it from our house to the end of the neighborhood nearby that I stopped to check my time. 8 straight minutes of running!! I ran for 5.5 minutes, then 8 minutes, then 3.5 minutes to finish it off. It felt SO GOOD!! I managed to pace myself really well and probably could have kept going for even longer! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to run a 5K next month, but now I know I TOTALLY can!! I really think the armband is what turned me around. It was a lot harder to see how long I had been going for, so I just kept going. I think knowing that it was "run until I tell you to stop running" helped too. Before, with the intervals, I would look at the time left, get frustrated, and walk. Whether I really needed to walk or not, I walked. Not so good. With the armband, I just went. SO COOL!! I think I even impressed Jordan a little bit. I came back and he asked how my workout was, and I was all excited and said it was awesome and that I ran 17 out of the 20 minutes. He did that eyebrow raise + head nod thing that to me, says "wow, I wasn't expecting to hear that". I'm gonna repeat the workout tomorrow, but use my Nike+ instead. I'm gonna set up a sweet workout playlist that the Nike+ software will play so I can still rock out while I run, and I'll run for time instead of distance. I'm contemplating just doing that from now on, and running for distances or times instead of going back to Couch to 5k. I think now, it might be holding me back. I can pretty much run for 2 miles straight, so I don't know that I need to run using the prompts anymore. We'll see. I might be getting a tad over zealous :P Either way, I like that the software has a few different basic options that you can choose from. Time, Distance, a calorie goal, or just an open ended workout. I'm pretty sure you can download specific workouts too, but I haven't looked into that a whole lot yet. At this point I'm just excited that I have it, lol!

Wow, I wrote a novel. I think I'll leave it at that for now. I probably won't work out tonight. I need to bake Jordan's mom's Mother's Day/Birthday present, and I have another hybrid layout that I want to finish (which I'm CRAZY excited about). Not to mention I need to clean up more of my desk since the shelving incident. Oy. Ok, til next time.

~Col