Week 8, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes)

I guess yesterday was really the first official day of Week 8 for me. Even though I ran on Sunday, it was the Week 4 workout, so I'm not counting it.

Sad thing is, Sunday was a much better day for me. Not only did I set my personal best running distance/time to date, but I just felt great running that day, despite the heat of the early morning.

I skipped out on Running Tuesday night...actually, we all did I think?? Everyone had plans, and Monday was actually my birthday, so we celebrated Tuesday night with family. I figured I wouldn't want to run much after grilling steaks that night! :)

But skipping out on Tuesday really hurt my run last night. It started out well at first. We were back at the track to see if that would help with my knees. My first two laps around the track were averaging about 2:30/lap, which is awesome! It was taking at least 3 minutes to run a lap a few weeks ago when we were at the track and I was able to do two laps in about 5:15.

After that though, it was all down hill.

My legs just were not cooperating with me. They were tight and cramping and just didn't feel like moving. I tried alternating walking and running for a bit, but with no motivation. I ended up walking the rest of the 24 minutes we were out there.

Next week is the final week of the Couch 2 5K training and I am nowhere near ready for the race...and not even close to getting that 3.1 miles in.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should run more often after next week?

I definitely think I need a 'doable' Sunday run each week...something like the Week 4 plan that was really easy to accomplish for me to get the week started off right and me feeling good about running again. I think I'm starting to get bored with it, and I don't want that to happen at all.

Me & My Buddy, Me & My Buddy, My Buddy & Me!

Sunday I should have started Week 8 (Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes)) but Linda was in town this weekend and since I got her hooked on this running thing, I figured it would be fun for us to be able to run together once!

Plus since Linda was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in high school, and she was valedictorian, I figured this would be something I might be able to do better then her for once....HA! :)

I actually thought this would be a pretty easy run for me, considering she was just starting Week 4:

Run 3 mins
Walk 90 sec
Run 5 mins
Walk 2 mins
Run 3 mins
Walk 90 sec
Run 5 mins

But then I remembered that when it came time for us (Mandy, Lisa & I) to run Week 4 we almost died...and decided to repeat Week 3.

Also factor in a BBQ the night before that might have involved a few drinks, and rolling out of bed before 8 a.m. to run...on the hottest morning in a long time, and it was pretty tough....

But we did it.

We ran back at the track and somehow I also managed to run my best time/distance so far. I'm not sure exactly how that happened...I assume it was probably due to the fact that I'm running at a faster pace now then back when I was running Week 4, but even with the short breaks in between, we ended up running 2.18 miles...my best before that was 2.08 miles.

That made it worth it!

Props to Linda too for a great run! Unlike me, she made it through the first day of Week 4 without dying or having to do a repeat of Week 3!

Week 7, Day 3

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).


Tonight we took it easy and decided to walk our 25 minutes instead of run. I was still feeling pretty 'blah' about running for some reason and didn't object to walking tonight at all. Plus, my knees are starting to get a little bit of a 'twinge' in them again. I'm probably going to have to start wearing the brace on them again to see if it helps, but I'm pretty sure alot of it has to do with the fact that we are running on the pavement again.

Maybe I can convince everyone to head back to the track for a few days to see if that helps.

Only 3 more weeks of training before 'the big race.' I've been really obsessed with watching the weather lately...dreading those hots days making a comeback. Today the temp is supposed to be around 95 degrees...with is normal July weather here, but it will actually be the first time this month it has gotten that warm and it's expected to cool down again tomorrow already.

We have been so spoiled! I'm not sure if this is going to me a very mild August as well, or if Mother Nature is going to make up for all the cool July days with super hot August ones. :( I just hope she waits until after the 15th to do that! The hot weather and humidity will make me think twice about running...I hate being hot! :(

This weekend Linda is in town so I told her she and I needed a morning to run together...but I don't think I'm going to talk her into running my Week 8 schedule! She should be starting Week 4, so I can handle that!

An easier run might get me motivated again!

Week 7, Day 2

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
Last night was 'BLAH'. I just wasn't 'feeling it', ya know?

I pushed to try and do that first mile in 10 minutes, and was close, but no cigar. At the 10:00 minute mark I was at 0.92 miles. And I would have gladly called it a night right then and there, but I had to somehow get back to the parking lot.

It was the farthest I have gotten so far on our original path around the lake. I have no idea where exactly I was, but there was a road you had to cross to get to the other side of the lake and it was the first time I had seen that, so that was a bonus.

The run back took me a bit longer. I walked 3 minutes before I picked back up and ran, but only for another 1 1/2 before I had to walk again. Like I said, I just wasn't feeling it.

I walked for maybe another minute and then slowly picked backup the running again..but didn't push it. After another 4 mintues I walked again for a few, then ran off and on until I got back to the beginning...

It was a cool night, so I didn't feel hot, but just more exhausted. I know I wasn't well hydrated for the run and my legs (not knees) and side seemed to cramp up alot last night. I think I may have started out running too fast again because the side cramps came on pretty fast. And I think I probably only have a few more days until the legs/knees start giving me trouble again. So far I've been lucky, but I have a feeling my luck is running out. Last night as I laid in bed I kept thinking about recovery socks and where I could get a pair pronto.

Week 7, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).

Last Nights run was Spooktacular...

As you know we are back to running around the lake and Mandy had the idea to 'shake things up' and run the opposite direction around the lake then we were used to going. Which was fine by all of us. We needed a change of scenery.

Little did I know that that route was much more 'wooded' and hilly, and when you're running at your own pace, you tend to pull away from 'the pack' so to speak and the next thing you know you're all alone...on a path...that is dark, and wooded, and you hear all kinds of noises (or you would if you didn't have your iPod blaring in your ear so that you COULDN'T hear all kinds of noises.) and wildlife could jump out and attack you at any minute. But they didn't..so that's a bonus.

So needless to say that fact that I felt completly isolated in the dark woods kept me running my little butt off.

Okay, so there was an occasional couple walking or kids riding their bikes, but still....it was spooky.

And definetly not the same as running on the wide open path across the lake where you could see eachother and keep track of where everyone is at all times...and can see the deer as they come bolting down the hill at you...and not have to worry about them jumping out of the trees and scare you have to death and peeing your pants. Which did not happen. But it could have been a real possibility because of all that water I chugged before running....

Anywhoo...The 'hills' were a killer for me. I was definetly feeling the pain, especially on the run back.

I had decided again to try and shoot for a 10 mintute run, then a small break, then another 10 minute run back. The first run went as planned. This time I didn't start my timer until after our 5 minute warm-up walk so that I'd have a better idea of how far I actually ran. At the 10 minute mark I ran .93 miles. Not good. I would love to get to around a 8 min mile...but not sure if that's going to happen. At this point I'd be happy with anything under 10 mintues.

At the 10 minutes mark I turned around and started on my way back. Walked for about 3 mintues and then picked up the running again, but it was much harder to keep the running up...those darn hills!!

It felt like I was running forever on the way back, but it had ended up being only about 4 1/2 mintues and I have to give myself another small break.

To be honest, at this point I didn't pay much attention to how much I ran/walked. I just wanted to get out of those woods and find everyone else. I started to have a small panic attack that I was lost, but then came across a walker that I had run past in the beginning, so I figured I was heading in the right direction and picked up the running again. By the time I got back up towards the parking lot, I spotted Mandy, who I hadn't seen since the first 7 1/2 minutes of running and felt much better, but was tired for sure.

I think I probably ended up running close to 8 or 9 minutes on the second run, but they were broken up by a few brisk walks, especially up hill.

I can't remember now what the Garmin said when I stopped running..either 24 or 26 minutes...so shorter then the previous run back at the lake, but since we were on a different 'path' I didn't have a good sence of the distance we had gone or anything to compare it to time wise.

Distance wise, I was sitting at 2.04 miles.

I guess thats decent...but still aways to go to that 3.1 mile goal.

We've also talked about heading over to 'the other lake' where our race is actually going to take place to see if we can figure out the path of that race and try and run it to see what we are up against. We have a feeling it's also going to be a pretty hilly path/race and would like to try and practice running it before the big day.

I'm hoping it's not too bad...and I'm still praying hard for nice weather for August 15th!! We've been pretty spoiled here! This Friday the high temp is forcasted to be 90 degrees and if it hits that, it will officially be the HOTTEST day we've seen in July yet. That is just crazy!!! Usually by this time, 90 would be considered a cool day!

This is one thing I am very thankful for right now. I know the cool weather has really helped keep me motivated and in 'shape' to run. And by that I mean, NO KNEE PAIN! Even with being back on the pavement. That has been great!!

So as a recap:

• Still working up to 3.1 miles
• This week the workout goal is 2.5 miles or 25 straight minutes of running each day this week
• We are back at 'the lake' with a goal to move to 'the other lake' maybe by the end of this week
• Tues. if we are back on the 'original' path we were doing at the lake, I'm going to try and push myself to get to 1 1/2 miles of running before stopping..not matter the time it takes.

Week 6, Day 2

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)


Again, I'm a day behind since I only ran Tuesday and Thursday nights this week. We decided to stick with the Day 2 plan as that seems more attainable with the break in between runs.

We also decided to switch it up a bit and move back to the lake and an earlier time since it is so cool out this week. It felt great running out there with a cool breeze!

I pretty much accomplished the workout for Day 2. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what we ran by the time on the Garmin...I know when I reached the parking lot and stopped the time it was 28:14. So I'm going to talk this out here and try and figure it out. :)

We got to talking during our 5 minutes warm up walk and lost track of time a bit, so we actually walked 6 minutes instead of 5...and so that threw me off. I'm so used to running until the timer says 15 minutes now that I'm trying to get to 10 minutes before breaking, and that's what I did..then realized after we stopped that we had only ran 9 minutes because we walked an extra minute in the beginning...(Timer read 15:00 when we stopped)

We had just passed the 1 mile marker around the lake when my timer was at about 14:45. Because of the walk at the beginning, my Garmin actually showed .95 miles at that point. Lisa went on and ran to the 1 1/4 mile marker, but Mandy and I turned around there to head back and ran the last 15 seconds or so until I stopped us early at 9 minutes.

I *thought* we walked an extra minute (4 total) after that first run, but I'm almost positive the timer read 18:00 when we started running again (3 minutes). I'm not sure. I know we ran another 7 minutes, had just rounded the Corner and could see the parking lot when Mandy asked me how many minutes we had run and I said 7. That would have put us at 25:00 minutes...I don't remember what the Garmin said at that point. We both stopped there for a quick breathe....I shuffled the songs on my iPod and decided with the 'finish line' in site, I was just going to go for it, so after about 30 seconds of walking I took off again.

That last stretch didn't seem like it would be that long since I could see my car, but It ended up being at least 3 more minutes..like I mentioned above, I stopped the Garmin when I got there and it said 28:14 and 2.08 miles.

Mandy and I talked about that time/distance a bit and it didn't really seem accurate...but I'm assuming it was....If you remember back to my post about the Bennington Days race, I finished that 2 mile run in a time of 28:25....so that is what is confusing me, because I had to walk a lot of that race because my knees hurt so bad...and I definitely felt like I ran A LOT more last night then I did in that race, but the time/distance are almost identical....and that seems off.

I guess if I think about it, with the warm up walk and the break walk that is 8 or 9 minutes total walking time...so only about 20 minutes of running...I still think I walked a lot more at the race, but I'm not going to dwell on it right now.

I just feel really good about being able to run at or very close to 10 minutes without stopping. :)

One thing about the Lake is that you really do not have a good sense of distance like at the track, where your just running in a circle and you know how far you have gone....there are markers at the lake that tell how many yards (?) you've gone and then mile markers, but come on...how many of us can actually judge how far 400 yards are? Anyone? Anyone?? Not I. So having the Garmin at the Lake with the timer/distance tracker is huge.

I was also surprised at how well my knees are doing. I didn't wear any of the braces on them last night, and they are great this morning. Haven't had to ice for the last 3 runs or so...I didn't feel like I needed to, but I probably should be doing it anyway just in case.

Trying to keep a steady pace was a bit harder for me as well at the lake...I felt like I was going too fast right off the bat and my sides were both cramping up pretty early on...but I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that there were some pretty decent inclines on the path we were running...and it probably didn't help that I had a bowl of fettuccine alfredo for dinner either...but I did eat a small portion...didn't want to be hurling that up while running. :)

I'm hoping that while it's cool this next week, we'll stick to the lake. That will get us used to running on the pavement again and pretty much the exact same conditions as we will be running the 5k in August in. I wish the weather would stay in the high 70's, low 80's until that race, but who am I kidding. We've literally been breaking record lows for temps here over the last few days, so I'm expecting to have god awful record high temps by the time the race gets here! But hopefully before that happens I'll have a decent running time down.

Next week I think my focus will be on watching my mile time and seeing if I can keep that consistant. I'm thinking that I'll have Lisa time our first 5 minute walk, and then I won't start my Garmin until we actually run...that way the time/distance is calculated by running and not the walks too.

After 6 Weeks of Running...

I've gained 3 pounds....

I'm not positive, but I think that that is a step in the wrong direction.

I am positive that if my husband was running, he would have lost 10 pounds in the first week...because that is how it works in my world.

Do NOT say it's muscle weight...It doesn't make me feel better. :)

Week 6, Day 1

But I ran Day 2's workout. Because I skipped Day 1's workout. Because I wanted to catch up to Lisa and Mandy. Understand? Good. :)

This is Day 1's Workout:

Brisk five-minute warm up walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

And this is what I actually ran...sorta. :)

Brisk five-minute warm up walk, then:
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)

It was hella hot last night. Probably the hottest, most humid night we've ever ran, or can remember running. It was still close to 90 degrees when we started at 9:00 p.m. And that sucked.

I was prepared to totally crap out fast since A - it was hot, and B - I skipped Sundays run so I hadn't ran since last Thursday...and I was feeling pretty lazy about that.

BUT, much to my surprise, option B above might have actually helped me this time around. I'll chalk it up to being well rested and no knee pain, but those first 10 minutes running seemed to go by pretty fast. I tried not to look at my watch too much, mostly because it was too dark out to see it, plus I had the iPod charged up this time so it didn't die on me after the first song. I think the music helped keep my mind off of the time.

The second 10 minute run was considerably harder and that had everything to do with the heat. After about 4 minutes I just felt like I could not control my breathing or catch my breath so I stopped right there. Had the weather been cooler, I think I might have been able to make it. But I'm not positive.

We're actually having a 'cold wave' this week. I don't' think it's even going to get up to 80 on Thursday, so that will be a bonus. Our plan (Mandy and I...Lisa is a running queen right now) is to try and just do the same run Thursday as we did last night. Break it up into two 10 minute runs with a small break in between instead of 25 straight minutes.

We figure we have the time to work up to the long runs. We have exactly 1 month from today until our race, and will be done with this program by then. It will give us another week or so to try and attempt the longer runs. Plus this week is the last week of any type of runs with breaks in them. Week 7 - 9 has you running the same work out each day, 25, 28 & 30 minute runs for the last three weeks.

At this point, that will be a challenge. But one I'm looking forward too

Week 5, Day 3

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.

I'm not even gonna lie...I was no where close to being able to do this yet and decided well before last Thursday that I would do what I could and go from there.

My knees had started bothering me again last Tuesday night, so I switched up what knee I wore the brace on to see if that helped and it did a bit, but I still could have used one on each knee.

I think I probably ran only a total of 13 minutes altogether. One 5 minute run, followed by a walk and then another short run/walk a few more times. After the first run/walk, I would try and run half a lap or a bit more, walk the other half, run the next half, etc. Repeated that until we hit the 20 minute mark. So I really didn't keep good track of it and the three of us were pretty much doing our own thing/running our own pace so we were not together at all and for me that was really 'unmotivating'.

I run much better and stay on task much better when I have people next to me that I'm trying to keep up with...when they aren't there I know I give in to stopping too easily and get too lazy about running. :) I need that motivation!!

Last night the girls started Week 6 while I was out having a nice steak dinner with the husband for our anniversary...I thought about joining them once dinner was done but didn't want to chance throwing up my nice dinner by running. :)

This week the weather is supposed to stay in the mid-80's everyday and next week as well! I'm looking forward to that! That should guarentee us some nice, cool evenings to run and I need that to make it to the end. It's usually pushing 100 degrees by now, so this is a bonus!

I may try to run Day 1 on my own tonight, otherwise I'll either skip it and go straight to Day 2 on Tuesday or run Day 1 on Tuesday...I don't know..haven't decided yet. We'll see what happens...

Week 5, Day 2

The Workout:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)


Eight Is Enough.

Last night was a hard one. Those first eight minutes seemed to drag on and on and on, and the five minute walks flew by.

I wouldn't say last night was a complete failure, but I didn't make it through the second eight minute run. After five minutes It was hard to keep up the pace and my knees were starting to complain, so I decided not to push it.

I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to run for a straight 20 minutes on Thursday night.

That will be a challenge....

We did decide to start a bit later last night, which helped with the heat. It was quite cool by 9:00 p.m., but it was really windy! I think that might of contributed to me pooping out at the end. It was hard to run against the wind, even if it was only for 1/2 a lap each time. It's much better having that wind at your back.

I'm hoping for another cool night Tomorrow and that the knees hold up and how many of those 20 minutes I can stick it out for.

Inspired

So apparently someone has been "inspired" by my running....

Okay, so maybe she doesn't count because she is my best friend and I'm sure she probably thought "Hell, if she can run, then I can run!" but she did actually use the word INSPIRED..so It counts damn it! So it counts, okay? :)

And since Linda has decided to run and blog about it, I've decided that I'm going to hold her accountable to that..and even told her I was going to make sure I had a link on this blog to her blog and that I was going to make sure that all my thousand of readers....um, hundreds of readers..., that all 5 of my readers new about her new adventure so that they could also hold her to it!

Good Luck Linda! And remember, I'm WATCHING YOU AND YOUR LITTLE DOG TOO!! :)

Week 5, Day 1

This week we start to mix it up a bit and every day will be a challenge:

Today's 'Workout':

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

It was hot this morning...not as hot as I'm sure it will be at night this week for Day 2 & 3's workout, but we were pretty spoiled this last week with the temps around a cool 70 degrees all week.

Not sure of the exact temp, but at 9 a.m. with the bright sun beating down on you, and stupid me wearing black, it felt like at least 90 degrees.

I was a bit nervous about the jump up to full 5 minute runs today, but I hung in there, gave it my best and was able to complete the entire workout..but it was hard...hot...and exhausting!

Paying more attention to my running pace and breathing, and less attention to how much time it's been since I started running, has really helped.

We aren't quite hitting the distance that the workout states we should be at (at 5 minutes we should have gone 1/2 mile, or two laps around the track and we are just getting over 1 1/2 laps), but we are hitting 1 full lap (1/4 mile) at 3 minutes so I try and hold off looking at the time until I've made that first full lap..then it feels like I'm at least half way there...at least for today. :)

I feel like the last few runs have gotten easier for me, even with the times getting longer, but I'm trying not to give myself a false sense of confidence. Especially when each day the times get longer, instead of each week. I don't have three days to build up to the next jump in time.

And with the temps climbing back up this week, it's going to prove challenging for me. I am NOT a fan of hot weather at all.

Plus I'm still worried about the knees. They are still giving me some grief, but not nearly the amount they were for the past two weeks. I'm chalking that up to the cooler weather, so we'll have to see what happens now that the heat is back on. But in the back of my head I'm very aware that at any minute they can decide to poop out on me again.

So for today, I'm very happy with my run. On Tuesday we are jumping up to 8 minute runs and I'm going to have to give myself a little pep talk to remind me that I can do this! What's 3 more minutes when you've already done 5? :)

Week 4, Day 3

So I'm not sure what the heck happened between Tuesday Night and Last Night, but we ran day 3 of this week last night and.....

I DID IT!!!!!


I did it, I did it, I did it, I did It!!!!! :)

I can not believe that I actually ran the entire 'workout' start to finish...every run for the correct amount of time...no cramping, no stopping, no falling behind, no having to walk when I should have been running. I ran THE ENTIRE THING!

I'm so pumped!!!

But still have no clue why I had no problem with it last night.

I did pay a lot more attention to the speed/pace I was going and also a lot more attention to my breathing...especially when I started to feel like my side was going to cramp up. Plus, having the Garmin on my wrist has really helped...it makes me want to watch the time a lot more, which probably isn't good, but last night It really helped me encourage myself to keep going...only 1 minute left...only 30 seconds left...and when the 5 minute run came along and I made it past the 3 minute mark, I was really telling myself:

'you're gonna do this...you made it to 3 minutes..only 2 left...keep going...you're really doing this!"

I think I tend to start out wanting to run too fast and then my legs/knees give out on me..so I started slower and kept the pace.

When I started to feel the pain in my side, I made sure to take longer, slower breathes until it went away, but kept the running at the same pace.

My right knee had a bit of a twinge to it, but I had the brace on that knee last night and it held up. Not too sore last night, but I did ice both knees when I got home (since I've been doing that anyway each night) and this morning they are pretty good. Right one is a bit stiff, but not too much pain.

Overall, it was a really good run! We all had a great night, and I think it's safe to say that this was probably my best night yet!

Next week will be the true test though.

I'm hoping for a repeat of last night on Sunday since the first day of week 5 has us doing the same run/times we did this week (except in the opposite order). Okay, so I read that wrong...it's run 5, WALK 3...then repeat...I got all excited about it being the same for nothing! :)

Week 5 also has you doing something different every night...instead of the same run each day for the week, there is a different goal for each day...and by the end of the week our expected goal is to be able to run 20 minutes straight..no walking in between...and this pattern continues for the remainder of the 9 week program.

If I continue to have days like last night, I think I should do pretty well for the rest of the program...but I am nervous about those 20 and 30 minute runs...I know everything we've been doing has been working up to that...but it's a pretty big jump to go from 5 minutes to 8 minutes to 20 minutes all in the same week!

I'm anxious to see how it goes. :)

Week 4, Day 2

This Post pretty much sums up my run last night...minus the hot weather and the trip to Target afterwards.

Ran on the track again last night and I still perfer that over the hard cement, but it didn't seem to matter last night.

Part of the problem I'm sure is that I also went out Monday night and tried to run a bit. Hoping for a repeat of the great run I had on Sunday, but that didn't happen. I pretty much had the same luck on Monday as I did last night...pain.

So I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised that running sucked last night.

My best days of running seem to be when I have at least 2 days inbetween runs. I'm starting to think that maybe I should just cut back to Sunday's and Thursday's only for awhile and see if that helps. Skip the Tuesday night run so get a few extra days rest in for the knees.

At the rate I'm going I'm never going to make it through a 5K...maybe not even TO a 5K. :(

Props to Lisa (who made a come back last night) and Mandy who were both able to complete the entire plan last night!

You Go Girl(s)!