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.

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? :)