Can't get my head in the game

I had not jogged since the 5k last saturday. To be honest I have just been so bummed. I mean if I am going to start jogging then lets get going faster! That is all I can think! I just feel so slow and so defeated. I knew it would take me 45 minutes to jog/walk the 5k so I don't know why I am so disappointed but when I read the offical results and saw 47 minutes I thought, "Why didn't I just walk the whole damn thing!" I told Trev I wanted to just throw in the towel and start a walking program or something.

So, I have been making up a lot of excuses not to hit the road this week. Yesterday a cold front came in and it was so beautiful outside so when Trev got home from work I hit the road. I decided to do the 10 minute interval run from Week 6 before I began. However, I was dying during the warm up walk! What? My legs were screaming at me to stop during the WARM-UP walk! That my friends is pathetic. I hoped it would get better but then the running began. I ran for about 5 minutes and I just couldn't take it anymore and then ran/walked off and on before I was finally home. I would have quit sooner but I was too far from home! HA!

So, this is where I am right now. My head is totally out of the game! I need someone/something to kick me back in gear! For now...back to the couch I go.

First 5k survived

Angie and I before the race!

Well I survived my first 5k and that is about all that I can say. I thought I would feel more proud of myself but to be honest I feel a little disappointed. Not so much with my time but that I am pretty sure I could have pushed myself more. Of course that is easy to say that I have showered and am resting! Anyway, it took me around 45 mintues to finish. I wasn't last but I was well towards the back but a good way ahead of the walkers. I had my app going but forgot to look down at my time when I finished and then forgot to turn it off because I was running over peole to get to the water table. I also noticed that my Nike GPS app is not tracking my mileage quite correctly. I am figuring it is probably about a tenth of a mile off. Great I am running even slower than I thought! HA!

Angie and I at the beginning of the run. She has become quite a runner so I told her she better go on off and leave me or she was going to have to carry me! HA! Anyway, I started the app on my phone and was planning to run 10 walk 3 min. I forgot to fast forwarded through the warm-up so I ended up running 15 minutes in the beginning and then walked 3 and then ran 5 mintues and then had to walk again. So that was about 20 minutes of jogging which is about where I am in the program so at least I was able to do that. Bad news is that I wasn't even half way yet! Oh me oh my. After that I sort of jogged and walked off and on. There were a group of people in front of me sort of doing the same thing so I just tried to jog when they did and walk when they did. The thing I did not like about the course is that I knew exactly where we were going. I do not do well when I know where the beginning and end is. When I do my C25k training I wind through residental streets and never go the same way so that I am never thinking about the distance. Anyway, I walked much of the second of half of the race and I guess that is where I feel disappointed with myself. I think I could have dug down and ran an little more. My legs were screaming but it was no way near the pain of childbirth! :) Anyway, I surived and I am ready to get back on the road and start running longer and faster!

Me coming into the finish line. Trust me I was WAY MORE tired than this picture depicts! HA!

My first 5k - My plan

I have been reading a lot of blogs about people starting to run and a lot of them say their goal at their first 5k was to finish. Now I don't know if they mean finish while running or if they just mean finish but to me that seems like a silly goal. I could easily walk 3 miles so unless I am injured I am pretty sure I will finish. Anyway, my goal is to try in finish in under 45 minutes and to try and run for a total of 25-30 minutes. I am going to run the Couch to 5k week 6 day 2 program on my iphone. on that day it has you run 10 minutes, walk 3 minutes, and then walk 10 minutes and then I will just restart it after that. I know that it is not realistic for me to run the whole thing and I don't want to run so fast in the beginning that I wear myself out and end up walking the last half. so I sort of want to stretch out the running and walking over the entire course. Who wants to come strolling into the finish line? So my plan is to run in 10 minute increments and walk in between. If I find I want to run a little more than walk I can do that too. I know in my mind when I break up the jogging into smaller increments then I worry less about the big picture. So that is my plan. Wish me luck. I am hoping for a nice cool perfect weather morning! :)

Week 6 start

I forgot to blog about this day and to be honest it is a week later and I have sort of forgotten it. So, that tells me it must not have been that bad. HA! I don't remember having to stop in the runs or anything. It was the "easy" day of the week. :) Thats all I got! HA!

Week 6 day 3 - longest run yet!

Today was my longest distance run even though I kept about the same pace. I pretty much ran the entire 25 minutes without walking! Woo-hoo! I did stop briefly at about the 15 minute mark because I was going up hill but then I started jogging again and made it to the end. yipee! Go me! HA! The weather was also beautiful so that helped A LOT! First 5k on Saturday!

Week 6 day 2 not so bueno

Can you believe that yesterday it was over 100 again? WHATEVER WEATHER! I am so sick of you! HA! Anyway, I went up to use the treadmill in the morning and I just could not get myself going. Every time I would get going my whole body was screaming for me to stop. I also had a little stomach bug this past weekend so perhaps my body was not back where it should be. ANyway, after about 1 1/2 miles and 2 fussy kids. I gave up! Good news is I get to try again tomorrow and even better news is that the wather will be cooler starting tomorrow!

Week 5 - Day 3 my longest continuos run yet.

If you know anything about the C25k program you know that week 5 and week 6 are sort of a challenge. Up until now the program has been the same each day of the week. however, on week 5 and week 6 they are really building you up to run continuously without walking. Anyway, as most of you know I am now finishing up doing week 5 for the second time. I had such a bad day 2 last week though that I did it twice and skipped day 3. Anyway, on day 3 you are supposed to run continously for 20 minutes. Now the longest I have run so far has been for 8 minutes and I really thought I might die both times! HA! I didn't make it the whole 20 mintues but I think I did pretty good.

First it was a really nice evening. It was a little close to when I had finished dinner but wanted to go before it got dark. I did the 5 minute warm up walk and my legs felt really stiff and I thought I might be in trouble. I knew the lady was going to tell me how much longer I had at every 5 minute interval so I told myself I would be really happy if I could just make it to 10 mintues and then I would let myself walk. The first 5 minutes were rough but I knew that they always are. I got to the 10 minute mark and felt pretty good and decided to keep going! Then I turned the corner and needed to head up a small hill. I made it up the hill but once at the top I felt like my legs were about to just give out so I stopped and walked for a mintue or 2 and then ran the rest of the 20 minutes. So, I think that I made it about 12 mintues without stopping to walk. It is crazy that 7 weeks ago I thought I would die at a minute.

I am really enjoying running on the street now that the weather has cooled off a bit. I hope to enjoy more running on the street and less running on the treadmill. I am going to go ahead and move on to week 6 since it goes back and has you trying to develop longer continuous runs. To do week 5 again seems like I would be going backwards. So onward to WEEK 6!

Week 5 Day 2 - Take 3

This is the weather this week! Can you say BEAUTIFUL! It was 67 degress when I left this morning and it felt wonderful! It was so nice to have thinner air to breath. This was my 3rd time to do the 2 runs at 8 minutes each. I must say that the weather made things seem MUCH easier! I didn't feel like I was going to die. It wasn't necessarily easier but nicer. That is the one thing about being a little fluffy aka fat you have extra insulation. It really is only useful in the winter though. Not so much for summer or for exercising!
It was an awesome run that happend somewhere in the above picture. I don't know why but for some reason Nike Gps keeps telling me it has a weak GPS signal. Anyway, I was at least proud of my pace range. It is usually more from like 13 to 17 mph so glad to see that at least at some point I was moving at a 12 minute mile. I wish the GPS thing would work so I could see my route with pace because at times I feel like I might be walking faster than I can run espcially at the end of the runs.

THis was my total distance and pace. I was strolling the last couple of minutes on the way home but my pace was staying in the upper 13 mph range. Still not real fast but not horrible either. It was super windy. The first 8 minute run I had the wind behind me or was perpendicular to the wind. The second 8 minute run I turned about 1 minute in and started heading into the wind. So, I decided to take a diferent route and was running perpendicular to the wind closer to the houses instead of directly into it. It helped A LOT. Guess that was my way of cheating. Do you think they will let me alter the 5k course? HA! I think this weather is going to give me the extra boost to get further and refocused! Yipee!

Week 5 - Take 2

Today was tough but I made it through but did have to put my hand on the treadmill a few times. I am getting a little worried that the newness of the program is starting to wear off a bit. I have felt really tired this morning but still got my booty down to the gym so I guess I am still a little motivated but I can't say I am as excited about the program as I was when it first started. I think that is because I am to the hard part where I don't get to just run/walk its like I gotta almost run the whole time. Anyway, I felt a bit discouraged about my speed and stamina today too. I am thinking a good nights rest will probably put me in the right frame of mind. I must push through. I can do it, I can do it! :)