The long and short of it

I have discovered recently that I am not a fan of distance running…like at all.  The end of c25k was super hard for me to mentally push through.  I get bored.  My mind wanders all over the place.  Seriously there are a LOT of voices in my head when I run and none of them are very good cheerleaders.  Pretty negative whiners really (and they are fat and lazy).  After completing c25k, I first I decided to alternate my running days with distance (at least 20 min straight run) and pace (begin c25k program again, working on increasing my speed).  What I VERY QUICKLY found was that I do not like the long runs.at.all.  I much preferred doing w1 again (1 min jog/90 second walk alternating 8 times).  I was able to comfortably increase my pace.  When doing c25k the first time, my speed was pretty much 4.0 mph for any of the running portions.  I really was never able to kick it up any more than that, def never past 4.2 and for the longer runs, I had to go that slow to make it to the end.   Thus, my realization that I prefer the short rather than the long distances.

I was amazed at how much easier w1 was the second time around.  I felt like I breezed through it compared to the last time.  D1 I started at 4.5 mph and made it through all 8 at that pace, and kept alternating jogging/walking to finish out a 5k.  D2 and 3 I started getting a little braver.  I kept increasing my speed to see what I could handle.  Now it was a battle with myself to keep increasing my overall pace.  And I did.  I had some good days.  I REALLY liked the 1 minute of running.  I felt like it was doable.  I didn’t find myself obsessing about watching the timer and dreading the amount of time I had left.  Time seemed to pass quickly and I wasn’t getting bored, miserable, or having to fight with myself to continue.  I had an epiphany and realized that I may never be a traditional “runner”.  I may never like running an entire 5k (or other distance).  So what?  Do I really care that I am able to run an entire 5k or would I rather keep increasing my speed?  If I am being honest with myself, the speed (and feeling confident and strong) is a bigger deal to me than being able to say I dragged my butt through the whole thing (feeling tortured through it).  I don’t want to hate it.  So I decided to continue with what I enjoy instead of making myself miserable (and risk getting frustrated and wanting to quit) by trying to make myself fit into the mold of a “runner”. 

I decided that instead of moving on to w2 I would just continue with the w1 schedule and continue working on my pace.  That started out like a good plan, but I quickly got very worried about my progress this week.   I was starting out at 4.5 for the first run interval and then increasing it by 0.1 each interval until I was at 5.0 or as far I could push myself (think 5.2 was the farthest I made it).  What I found out quickly was that I am pushing myself on the increases too quickly.  I was doing really well the first half of the 5k.  My mile 1 spilt was about 14 min.  My mile 2 spilt has been about 13 min, but I am getting GASSED by the end of the second mile (or sooner).  My overall pace has been good, but I am starting to fight myself again. 

Then Wed afternoon I stated getting a tickle in my throat and I couldn’t seem to quit clearing my throat and coughing.  By the time I was ready for bed (early for me) I started having a chest cough.  I was really worried that it would get worse overnight and I would wake up Thurs full blown sick.  I took a NyQuill and went off to dreamland, crossing my fingers.  I truly expected that when the alarm went off at 5am that I would crawl out of bed to turn it off feeling like death on toast, skip the workout and go back to bed.  But I was pleasantly surprised that I really wasn’t feeling bad.  I had some congestion to get cleared out but the bad chest cough was gone.  I couldn’t justify skipping the workout so I got dressed and headed to the treadmill anyway.  I did choose the safe route and just did a walk instead of a run.  It was the first time I have just walked in a loooooong time.  But I was super proud of myself for not skipping the workout completely.  I was back to running this morning.  Although I have to say today’s session totally sucked!  I started out feeling very strong.  But I found that I def pushed too hard too quick again today.  

So decision made, I plan to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to still do the increases, but in a way I won’t kill myself doing a 5k.  And perhaps I need a more substantial food boost before my workout?  I will be looking into that too.  I’m not sure what that will look like yet, but I will sure keep you posted!

This pretty much sums it up (my husband says I could have just posted this and spared you from my ramblings)

Oh and as an added bonus, here are a few more songs I added to my running playlist:

• Fat Bottomed Girls (Glee version) - Queen
• Hey Soul Sister (Glee version) - Train
• Teenage Dream (Glee version) - Katy Perry
• Locked out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
• What doesn't kill you (Stronger) - Kelly Clarkson
• How bad do you want it - Tim McGraw
• Some Nights - Fun.

And just so you've been forewarned....I am on vacay till Jan 2 so prepare for a blogapalooza of posts as I try to get caught up!!  

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