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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