5k Run #2: 40:56

I don't typically run when I get home because 1) it is usually too hot and 2) I don't want to run after biking 2 miles (~ 14 minutes). However, it rained today and when I got home it was nice and overcast. The clouds looked like they were moving in the opposite direction, so I set out to run. I do not know why, but I could not get my stride today. I struggled through the whole thing. It seemed that the faster I ran, the farther the finish got. It was nice and cool, so it was not the heat. Maybe it was the wind, or that I was running a tad faster, or maybe I was more tired from the bike ride than I thought. I also don't think I am used to my new shoes yet.

Anyway, I ran 3.1 miles again, so now I know I can do this and the first time was not a fluke =P Here are my split times from today compared to Monday.

mile	6/8	6/10
1	14:39	14:08
2	13:51	13:22
3	12:54	12:22
.1	1:00	1:04
Total	42:24	40:56
Avg Pace	12:52	12:38

As you can see, even though it did not feel like it as I was running, I did it faster too: almost 1 1/2 minutes faster. If I can just shave off one more minute, I can run a sub-40 5k! I think I can do that :) Though I need to remember that it will be a lot hotter on Saturday, so I shouldn't be disappointed if I it takes me longer.

When I started walking, I felt a slight twinge on my right knee; it was nothing major but I was conscious of it. I think I was overcompensating for this the whole time so I would not get hurt and my stride suffered (it did not really hurt when I was running but I think I was being overly cautious so it wouldn't). This knee (on top and just below the knee actually) tends to act up from time to time, so I think is overuse. As much as I want to, I don't think I'm going to run again until Saturday because I do not want to risk injury and not be able to run Sat. I would be so mad if that happened. I think I will stick to my biking and just go for an easy walk on Thursday. Maybe do a bit of strength training on the knee. What are good exercises for that? Squats and lunges, right?

I did it! Couch to 5k in 65 days!

Armed with my new running shoes and socks, I set out to run 3.1 miles tonight and I did it!!

I ran 3.1 miles!!
Hell yeah!!

I ran it in 42:24, and I felt good during and after the run too. The last mile was hard because I was tired and I wanted it to end, but it was totally doable. I probably could have kept going if I had to, but I am glad I didn't have to :) I started slow, so I had plenty left for the last mile, and I kicked it into high gear for the finish.

Split times:
mile 1 = 14:39
mile 2 = 13:51
mile 3 = 12:54
.1 = 1:00
Total: 3.1 miles in 42:24 minutes, avg pace: 12:52
With the warm up and cool down walk, I covered a total of 4.14 miles

It feels so good to know I can do this, so that is one less thing to worry about for Saturday's 5K. I want to try to finish the race in under 40 minutes. I know that is almost 2.5 minutes faster than today's run, but I took it slow today. I wanted to focus on going the distance so I would know I had it in me before I pushed myself , but I know I can do it a little faster. I plan to run on Tuesday and try to push myself a little to see if I can do it faster. I may run Thursday, but since it is so close to the 5K I want to take it easy and reserve my energy for Saturday.

For those of you who like numbers: it took me 65 days from the first run to reach 3.1 miles. Because I ran every other day (instead of 3 specific days a week), I ran 4 days some weeks. That means it only took me 9 weeks and 2 days to complete C25K.

2.85 Miles! (W10D3 - W8D1 revisited)

Last night I convinced myself I would have to take today off from running because my body needed a rest, so when I woke up at 6 a.m. I just went back to sleep. When I finally got up, I realized I felt great and my legs didn't even hurt. Damn it! I could have ran, but now it was too late, so I got ready and rode my bike to work.

After a light dinner of fish and sweet potato, I anxiously killed time and finally went out to run around 7:30 p.m. It was still a little warm but I was itching to get out there. The run went pretty good. This is still not a walk in the park, but I always feel amazing when I finish and realize what I've just done. I ran 2.85 miles today. Let me say that again.

I RAN 2.85 MILES!!

Who the hell is this person? I don't recognize myself any more. Every time I finish a run lately, while I am walking that 1/2 mile to cool down, I am in awe of myself and how far I've come in just 10 weeks. I have no doubt that by next Saturday I will be more than ready to run that entire 5K.

Splits (pace):
mile 1 = 14:29
mile 2 = 14:08
finish (.85) = 13:17
Total: 2.85 miles in 39:53 minutes, avg pace: 13:58
With the warm up and cool down walk, I covered a total of 3.76 miles

Yeah, I know I could have pushed myself and just done the 3, but I was pushing myself from 2.5 and since I had only set my watch for 3 miles I realized that if I did 3 it would bother me that I didn't just go the extra .1 (if I hit 3 and kept going I wouldn't have accurate data--yes I am that OCD =P) Anyway, I exceeded my goal for today, and I still have 2-3 more runs where I'll hit that 5k mark before the race so I am thrilled with 2.85 miles today.

W10D2 (W7D2 revisited)

It seems every good run must be followed by a challenging one. I didn't want to get up this morning. When I woke up, my calves hurt, and I wasn't sure I should run. I decided to get up, do a bit of yoga and see how I felt. I am usually sore just laying in bed, but I am fine once I start moving around. I felt good after the warm up/stretch, so I headed out. I walked a full 1/2 mile at a very brisk pace for the warm up then begin to run. About 2/3 into the first mile, my iPod died. I always wanted to try running without music, so I guess I got my wish. It wasn't so bad except that all I had to focus on was how far I had left to run.

My splits:
Mile 1 - 14:08
Mile 2 - 13:48
Finish (.5) - 13:15
Total: 2.5 miles in 34:34 minutes, avg pace: 13:83
With the warm up and cool down walk, I covered a total of 3.51 miles

My pace overall was slower than Monday, but I am ok with that. I do not need to push myself every time I run and it was warmer since I started after 7 a.m. I think I like running at night better (at least I seem to do better), or maybe is just that I need to actually get out there at 6 a.m. :) One of the reasons I decided to go for the run this morning, instead of trying to fit it in tonight, was because the race will be at 7:30 a.m. and I need to get my body used to running when is warmer.

I will definitely start slower at the 5K race so I have enough steam for the end. I want to run the whole thing and finish strong. It's only .6 miles more than I have done so far, so I think I can do it if I pace myself well. I'll run at least 2.75 miles before then so it will only be at most .26 miles longer than my longest run. As if you did not see it coming, I've yet again changed my mind about my running schedule. I think revisiting weeks 7-9 has worked well so far, so I think I will continue with that through next week and start the new schedule 1-2 weeks after the race once I've officially graduated from C25K. I don't want to push myself too much before the race and I want to give my body a rest after. So here is my current plan until the race and the following week or so:

Day	Date	Plan	Notes
Fri	6/6	W7D3 - 2.5 miles	if I feel good, I'll run a tad extra to get closer to 2.75, maybe 2.65
Sat	6/7	rest / cross	probably a bike ride and some yoga
Sun	6/8	W8D1 - 2.75 miles
Mon	6/9	rest / cross	bike to work and maybe some yoga or strength training
Tue	6/10	W8D2 - 2.75 miles	if I feel good, I'll run a tad extra to get closer to 3, maybe 2.85
Wed	6/11	rest / cross	bike to work and maybe some yoga or strength training
Thu	6/12	W8D2 - 2.75 miles	if I feel good, I'll run a tad extra to get closer to 3, but I don't want to push it too much so close to the race. At the same time, I'd love to actually run 5K prior to the race
Fri	6/13	rest / yoga	nothing extraneous on this day, including biking to work. I may go for a short walk, eat a nice pasta dinner, do some yoga before bed, and go to bed early
Sat	6/14	5K Race	(will also count as W9D1)
Sun	6/15	YOGA!	A true day of rest with lots of yoga, stretching and taking it easy. I'll probably be going to my parents for Father's Day anyway.
Mon	6/16	rest / cross	bike to work and maybe some yoga or strength training
Tue	6/17	W9D2 - 3 miles
Wed	6/18	rest / cross	bike to work and maybe some yoga or strength training
Thu	6/19	W9D3 - 3 miles	C25K GRADUATION!!
Fri	6/20	rest / cross	Hiking / geocaching while camping?
Sat	6/21	rest / cross	Hiking / geocaching while camping?
Sun	6/22	Start new running schedule	with 3 mile long run

2.5 Miles! Hell Yeah! (W10D1 - W7D1 revisited)

I just had my first 2.5 mile run and it was my best run yet! I kept a great pace and it felt amazing! I was pushing myself to go a little faster at each mile, but it did not feel like it. I finished strong and I even kept jogging at a slow pace a tad bit more to ease into the cool down walk because coming to a dead stop to walk from running at 12:25 is never a good thing. I think I finally learned to pace myself and how to set the watch properly to help me. I basically set up a workout with different pace zones for each lap so that I don't run too fast or too slow. It worked out great!

My splits:

Mile 1 - 13:29
Mile 2 - 13:08
Finish (.5) - 12:25
Total: 2.5 miles in 32:49 minutes, avg pace: 13:08
With the warm up and cool down walk, I covered a total of 3.32 miles

Now that I finished C25K by time, I was going to redo weeks 7-9 for distance but I may be altering that a bit because I want to start running 5 days a week. Here is the schedule I came up with, which is bound to change a ton of times before or after I start it =P

[SUN] long run: 2.75 - 3 mi
[MON] rest / yoga
[TUE] easy run: 1.5 mi
[WED] intervals at faster pace: 3 x .25 mi run / .25 mi walk
[THU] easy run: 1.5 mi
[FRI] rest / CT (walk / yoga)
[SAT] easy run: 1.5 mi

Each run would include an additional mile or so for the warm up and cool down at a brisk walk or very slow jog. The plan is to increase the long run distance by 1/2 mile every other week, then do the same for the other runs on alternating weeks.

I think I will finish this week running 2.5 miles every other day, then start this schedule on Sunday and see how close to 3 miles I can get. I'll shoot for 2.75 on Sunday and see how I feel after that and if I have that extra 1/4 mile in me. I think if I start slow and pace myself well like I did today, I can do it! I can't wait!

***

Now let's back up a bit, because the day did not start as great as it ended, which is why this is an even bigger win!

I wasn't feeling well last night or this morning when I woke up, so I did not get up early to run. I took a sick day. Around 10ish, I was feeling better so I decided to try to run. BIG mistake. It was supposed to rain today, so I figured it might not be so bad. It did not feel that hot when I left. I even wore my running skirt and just a sports bra to stay cool. After the 5 minute warm up walk, I ran about 1.25 miles before the heat got to me and then just walked a 1/2 mile home. I was drenched when I got done. I figured I'd run the difference tonight after dinner and then try again for the 2.5 miles on Wednesday.

As I was finishing dinner, it started to rain and the power went out. Things did not look good for running again tonight. The rain stopped around 8 p.m. and Jason agreed to come running with me. He urged me to try the 2.5 miles again and I warned him that meant I had to start really slow. He kept walking for a bit longer after I started running but eventually caught up with me and past me. I kept my pace and finally caught up with him at the end. He went home as I finished the last 3/4 mile and my cool down. I am SOOOOO glad I went out again and tried for the whole distance. Man this feels so GOOD!

W9D3

Well, I'm technically done and have my C25K GED =P Now I plan to redo weeks 7-9 for distance and get my diploma :)

Sadly, today's run was not the strong finish I hoped for, but I think I pushed myself this week and my body is letting me know it. I was so tired that it took every ounce of strength and determination I had to even make it to the 30 minute mark. I only covered 2.2 miles, but I did it! And that is all that matters. I think I may take the weekend off entirely to give my body a much needed rest, do some yoga, and resume running on Monday. We'll see how I feel Sunday. Here are my splits for today, compared to the rest of the week.

	5/30	5/28	5/26
Distance	2.2	2.26	2.31
Time	30:01	31:01	30:28
Avg Pace	13:39	13:43	13:09
Mile 1 Pace	13:52	14:16	12:44
Mile 2 Pace	13:26	13:28	13:41
Pace to Finish	13:40	12:36	12:49

W9D2

Today's run was great! I was up by 6 a.m. and out the door shortly after 6:30 a.m. Surprisingly, I was not sore yesterday from Monday's run; so that pace was not too far off. I ran alone this morning (Jason doesn't get up this early), so I started off a bit slower, but I wanted to push myself a little bit to see what I could do on my own--but not too much.

I ran 2.26 miles in 31 minutes at an average pace of 13:43. Below are my splits from today compared to the ones from Monday.

	5/28	5/26
Distance	2.26	2.31
Time	31:01	30:28
Avg Pace	13:43	13:09
Mile 1 Pace	14:16	12:44
Mile 2 Pace	13:28	13:41
Pace to Finish (.26/.31)	12:36	12:49

I like this much better than Monday's where I started so fast that I finished the first mile in 12:44 but that made the entire run more difficult. This pace, with a slow start and the gradual constant increase, worked much better and my pace was not affected that much. I also ran stitch free!! Except for having to wake up so damn early, I really enjoy morning runs much better.

I only have 1 more run on Friday before graduation! But, as someone else's put it in their blog, that is for the GED version =P I can run 30 minutes straight as the program prescribes, but not 3 miles (though I haven't tried but I am not going to push myself that much that fast). I plan to continue increasing the distance by 1/4 mile each week until my next 5k on 6/14 where I plan to run the entire thing. That will be my graduation ceremony :)

C25K Resources

The Couch to 5K Running program is amazing and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to be a runner but thinks they can't because of [insert reason here]. The clever design of this program gradually eases you into running, starting with 60sec/90sec run/walk intervals in week 1, until you can finally run for 30 minutes straight in week 9. It will change the way you think of yourself in terms of fitness and is a great confidence booster. Since I am constantly referring others to this program, I thought I would repost these links in their own post to make it easier for new visitors to find.

• C25K Running Plan - This sites describes the program and what to do each of the 9 weeks.
• C25K Checklist - This site is just the chart of the 9 week program with checkboxes to track your progress. It uses a browser cookie so it remembers what you checked from one visit to the next.
• C25K Podcasts by Ullrey - One of my biggest worries was how I was going to keep track of when to run, when to jog, and when I had done enough intervals. These podcasts make it super easy and include workout music to keep you motivated.
• Podrunner: Intervals - Another great C25K podcast with more upbeat music. Instead of telling you when to run or walk, this podcast uses a sound to alert you when to switch.
• Couch to 5k LJ Community - this wonderful community is full of people doing the program and offer an endless source of inspiration, motivation, support and advice. Even if you are not following the program exactly as prescribed, they are a great resource. The same goes for the lj runners community.
• c25k.com - even more great links about the program and running in general.

W9D1 - 2.31 miles!

Holy frak! I just ran 2.31 miles in 30:28 minutes at a 13:09 pace with NO walking! This is my fastest pace and the longest I've ever ran in a row by .31 miles! I can't believe it. I am going be feeling this tomorrow, but it feels fantastic right now!

I was scheduled to start week 9 tomorrow, since I usually give myself 2 days off from running after a race. However, aside from some minor soreness in my calves, I felt fine since I didn't really push myself on Saturday (my pace for the race was 13:33).

The reason for my amazing time is because Jason came running with me. I was a few feet behind him the whole time, but was keeping up with his slow jog the whole way. I had a slight side stitch almost the whole time too, but not bad enough to make me stop.

I am not sure I could run like this every time, but at least now I know I can do it and just have been holding myself back a bit. It just goes to show that this really is a mental thing and my heart just wasn't in it on Saturday. By the time the next 5k comes around in 3 weeks, I'll be ready to run the whole thing!!

W8D3 - 2 Miles!

I finally did it!

I just ran 2 miles straight!

I can hardly believe that 8 weeks ago I could barely run for 1 minute; now I am considering training and registering for a half marathon.

Today was supposed to be the last of the 28 minute runs, but I've been so close to 2 miles that I really wanted to reach that today, so I ran an extra minute and a half and made it. I probably could have made it closer to 28 minutes (after all, I covered 1.96 miles in 28 minutes before) but I wasn't running that fast.

I didn't get up early enough this morning to run, so I had to do it tonight. Since I don't like running in the dark, I went around 7:30 as the sun was going down. The heat was not much of a problem, but I had to eat dinner when I got home about 1 hour prior. This gave me a nice little side stitch, but it was manageable.

Overall, the run felt really good. I felt I was going at a good steady pace. I averaged 14:42 min/mile. I cannot believe I only have 1 week left in the program. Of course, when I get there I will at best be running 2.25 miles. I don't know if I should count running 30 minutes by W9D3 graduation, or if I keep increasing the distance by 1/4 mile every week and graduate when I hit 5k. Either way, this running thing isn't over :)

W8D2

Today's run went much better. It was overcast, so that made it nice and cool. I did not feel out of breath at all; my legs just felt a little tired at the end but I finished strong and didn't feel ill at the end. I didn't cover as much distance today, but that is ok because the run felt great. (I also wonder if the overcast weather conflicted with the GPS and my data today is not quite accurate, but whatever.) I think instead of 28 minutes on Wednesday, I am going to run 2 miles regardless of the time. I think it will only take me 1 or 2 more minutes.

I can't believe I only have 4 more runs before I am a C25K graduate! Of course, I won't be running 3 miles by that time, but I will be running 30 minutes and that is good enough for me! :) I'm hoping it will probably only take a couple of more weeks after that to get to the 5k distance. I have a 5k this weekend, which I am actually not that thrilled about since I'll be going up there alone, but I'll make the best of it. I have another 5k 3 weeks later and I am hoping to be able to run the entire time then.

Stats:

Run Only
Time: 28 min
Distance: 1.9 miles
Avg pace: 14:45
Best pace: 10:16
Cal: 133

Total w/Warm up & Cool Down
Time: 44:13
Distance: 2.76 miles
Avg pace: 16:02
Best pace: 10:16
Cal: 197

W8D1

Everything was against me this morning.

I of course did not want to get up this morning, because what sane person willingly gets up before 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning? I was tired and just wanted to go back to sleep, but I knew I had to get up or else I'd have to skip today because it would be too hot later and we have a party tonight.

So I get up and I can't find my running clothes. Then I get a low battery message when I turn on my watch so it can begin acquiring a satellite signal as I finish getting ready. Crap! I place it in the charger while I do some yoga stretches. Now the time is ticking away and is already past 7:30 a.m. I look at the watch and it looks like the battery is half full. I leave it in for a bit longer while I check my mail and such. I hope that's enough and head out. Then I realize today's workout is not setup right in the watch and everytime I connect it to the computer the damn Garmin software crashes. So I manually fix it and then I am on my way. Thankfully, it does not feel too warm yet, even though is almost 8 a.m. already.

About 8 minutes into the run, I get the low battery warning again. I hit enter and press on, hoping that low battery means it still has enough juice for at least 20 more minutes so it can finish recording my run. Now of course I feel compelled to look at my watch every few minutes to ensure it is indeed still on and recording, all the while worried about what the hell will I do if it dies before I finish because I'll have no idea when to stop.

As I am nearing the end of the run, the watch is still holding up; the distance is slowly nearing 2 miles as the time quickly nears 28 minutes. I really want to make it to 2 miles today, but I am tired and hot and getting slightly out of breath. I give it my all (which is not much at this point) as the watch starts its beeping countdown to alert me this lap is almost done. It finally beaps and I come to almost a complete stop (against my better judgment) because I can't go on and the beep just seems to flip a switch in my brain that immediately makes my legs stop running.

I begin my cool down feeling a bit nauseas--this tends to happen to me lately when I press too hard at the end then stop suddenly, but it passes quickly as long as I keep moving. Of course the watch immediately resets to the cool down lap as soon as it hits 28 minutes so I have no idea if I made it to 2 miles, although I am certain I didn't.

When I get back, I just want to pass out but the cool down has worked and I already feel better and full of energy. I decide to set my watch to charge and download the data before stretching. The damn Garmin software keeps crashing! Arg! I get the data uploaded to motionbased and see that I indeed did not make it to 2 miles! Grr! But the damn website does not give me the avg pace per lap, only overall, so I have to keep fighting with the Garmin software to know this information. It finally works!

Stats:

Run only
- Time: 28 minutes
- Distance: 1.96 miles (so frakin' close)
- Avg Pace: 14:16
- Avg Speed: 4.2 mph
- Max Speed: 5.8 mph
- Calories: 141 cal

Total w/warm up & cool down
- Time: 40:25 minutes
- Distance: 2.66 miles
- Avg Pace: 15:13
- Avg Speed: 3.9 mph
- Max Speed: 5.8 mph
- Calories: 193 cal

Coupled with yesterdays lack of weight loss, and today's challenging run, I am rather frustrated lately. I was hoping to show a loss yesterday and be able to let loose at the party tonight, but now I don't know. I'll just have to play it by ear. Monday will be another day and I will surely make it to 2 miles then.

W7D3

Today's run was great. It is amazing how much weather can affect your performance. I got up closer to 7 this morning, did some pre-run yoga posses to warm up, then headed out. It was nice and cool out, which made the run very pleasant and keeping up with my breathing very easy. I am still only covering 1.75 miles, but I felt like I had a good pace the whole time. It actually felt pretty good when I sped up during the last 5-10 minutes.

The way I setup the splits in my watch makes it hard to figure out my overall pace from the online data, but I'll look into crunching the numbers tonight. I think my pace for the first mile was 14-14.5 and about 1 minute less for the .75 miles (last 10 minutes). For my next run I am setting up a custom workout with the whole run portion as one lap; I split it into 2 this time so it would alert me when I had 10 minutes left to pick up the pace a bit, but I can just look at the watch when I think its been long enough. I run about the same route, so this won't be too hard.

I tried the 20 mintue Yoga for Runners from YogaDownload after my run. It was nice, even though there are some poses I can't do yet. I am not sure I will do this after every run because it takes so long, but I'll do it at least on the weekends and try these Post-Run Yoga Stretches for the other days.

W7D2

I did not want to get up today. I woke up around 6:30 a.m. (same as usual) but I refused to get out of bed because it looked too dark outside. I need to realize that there is plenty of light and that by the time I get ready it will be perfect. It's really just a mind game. So I didn't get to start running until after 8 a.m. which means it was too warm and that makes it harder for me to keep up with my breathing.

I still completed the 25-minute run with about the same distance as last time (1.77 miles). The run itself went fairly well, except for when I wasn't in the shade. Thankfully, I had no side stitches today. I pushed it a little during the last minute and I probably shouldn't do that because then I feel like crap when I stop. I felt a little dizzy, but I was fine by the time I finished my cool down walk. I doubt I'll get to 2 miles in 25 minutes before the week ends, but that is ok. I'll probably finish the program at 2.5 miles and then just add time to the end until I can do 3 miles then work on speed. Still loving the watch :)

W7D1

Another 25-minute run down, 2 to go! I did a little better than last time and covered 1.75 miles at a 14:17 pace. I am hoping to push it a little more on Tuesday and cover 2 miles, then 2.25 on Thursday. We'll see.

I did 45 minutes of yoga on Saturday and 20 this morning; that really helped get rid of the soreness and made tonight's run much better. I biked 4 miles yesterday, then went swing dancing; I was afraid that would make my legs sore again, but I guess the yoga this morning helped. I really need to remember that and do it more often, especially now that I have increasingly long runs ahead.

I was a bit rushed during this run, and probably did not control my breathing as well as I should have because I got a side stitch on the left towards the end of the run. I've never had one on that side before. I remembered reading that putting your arms up helps, so I was running with my arms in the air because I refused to stop. It did help and I finished the run.

I am really loving my new Garmin watch and all the awesome data it give me.

W6D3

I completed this run out of cheer will; looking back on it now, it wasn't so bad. My body may not agree though. I really need to do some yoga soon. I didn't even ride my bike to work today, which pains me. I am considering starting week 7 on Monday instead of Sunday since tomorrow will be hard on my body too with a trip to Disney and swing dancing at night. I hope I have the energy for all that.

I got my new watch yesterday and was really excited to try it out this morning. Yesterday was a crappy day in general, but as the evening drew near my right knee started acting up. I was upset that it might prevent me from running today. It wasn't very painful, but bothersome enough that I may not want to risk it. I iced it for a bit; I figured it couldn't hurt. My calves also ached. I am not sure why, except maybe from biking, but I only biked a total of 4 miles (2 each to and from work) at a leisurely pace.

This morning I woke up all achy and did not want to get up to face the fact I may not be able to run. As a result, I got started late and it was already rather warm. I was sweating within the first 5 minutes. I warmed up and stretched a bit inside, then took a 1/2 mile walk to warm up. My new watch says that took about 8 minutes. Then I started to run very very slowly. My knee felt fine, but I didn't want to take any chances. The watch kept beeping at me to speed up, so I finally turned off that feature. The funny thing is that towards the end I was speeding up and it beeped at me to slow down *lol* I think I am going to leave those alerts off until I get used to it, or set them to something custom that works better for me.

Anyway, I ran 1.63 miles in 25 minutes at an average pace of 15:22 with speeds ranging from 3.9 to 5.2 mph. This does not count the warm up and cool down that I recorded separately. Including these I covered a total distance of 2.65 miles in 43:36 and burned 190 calories (this seems low to me, is it?).

I may have covered less distance than the 20 minute run, but that was during a race and I had to estimate the distance, so who knows. I am thinking I may get closer to the 2 - 2.5 mile mark towards the last run of the week, but I am not going to worry too much about it. I'll try to push myself a tad each run to try to get there, but I was not about to do that today and risk real injury to my knee.

The watch worked out well. Read my review here.

W6D2 - Last Interval Run

I just completed my last interval run of the program; from here on out, it's all running, all the time! Yay! I am so happy and amazed I've come this far. Today's run went really well; Combined with the warm up and cool down walks, I covered 2.5 miles in about 40 minutes (I usually just cover 2 miles in about 30-35 minutes). This is slower than my 5K, but I took that first 10 minute run and the cool down walk very slowly. I covered 1.5 miles during the interval portion (10-3-10) in 23.5 minutes.

I got really sick of the podrunner podcast music on Monday, so I decided to use my own music today and use my crappy Target watch (that doesn't even have a countdown timer) to keep time. I was worried this may make the run harder because I'd have to keep looking at my watch and agonizing about how long I had left, but it worked out well. I walked one full loop for the warm up (.5 miles) then reset my watch. I knew the loop takes me 7-8 minutes to complete, so I did not look at my watch until I completed the loop. This meant I only had to keep looking at my watch for the last 2 minutes or so and I wasn't really dying to look at it all the time either. The runs felt pretty comfortable.

My new GPS watch (the Garmin Forerunner 305--still on sale for $164.99) should arrive tomorrow, so I'll have it in time for my 25 minute run on Friday. I am really excited because I'll be able to focus on my running and breathing and let the watch focus on my distance, pace, and time. This will hopefully make running those long times and tracking my progress easier as I work up to comfortably running 5k and then train for a 10k.

W6D1

I wasn't feeling well this morning so I was going to postpone today's run until tomorrow. It would give me 2 rest days after the 5K and because I have a buffer day, W9D1 would still coincide with my next 5K. I was feeling better so decided to give it a try tonight once the sun started going down.

First of all, what the hell is up with the music in this day's podrunner podcast? The warmup song was awful. I couldn't stand that guy saying that line over and over and over. I was so glad when the chime went off to start running so I'd have something else to focus on. Once the intervals are over, I am using my own music.

Anyway, I decided not to take my watch today. I wanted to focus on getting through this and not worry too much about time. That worked out pretty good. I probably won't do that too often, but it's nice every now and then. The runs went well and not having the watch helped me focus on the run instead of how long I had left.

I also tried out the running skirt tonight. It was ok, but I hate feeling my thighs rub together. I wore Blister Block so there is no chafing, but I don't think I will feel comfortable wearing it again until my inner thighs slim down.

Just one more interval run to go, then is all running all the time! w00t! I've come a long way.

Race Report: Disney's Go Red for Women 5K (W5D3)

Today was my 2nd 5k and W5D3. I treated this as another workout day and began the race walking very briskly for 5 minutes. The truth is, I was itching to run but wanted to pace myself so I could run to the finish line.

The 20 minute run went great. I started slowly and sped up towards the end, but not too much because I knew I still would have over a mile to go after I finished the 20 minutes. I was going to keep running until the 2 mile marker, but I did not know quite where it was (it was about .1 miles from where I started walking). I am kinda kicking myself for this because if I had just slowed down to a slower jog instead of walking, I am sure I could have run the entire thing. After catching my breath for a song or two, I ran for another song then walked a bit more, then ran about half a mile to the finish line. Once I could see the clock, I gave it my all and started sprinting. As I was nearing the finish line, the clock was quickly turning to 43 and I pushed even harder to try to beat it (I missed it by 2 seconds) then I stopped and I got this rush of feeling over me as I struggled to catch my breath. I felt like I was going to cry--you know that feeling you get when you are crying so much you can barely breath? It was that kind of feeling minus the tears.

I estimate I ran at least 1.5 miles straight (during the 20 minute run) and a total of at least 2 miles, maybe more. Not too bad considering 6 weeks I could barely run more than a minute. I can't wait until I get my forerunner watch so I can know exactly how far I run. I improved my time greatly and finished under 42 minutes. I will definitely aim to run the entire time at the next 5k in 3 weeks and finish under 40 minutes.

Running at Disney was very cool because I knew the area and could easily see my progress. They even had music blasting so I could have done without my ipod, and we got a cool goodie bag and finisher's medal. I definitely want to do the Race for the Taste 10k in October.

Stats:
Distance - 5K
Chip Time- 41:46 (Clock - 43:02)
Pace: 13.47 minutes/mile
Overall Place - 1119 / 1796
Gender Place - 998 / 1632
Division Place - 994 / 1627

W5D2

I did it! I ran 2 8-minute intervals and I survived; I feel amazing! I can hardly believe I am running 16 minutes! I remember when one minute seemed like an impossibility, but now I am going to tackle 20 minutes in 2 days.

The run went great; the weather was beautiful. It felt a little cold and I almost wore long sleeves, but I am glad I didn't because I worked up quite a sweat by the time I was done. Now I wish I hadn't wussed out and tried out the running skirt.

I ran the first 8 minutes fairly slowly. I wanted to get used to running that long first and have enough energy for the 2nd run. Just before I began the 1st run, I realized that it should take me about one loop (1/2 mile) to run the interval; so I told myself not to look at my watch until I was at least close to were I started to run. When I completed the loop and looked at my watch, I only had about 30 seconds to go and I still felt good. I walked the 5 minutes faster than usual and breathed a lot, though I was not really winded from the 1st interval.

When the 2nd interval started, I picked up the pace a bit. This actually felt easier than my snail pace, though a tad more tiring of course--but totally doable. It was just a nice stride and I think I was in the running zone for at least a short while. My biggest problem when I pick up speed is that I have to get used to taking shallower breaths to keep up, but I managed it fine. I know this will come with time. I kept looking at my watch 5/6 minutes into it, not because I wanted it to end, but because I wanted to sprint the last minute. I gave it my all for that last minute. It was great. I realized that I finish these runs winded because I sprint at the end, not because I can't keep up with the long runs.

I am feeling really good about running the 20 minutes at the 5k on Saturday. I plan to bring my own music to help the time go faster. Since I know I'll have to walk part of the 5k, I'll still start with the 5 minute brisk walk (or a very slow jog), then tackle the 20 minutes. I'll probably run the 1st 10 minutes at my snail's pace and then pick up a bit for the last 10. I'll walk briskly and catch my breath for 5-10 minutes, depending on how far I have to go to finish the 5k and how winded I feel. I estimate I'll be at least half way through by this point. If by some miracle I've cross the 2 mile marker, then I may walk less. I'll try to jog some more after I catch my breath for however long I can and then alternate running and walking until the 3 mile mark, then I'll sprint to the finish!

I am beyond excited for Saturday to be here already! I really want to finish in less than 40 minutes, but I'll be happy with anything between 40 and 43 minutes.