I’m in Week Six! Below will be my reports for this week’s runs, in chronological order, as they are posted on those days. To see what the Couch to 5K program is about, along with links to other resources and podcasts, check out the C25K site. To see my prior weeks’ reports, you can navigate to their individual pages either to the right or at the top of the page. Thanks for coming by!

Shannan

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Week 6, Day 1 – Oct. 6, 2008

October 8, 2008

I really waited a long time to post about Monday’s workout! There wasn’t much to talk about, except to mention that it is the most complicated one I’ll have in a long time, and today’s is the most complicated one from here on out, for the life of the program. Monday, there was the warm-up walk/5 min run/3 min walk/8 min run/5 min walk/5 min run/cool-down walk. Today is warm-up walk/10 min run/3 min walk/10 min run/cool-down walk. I’ll report about that one later, since I’ve yet to do it.

All in all, the Day 1 workout was pretty uneventful, which I suppose is a good thing. I still had trouble getting my shoes tied so that they weren’t too tight or loose in spots. My feet are so sensitive to the slightest pressure on top that it gets to the point that if it’s a little bit tight, I have discomfort. Will I ever be able to tie my shoes correctly? They’re not too small or big, or wide or narrow, but I have trouble almost every time. That leads me to the only problem I really had, which wasn’t that big of a deal, and that was that my left foot got sore on top during the last half of the workout. I’m fine now, and I’m sure it was just that I’m using all the mechanical parts of my foot now to a greater extent.

About feet, (I never talk about feet — I have a belief that feet are a personal thing and should be kept to yourself — LOL) I was diagnosed with Morton’s Neuroma a few years back, which was my feet trying to protect themselves by forming a protective cover over some nerves near my toes, or something like that. It caused a pain under my toes when I walked, and the doctor told me I’d always have it, prescribing insoles to me and sending me on my way. It really went away after a couple of weeks (a small miracle), but shows its ugly head a few times a year, and only at about 10% what it used to be. I find that running doesn’t affect it. It happens only if I’ve walked a long distance the day before without rest, and then it only lasts until I walk it off once I’m up and about.

Back to the workout…I did end up turning off the podcast about half way through the first run interval. The music just wasn’t doing it for me personally, and I didn’t need Mr. Ullrey (who made reallllly good podcasts!) to tell me when to start and stop anymore. My brain had been trained for that over the past 5 weeks. I had a taste of what it was like to have the freedom to use my own music, when I did the 20 minutes on Saturday, so I figured out the times I’d have to walk and run and went to my own playlist. I’m going to do the same today. I just need to find music that’s fast enough.

I’m only one workout away from freedom from the intervals! After this, it’s just long stretches of running with the warm-ups and cool-downs on either side. Do I have to say that the thought of 25 minutes on Saturday is a bit intimidating? I’ll see if my story changes after today’s workout. Until then, toodle-oo!  😉

Shannan

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Week 6, Day 2

October 8, 2008

Okay, I’ve done day 2. It was two 10-minute running intervals with a 3-minute walk between them. My legs felt a little heavy during the second interval, but I had no problems with pain in my feet or legs. I just told myself that the heaviness is part of making myself go beyond my comfort zone, like when I’m using hand weights and my arms get tired. I wasn’t going to get hurt by keeping at it, but I just needed to push a little harder to keep them moving.

I used my own playlist and never turned on the podcast. I’m really starting to detach myself from the podcasts and trying to do it more my way — using what works for me, what keeps me going. It’s still an experiment, as I’m still finding that mental/physical balance for the longer intervals. I don’t want to zone out and get bored, but I also don’t want to rely on having upbeat music all the time, either, for those times that maybe I don’t have the music available or want to try something new, like a Podrunner podcast (an hour of continuous music at a certain bpm). I want to be able to keep those legs moving no matter what’s in my ears.

On the weight loss front, I’m down to the lowest I can remember being since probably my first college years. I also posted a couple of links on my home page to a site, Roni’s Weigh. I visit it daily as part of my way to communicate with her and others about WW, food and just the whole journey to being healthier.

Saturday, if all goes as planned, I’ll be reporting on a 25-minute run. I know it can be done, and I have 3 days to think about it. I can’t believe I’m almost done with week 6 as it is, so this is crazy to me.  😛

Have a good week, everyone!

Shannan 

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Interlude

October 9, 2008

I’m still two days away from my next workout, but I posted a comment in response to Roni’s Step 3 of her series, “3 Steps to a Healthier YOU!” and wanted to repeat it here, because I thought it would be a good insight to my views about how happy I am to have found running as thing I like to do. Here is my comment about the article…

“I used to think that if I fould an activity I liked doing, that I’d stick with it. Well, I would, for about a month, and then it would taper off. Maybe I didn’t like it that much? Maybe, but I think it has to do with the whole package, the wanting to be healthy and fit instead of trying to find something that I can convince myself I like just because it’s a requirement to lose weight. I had to throw that thinking out the window.

I have now found something (running) that challenges me that I love most days and want to avoid on lazy days, but do anyway. Will it be long-term? I think so, because it’s become part of my thinking and part of my lifestyle, not just an “exercise”. It’s a way to improve myself mentally as well as physically. Following a mindless routine wasn’t enough of a challenge, and I’m a competitive person. I love being able to say that I increased my time running, because it’s something I had not done before.

Make the activities you do part of your daily life, just like dancing around while you clean or taking a walk during your break. It’s not a chore when you find something you like doing, and it shouldn’t be something to fear.”

Running to me has become not just a form of activity, but it has become something I just enjoy doing when I’m doing it. It’s just fortunate that I can have that AND call it “exercise” at the same time. I also crochet, but it doesn’t burn many calories. See what I mean?  😉

Shannan

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25 minutes! – Week 6, Day 3

October 11, 2008

So I ran the longest I’ve ever run at once today, 25 minutes. I stuck with my own music again, since there’s no walking to keep track of besides the warm-up and cool-down, so I didn’t need the podcast for the cues. I might see what Mr. Ullrey has in store for Week 7 in his podcast next week.

Physically, it wasn’t any harder than any of the shorter runs, but it did require me to tell myself that “there are only 10 minutes left” or, “you’re halfway through,” just to keep my mind on the running and not about wanting to crawl back in bed. I had to keep from listening to the voice in my head telling me that I’m not going to make 25 whole minutes. I did start fairly early this morning, since we were going to do some estate sale shopping later in the morning, and I knew I wouldn’t be up to it in the afternoon on a Saturday.

I skipped breakfast until after the run and just had a few sips of water beforehand. My legs and feet felt fine the whole time. There were no major twinges or pains. I’ve been stretching more extensively after that one time my lower calf felt funny, and I haven’t had a problem in recent workouts. I will forever take 5 minutes to tie my shoes, though. Maybe I need longer laces, but they seem to be running out of length. LOL I have found that letting the shoes be a little looser makes the running more comfortable, since I think my feet must swell a little.

I’ve also found that I tend to sweat less now, and I also sweat later in the workout than when I was just starting out. My heart doesn’t seem to be working as hard, either. I’ve been playing with bringing the speed up on the treadmill, but over a 0.2 mph increase gets too strenuous with the longer spans of running, so I’m going to keep it slow for now and not go too much faster until I can get used to the longer times/distances. I’m planning on working on my speed once I get in a groove where I can do 30 minutes at a time. Then I’ll work on making it to the 5K mark. That’s a good thing about this program. I can choose to run based on time or on distance, so I don’t have to get to 5K (3.1 miles) in just 30 minutes by week 9. I can work up to that. I’d chosen to work based on time, so my goal is to run 30 minutes. It’s so close!  🙂

As you might know, I got a Nike+ a few weeks back and have tested it a couple of times already. I never calibrated it, so it shows a longer distance than the treadmill shows. I’ve decided that no matter how accurate or inaccurate the treadmill’s distance meter is, I’m going to calibrate the Nike+ to the treadmill, so I at least get a consistent distance each time. I’m not sure how that works for changes in my pace/the speed of the treadmill. I thought I read somewhere that the Nike+ measures the time between each foot hitting the ground, so I’m not sure if it also measures using your initial calibrated length of your stride with the # of steps you take. If anyone knows about it, please let me know. I’m going to also check the Nike boards and see if anyone else has had the same question.

That’s about it for now. Next week is 3 days of the same (25-minute runs), so it should get easier each time, but that, of course, depends on the day, too. I’ll only have one day of rest between now and Monday’s run, which is a day shorter than this past one, so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes with my legs. Have a good rest of the weekend!

Shannan