The Plan

Katie, of Cookie Girl Runner Girl fame posted her training schedule, and I thought I should do the same.  I created this bad boy last night and put the final touches on it this evening.  I'll post it at the end of December too so we can all see if I stuck to it or not.

When I say "run" on the plan I mean run as much as I can.  Tonight, I probably ran almost half a mile of it, not consecutively.

Yes, I know I'm slow.  Yes, I'm just beginning running again.

Did you know I'm running the Get Lucky 7K in Minneapolis on March 17th?  Hence, the training.

Hey, guess what?

I went for a run!

I ran the same speed testing route I did last time.  And it went better than last time.

One minute and 14 seconds faster actually...

I'm proud of myself.

Back on the horse.

I ran tonight.

I'm testing out a 1.41 mile route to see how long it takes me to walk/jog it.  Eventually I want to be running the whole route.  Today wasn't great, not going to lie.  I'm not very proud of it, but I'm proud of myself for going out there and doing it.

Also, I'm going to start posting my daily summaries of what I eat the day before to hold myself more accountable.  That way, I will think, "Do I really want to eat this and put on my blog that I ate this?" before I eat something crappy.


Katie and I talked about posting daily summaries at work today.  We can hold ourselves accountable.

Sidebar, small victories: moving to a smaller notch on my belt and putting on athletic shorts that were previously too tight around the leg.  It is the small things like that motivate me because I look at my body every day and I don't see a change at all.  But.  But!  I notice a change when little things like that happen.

Now, I'm going to go put on the shorts that now fit and enjoy my evening not watching my normal Tuesday night programming because of baseball playoffs.  Boo.  

Award winning cake

  

The Great Minnesota Get Together started today.  And guess what?  My chocolate cake placed third in the chocolate cake lot.  Yay!  It's the chocolate cake with white frosting with a white ribbon hanging under it near my arm/shoulder.

Now, I'm exhausted from walking around the fair all day.  Oh, and I should also mention, I went for a run this morning before the fair.  Maybe that counteracted some of the calories?  Probably not.  But, Sean and I think we ate less than last year, which is probably a good thing.

Good night world.

C25K: W2D3

Tonight's run went a lot better than Saturday.  A lot better. 

I really did not want to go and run tonight.  I knew it was going to be nice out today so I wanted to sleep in this morning.  I'm glad Sean made me get out there and run tonight though.  Thanks boyfriend.

Although the run went nicely, it started out a little rocky.  The first couple runs were slow going and I was pretty winded.  But, then I seemed to get my second wind or something.  To make up for the slacking on the first two runs I ran a few blocks more at the end of it when I was supposed to be walking the cool down. 

I'm happy about my progress so far.  I really feel like I'm getting better at this and maybe, just maybe, it's getting slightly easier.  On Wednesday, I'm going to do another week 2 workout.  I haven't felt like I've really nailed the workout yet, so I want Wednesday to be that day.  Then, I'll move on to week 3. 

Have a good night!

C25K: W2D1

I so didn't want to get out of bed this morning.  I was desperately looking for an excuse not to get up at 5:45, but I knew I would be mad at myself if I didn't go.  And now I'm glad I went.

Week 2 workouts consist of:

• Brisk 5-minute warm-up walk
• alternate 90 seconds of running with 2 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes
• 5-minute cool down walk

I was jogging on the eastern edge of Como Park when I heard sirens in the distance.  Suddenly I heard a bunch of howling and remembered that the wolves at Como Zoo are on the eastern edge of the park.  Usually at the zoo Sean and I have only ever seen one or two wolves.  I heard at least four different howls.  Then, I remembered how Frankie used to howl whenever there were sirens around, or when I would play a particular song on the piano really loud.  I chuckled to myself and kept jogging.

I'm glad I went, but I'm tired.  Have a good day.

C25K: W1D3

Well, I got up at 5:45 this morning and worked out.  I thought it was going to be cooler out since it rained last night, but I was mistaken.  It was humid and miserable.

Good news though, I ran everything I was supposed to run!  I am very happy about that.  Thursday morning I'll start week 2, which is exactly like week 1.  So, I'll have three more days of doing the same run/walk I've been doing. 

Now, it's time to shower and get ready for work -- I need it I'm very sweaty.  Happy Tuesday!

C25K: W1D2

As I explained in my previous post, I've started the Couch to 5K running program.  (You can read more information about the program and the app I use on my iPod by clicking the link.)  Since it is the end of July and in the middle of the summer, I want to do the workouts in the morning or later at night when it is cooler outside.  The app on my iPod allows you to make a playlist for the 30 minute session and then makes a ringing noise for each switch to walking from running.  It also lets you know when the workout is half over.

This morning I went at 9 for the week 1 day 2 workout.  The workout consists of:

• 5 minute walking warm-up
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 90 seconds walking
• 60 seconds running
• 5 minute walking cool down

Obviously, I don't run very well, that is definitely clear.  To accomplish my goal of becoming a runner I want to start by doing a 5K.  This morning I jogged a lot more than I did on Friday.  I am very happy about that and proud of myself for that.  I successfully ran (slowly) six out of the eight 60 second increments from start to finish.  The other two 60 second increments I started walking and then about five seconds later, the bell to start walking sounded.  I wish I would have kept going those last five seconds.

I'm going to be doing the Couch to 5K workouts every other day and then will be doing Wii Fit on the days I don't do the C25K.  Sean says I should include a rest day one day throughout the week.  I haven't decided what day I'm going to make a rest day yet.

So far, the lifestyle change has been going really well.  I'm going to be weighing myself on the 1st and 15th of each month.  Tomorrow is the first of the month so tomorrow will be weigh day.  I will keep you all posted.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Couch to 5K: Week 1 Day 1

Well, I did the Couch to 5K: Week 1 Day 1 workout.  I can't say I successfully completed today's but I can say that I jogged as much as I could.  I am proud of myself because it is a start and it is more than I jogged yesterday.

Now, I'm going to reward myself with a dip in the pool (which I have yet to use at this apartment) and it will be glorious.  Also, the usual noisy upstairs neighbors are playing ridiculously loud music which was playing when I left for the walk/jog and is still playing.  Joy.