Successful 1st attempt!

Trish & I pushed ourselves and did it. Well, on the 3rd run I was getting a bit bubbly-headed (go ahead, make the joke .... I know you all want to!) so I only ran a bit more than 2 mins on the 3rd run. But ... we did run 3.5 mins on the second run, and then I ran 2 mins, and then added a 90 sec after the 4th run.

So - I did 3/2, 3.5/2, 2/2, 3/2, 2/2, 90/cooldown.

I am thinking of doing the 3/90 x 4 for week 3.75, or even 3-4/90 for next week. We both felt OK at the end of the 1st 3min run and thought we could have gone farther ... didn't want to, but could! *snark!* Thus the reason why we ran 3.5mins for the second run. I think I could have run for 4mins, but I would have been spent! hmmmmm, this 5min run is sounding a bit (jut a bit, mind you) more doable!

Tomorrow is Week 3.25

I decided that I am going to attempt week 3.25 tomorrow. That will be run 3 walk 90, repeat 4-6 times depending on my stamina. The reality is going to be that I need a longer recovery time between runs, I know that, but I am going to give it my all.

I am not sure if I will need another week to get to run 3 walk 90, run 5 walk 2.5, run 3 walk 90, run 5 walk 2.5, but we'll see. I may have to do a simple run 5 minutes only trial before I feel like I am capable of trying it in combination. uggg, I am SO dreading this 5 minute run. Crap - and that is only slightly less than .5miles!!

I might have week 3.75 the following week: 3/3, 5/3, 3/3, 5/die

Did I mention that my knee hurts a bit? I hope it does not get worse.

Finishing Week 3

I am so amazed that I can do week three so "easily." Trish commented that we need the theme to Rocky playing while we attempt the runs. That makes me chuckle; but I think we need it after we run, personally!

So Monday I went up to the gym and did week 3 again. (90/90, 3/3, 90/90, 3/3) I ran at 5.2 on a 1.0 incline for the first 90 and half of the second 3 min run. Then I ran at 5.0 on a flat surface. The last 3 min run was hard, but I did it! And, after walking for 3 mins I added yet another 90 second run on a 1.0 incline! Go me!

Still dreading week 4 - trying to figure out what to do to test the waters ... do I just jump in? Do I add time to the runs gradually? Not sure what to do before I jump into week 4. But if 3 mins is a hard thing, what is 5 mins going to feel like .... death? snicker

Oh - milestone here: I've lost 30lbs since Christmas!

Finished week 2 and on to week 3

And, yes, I do realize that I should be on week 4 technically. But lets face it, I'm old and out of shape! I needed an extra week to get up to week 3!!

So, week 2 was hard at first, then it got easier. So Trish and I made up our own week 2.5: we ran for 2 minutes then walked for 2 minutes, repeat 4-6 times depending on your stamina! One time I actually ran one set of 2 1/2 minutes and that made me less afraid of Week 3's agenda.

So today we ran the official week 3 workout. And really, it was not that bad! 90/90, 3/3, 90/90, 3/3 ... and then I did 60 seconds of running at 6.0! I finished the workout with 10 minutes of walking 3.9 at a 4 incline. Then I was done. Not exhausted, but mentally ready to quit.

So ... one whole week of this level of working out, then on to: run 3, walk 90, run 5 (eeeeek) walk 2.5, run 3, walk 90, run 5! Oh boy that is a big tall order folks! I read that a lot of people drop out of this program around week 4/5. I will definitely need strong motivation to get through this one ... and probably at least a week or so. But ... we can do it.

Right Trish?

Lordy That was HARD!

Week two of my 5K program has you walk 5 minutes to warm up, then alternate running 90 seconds and walking 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes run/walk combo. Well ... that was a hard one for this old lady!! But, yesterday I managed to run for 90 seconds for the first 4 sets. (at 5.2 for the first set, the remaining was somewhere around 5.0-5.2 depending on the set) However, by set 5 I needed an extra 30 secs to walk and recover ... my HR was still around 144 ... so I only ran for 1 minute, and the last run I quit at 60seconds. Wimp, I know. If Trish were there I bet I would have continued on for the whole 90 seconds, but I was just whipped and was out of gumption to push myself longer. Those 90 seconds are hard for me!! I know people run for much longer than I did, but I gave it 99% yesterday! ...maybe even more.

So, tomorrow I shall try it yet again. I hope I do just as well or better. But let me tell you, after yesterday's workout, which had me doing 2 miles w/warm-up and cool-down, the thought of running another mile is NOT sounding attractive. What in the world did I commit to!!!

Pushing a bit harder!

W1D2/3: I ran at 5.0 and 5.2 for my runs today - that is almost a full mile/hr faster than the first time. I will admit that by the end of my 20mins of intervals I am ready to quit, and my heart rate is up there, but the good thing is that it quickly comes back down, so my cardio system is really getting in shape. But the down side to that ... it means I have to work harder to get the heart rate up. ugggggg.

I think I am almost ready to try W2 now. I know I can do the first week, so it might be time to push on to W2. I peeked ahead, and W3 is looking really hard! It has a 3 min run in it. yea, not so sure about that!!

Well, doing good. Time to keep it up and keep going.

Pushing

Well I did it! I jumped right in and did W1D1 on the C25K program. (Anyone feel like that is too much alphabet soup?) Wednesday I met Trish up at at the gym and we did an awesome workout together. We both felt strong and really good about our run. No problems making it through the official workout.

So yesterday I decided to push myself a bit harder; I cranked up the speed of my running segment by .5mph. And I did it too! It was harder - I definitely pushed myself! But I did it. I have two more times to do the first week's workout, then I'm on to week two where I alternate running for 90 seconds and walking for 2 minutes. I really do not think that will be too hard. Pushing, yes, but doable.

Today I go off to work on the eliptical for awhile. Taking a break from the treadmill, I think. Maybe, we'll see. Technically I am only supposed to train for the 5k 3 times a week and take a break one day between. But that doesn't mean I should stop working out, I should just do different things.

Haven't weighed myself today, but I am getting close to the 25lb mark! wow - that is a lot of weight. I can finally see it now, too. Makes it all feel good. OK, off to the gym now.

Week Zero of My Training Program

So how do you get a week zero, you ask? By not quite being ready to jump into week one, that's how!

This week I decided to ease into the C25K training. The first week of the program you are officially supposed to walk 5 mins, then alternate running for 60 seconds and walking for 90secs until you have 20 mins of walk/run in. I had difficulties doing that on the treadmill at first, so I alternated the workout to give me a week 0! I think most of my difficulties came from the learning curve on the treadmill, because after the third time on the treadmill I was fine and really could have pushed harder.

So, here is a summary of my Week 0:

W0D1: Tried to do the regular W1 workout, but failed miserably as I kept wandering all over the treadmill! Ended up walking for 5 min, jogging for 1 min, walking for an unknown time, jogging for 30ish seconds, walking for unknown time, jogging for maybe a minute, then just walking and playing with the treadmill.

W0D2: Walked about 2.5 miles with Trish. I think I jogged for two 60 second sets, but mostly walked. Umm, and talked a lot!

W0D3: Walked 3.5ish miles in somewhere between 45-50 mins. No jogging was even tried ... ended up with painful feet!!!

Edit: apparently I did try to jog - I just read Sat's entry. Must not have tried hard though, cause I don't remember ... either that or I was in such a food coma I lost memory :)

W0D4: Bought new shoes and tried them -- ahhhh! Walked 2.5ish miles in about 45 mins. (I think) did not try to run, but man I should have because I felt hardly even "stressed" by that walk.

W0D5: Feeling much more confident on the treadmill now! Shoes are comfy. walked 10 mins, (took that long to get my ipod set, and then I had to do my 5 minute warm-up!) then did 20 minutes of alternating: jog 60 seconds walk 2 mins. I was listening to the raido on my ipod, and it was easier to use whole numbers for my walking/running start time than it was to use 30 sec intervals. I was going to use the pod-runner podcasts, but I was listening to an interesting story on NPR and just wanted to finish it. It did help time go by quite quickly!!

Tomorrow I meet Trish (we are both feeling the need to re-motivate and reinvigorate our workouts - in a slump!) up there and I think I shall jump into week one officially.