C25K: Week 4, Day 1

I can't believe I'm already in week 4 of this program! Almost half way there!

Saturday's workout went really well, minus a few musical issues. It didn't take long for me to realize that listening to music that I like definitely affects my running quality. The only downside to this C25K program and using podcasts is that I can't chose what music I listen to. If I want the convenience of not having to watch the clock, I have no choice. Up until now, the podcasts have been pretty good with the odd rap song here and there that I don't like (I hate rap), but it's been tolerable. Around minute 16 of Saturday's workout, the most horrible song came on! With all it's blatant DIRTY sexual innuendos.. it just wasn't something I needed to hear to keep me upbeat to finish this workout. It's not like I didn't finish my workout, because I did. My mood was severely effected though after having to listen to that awful music and it made the rest of the workout pretty tough. My mom is starting the program today and I'm definitely going to make sure she never listens to this one!

Despite the awful music, as I said, I did manage to power through this workout and was pretty proud of myself at the end.

Week four consists of:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 400m (or 3 minutes)
Walk 200m (or 90 seconds)
Jog 800m (or 5 minutes)
Walk 400m (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 400m (or 3 minutes)
Walk 200m (or 90 seconds)
Jog 800m (or 5 minutes)

This time 4 weeks ago, I never thought I'd be doing this much running so soon and actually not having any issues with it!


Saturday's stats:
Distance: 2.33 miles (3.75km)
Calories burned: 254
Time: 32:45

C25K: Week 3, Day 3

Week 3 is finished!!! I honestly can't believe how fast this program is going. 3 weeks down already, meaning only 6 to go until I should be able to run a 5K!

Had another great run today which I feel really good about. Like Monday, I added one more run at the end of the workout except today I did an additional 5 minute run, instead of 6 minutes. The big difference I did today though was that I've increased my running speed. Up until today, I have been running at 5 mph, so today I decided to increase my speed to 5.2 mph. I want to start to slowly increase my speed because ultimately, when I'm ready to start racing, I'm going to be competitive (it's my nature) and that means I'll need to be comfortable running at a faster pace.

Today's stats:
Distance: 2.26 miles (3.64km)
Calories burned: 237
Time: 32:40

C25K: Week 3, Day 2

Wow! I feel amazing today!

I was pretty upset with myself for feeling worried about the 3 min runs this week. I don't want to ever be down on myself of think even for a split second that I can't do anything. So I went into today's workout with positive thoughts. :)

I blasted though the 90 second and then 3 minute runs with so much ease! I don't even know why I was so worried about it on Saturday! Things were going so well, that after the workout, I incorporated an additional 6 minute run! 6 minutes!!! All at once!! The best part - I wasn't even out of breath! It's amazing how things are getting easier so fast.

Today's Stats:
Distance: 2.33 miles (3.75 km)
Calories burned: 249
Time: 34:14

C25K: Week 3, Day 1

I'm not going to lie.. I was pretty intimidated/worried going into today's run knowing that I was going to have to 3 minute run intervals! I mean, obviously the main goal here with the C25K program is to be able to run for 30 minutes straight, but after running only 60 and 90 second intervals over the past 2 weeks, 3 minute runs just scared me out a bit.

I decided to start the day with a different breakfast this Saturday, just to see how it would hold over in comparison to my oatmeal/poached egg combo. So today, with my cup of coffee, I had 2 pieces of whole wheat toast slathered with peanut butter and sliced banana. I couldn't believe how filling it was!

As per my usual Saturday routine, before I could even think about getting my run in, I first had to head to the farm to work a couple of horses. It was a gorgeous morning though, so there was no hesitation in going up there. Everything was still and quiet when I got there and I couldn't have asked for a better start to the day.

With the riding out of the way, it was time to get to business and start week 3 of this thing! Here is the layout for this week's workouts:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:

• Jog 200 metres (or 90 seconds)
• Walk 200 metres (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 400 metres (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 400 metres (or three minutes)

The first mistake I made was eating a muffin before my run. About 15 minutes in, I got this nasty stitch in my stomach that I just couldn't shake. I managed to use my mind over matter skills though and made it through. As I already mentioned, the 3 minute runs really worried me for some reason. But you know what? It wasn't really so bad! I certainly don't think that I would have been able to do those runs 3 weeks ago without being completely out of breath! Throughout this program so far, I really have not found myself really out of breath, which is wicked!

Today's stats:
Distance: 1.74 miles (2.80km)
Calories burned: 177
Time: 26:30

I'm really liking how I can see my progress so soon via these stats. I won't be covering as much distance this week due to how the work outs are laid out, but now that I'm doing more actual running it's cool to see how much faster I'm covering the distance.

All in all, I know I'll make it through week 3 with no big problems. I was worried about the 3 minute runs, but was able to prove to myself that I could do it! I chose this particular training program for a reason...they're not going to have me do something I won't be able to do! I was very tired after the run today, but am still raring to keep going on Monday!

C25K: Week 2, Day 3

I'VE COMPLETED WEEK 2!

...and best of all, my 3rd workout this week went amazing! My mind was in a better place in comparison to Monday and I had no issues what-so-ever. :)

Pre-run snack today consisted of a pumpkin/walnut muffin

and an apple. Both which I had at work.

I was especially looking forward to my run tonight because I would get to try out my newest addition to my 'gear' - an armband for my ipod. I really needed an armband because I'm not going to stay on the treadmill forever, and I definitely plan on listening to my ipod for all of my runs. Considering I'm pretty broke, I didn't want to fork out the $20 for an armband so I decided to check out ebay and managed to score a perfect one for only $7 including shipping. It even matches my current running shirt! ;)

So, on to my run. Just to change things up a bit, I decided to set the treadmill to the first incline level. I was going to wait a few more weeks before changing the incline, but you know what? I realized, once I'm running outside, the surface won't be perfectly flat! So... I realized I better just start working out with an incline now so it's not such a shock when I get outside. The run was a little tougher, but I didn't really have a hard time with it! By my 4th running interval, I felt like I was just floating along and really wanted to keep going!

Today's stats:
Distance: 2.05 miles (3.30km)
Calories burned: 203
Time: 31:40 (was listening to a good song at the end)

Today's run didn't finish there though! My parents went away to Florida today and they have my grandmother staying at their house to watch their puppy Charlie. Since my grandmother can't walk him too far, I put on some warm clothes and took the little guy for a walk before going home.

He was still hyper after our walk, so we then played with snowballs in the backyard.

And then I got a nice kiss before going home. ;)

All in all, a great end to week 2! So darn excited to start week 3 on Saturday!

C25K: Week 2, Day 2

Well I never said this was going to be easy!

Tonight's workout was a tough one for some reason. I still felt a bit of fatigue in my legs when I woke up this morning, but by 5:00 they felt ok. I really found myself struggling to make it through the workout tonight though. At about the 15 minute mark, my legs were starting to ache a bit and I was sweating more than I had so far in this program. I actually had to keep telling myself "I can do this, I can do this" for the last 10 minutes of the workout. I don't even want to contemplate giving myself an extra day or two off - especially this early. We all know what can happen then... one day can lead to two, or three, or four... next thing you know, your heart just isn't in it anymore. I'm definitely not going to be stupid and cause any injury to myself, but I'm very adamant at pushing forward. Here's hoping tonight was just a little bump in the road and Wednesday's run goes smoother.

Today's stats:
Distance: 2 miles (3.22km)
Calories burned: 185
Time: 31:09

C25K: Week 2, Day 1

Yesterday I completed the first workout of week 2 and feel fantastic!

As per my usual Saturday schedule, my day started with a good breakfast and then I headed out to the farm for a ride. Although I completely forgot to snap a picture of breakfast, it consisted of a small glass of skim chocolate milk, a bowl of multi grain oatmeal with ground flax, cinnamon, raisins and skim milk, 2 scrambled eggs, and a cup of coffee.

I headed out to the farm around 9am for a great ride on the lovely little Daisy Duke. (Daisy is a pony who I have been training for the past year or so).

The ride went really well and I felt great afterwards.

I then made a little pit stop before heading over to my parents to do my run by going with a friend to video her while riding her friend's horse, Teade. My is he a big boy! Especially in comparison to little Daisy. See! Look how small I look next to him! ... ok well I don't look *that* small lol.. but when this guy lifted his head, he was mighty tall.

After our little trek to see Teade, to my parents I went to get ready for this run! It was already 1pm at this point and I was STARVING! I didn't want to have lunch and then run due to digestion time. So, luckily my mom was in a baking mood the previous afternoon and there was a container of pumpkin spice muffins on her counter. I figured that would be the perfect little snack to give my body a little bolt of energy for this run.

I was really excited for this particular run as it meant that I was moving to a new workout routine. Runs for week 2 consist of the following:
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

After only one week of this program, I couldn't believe how much easier each run felt! It felt so good, that I was bad and extended the last 90 second run to 2 minutes and honestly, I believe that I could have gone on further. But.. I didn't. I have vowed to myself that I will be smart and not push my body too hard yet. This program has worked for so many people, so I am going to stick to it no matter how good I may be feeling. The last thing I need is to injure myself so that I can't run OR ride!

Stats for this run were not much different from last week because although I am now running for a longer period of time, the walks in between are longer as well. So without further ado..

Yesterday's stats:
Covered: 1.97 miles (3.17km)
Calories burned: 185
Time: 30:30

Is it crazy that although I have some fatigue in my legs right now, that I am extremely excited for my next run tomorrow night? :)

C25K: Week 1, Day 3

FIRST WEEK IS COMPLETE!

I can't believe how fast I managed to get through week one of the C25K program. One week down, eight more to go and I am still extremely excited to keep going.

I did today's workout after work again today, so in order to give myself some much needed energy, I snacked again on an apple with peanut butter.

Today's workout seemed to be even easier than the last two! Of the three workouts so far, day 2 was the hardest to do, but.... my legs are a tad on the sore side today. I was ok throughout the workout, but sitting here now, just over 2 hours later, I'm starting to feel some soreness. I guess that is expected considering I haven't run in so long, and it *is* only week 1 still. Thankfully my schedule now allows for 2 days off, so hopefully I'm good to go to start week 2 on Saturday.

Today's stats:
Covered: 1.92M (3.01km)
Calories burned: 177
Time: 31:00

Distance Correction

After talking to the knowledgeable people on the C25K forums, I have come to realize that my parents' treadmill tracks the distance in miles, not km! I started investigating when I read how some were covering around 3km during each workout of wk 1 and thought to myself "I can't be going that slow!".

So yes, total distance covered so far is as follows:

WK1, D1: 1.80M (2.89km)
WK1, D2: 1.90M (3.06km)

I'm going to start tracking overall distance covered as it will be very interesting to see how much I end up covering in the end!

C25K: Week 1, Day 2

Last night I completed the second day of training for the Couch to 5K program and despite being tired this morning, I feel just incredible!

(I hoped to have more pictures for this post, but silly me forgot my camera at home.)

Since I work from 8-5, my only option was to plan to head to my parents' house right after work to put in my run. Around 4:20pm, I made myself a snack of an apple dipped in peanut butter to ramp up the energy in my body so that I would be physically able to get this workout done. (I'm usually really tired after a long day at the office, especially in the winter months when it's dark when I go to work, and dark when I leave.)

My friend B sent me an email yesterday which included a link to a different set of podcasts done for the C25K program. I am so thankful for that link! I mean, the original podcast that I used Saturday was great, but the music was all techno-ish and it really wasn't my style. So after work yesterday, as soon as I got to my parents' house, I downloaded one of these new podcasts onto my ipod. I was soon working out to the likes of some Mamma Mia and Kung Foo Fighting! I actually caught myself humming and even dancing at certain points while I walked/ran. I mean, how can you NOT make little kung foo moves when listening to Kung Foo Fighting!!! Tell me! How?!

Although I was much sweatier after this workout, it still went well. It was more of a challenge doing it at the end of the day rather than the morning, but it was a good challenge. I actually wanted to do more when the program was done! So instead of more running, I just extended my cool down a little longer. I'm only two workouts in and I'm already wanting so much more!

Stats for last night's run were pretty much the same as Saturday because it was the same workout, minus a little added walking time.

Covered: 1.90km
Calories Burned: 175
Time: 31:26

Training Has Begun

This morning I completed day 1 of week one of the couch to 5k training program and it was a great success!

Since the plan was to go to the farm and ride first, I made sure I had a nice filling breakfast so that I would have the energy to ride in the cold and then run. Breakfast consisted of multi-grain oatmeal with cinnamon, raisins, and skim milk, along with 2 poached eggs, and a cup of coffee.

I then got myself all bundled up and headed out to the farm. I knew it was cold out, but holy cow didn't realize it was minus -16!!! See! proof from inside my car!

Despite the cold, I had a great ride and it acted as a great warm up for my first run. By the time I got to my parents' house, I realized that the cool really helped my body to use up all of the energy that my breakfast gave me. I was starving! So I ate a piece of toast with peanut butter, along with a tiny glass of OJ before heading down to the treadmill. I then put on my brand new shoes....

And I was finally ready to get up on the treadmill that will help me reach my goal. ... this is where all the magic will happen! ;)

Today's workout consisted of the following: (All 3 workouts this week will be the same)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

In half an hr, I managed to cover 1.80km and burn 163 calories (not that I care about calorie burning).

Loved the workout and I can't wait for Monday for day 2!

Tomorrow Is The Day!

My brand new shoes arrived today! I'd post a picture but do not have my camera with me, so you will have to wait until tomorrow. They are Asics Kanbarra 4 gel runners. I didn't actually get to try on my size at the store on Wednesday because they weren't there, so I was super excited to get them on. They fit like a glove, are light as a feather and so extremely comfortable. I can't wait to run in them!

Now that I have the shoes, tomorrow will be day 1 of my training! And the first day of my journey! I must give a special thanks to my bloggy friend Basia for suggesting I check out the "Couch to 5K" program. I gave it a good look over and decided that it will most definitely be the program for me! The other program I was thinking of doing consisted of almost daily runs, however the C25K program is only 3 days a week which I can schedule whenever I want. 3 days will be much easier to fit into my current lifestyle.

Tonight I will be downloading a podcast to listen to during my workout and everything will begin tomorrow after my early morning ride on my horse! I can't wait!

One Step Closer!

...To starting this thing!!

I made a trip to the local mall yesterday to look for shoes. It would have been nice to check out the Running Room, but alas, I had just over $80 in mall gift cards from Christmas that I wanted to put towards my new shoes. I had already been to SportChek earlier in the week to check out their stock and prices. Although they did claim to have a 'sale' going on, I don't exactly call a buy one, get one 50% off a great deal if I only need one pair of shoes! My mom and I were thinking of going there and getting shoes at the same time, but she had decided that she was going to wait a bit before spending some money, so I was on my own for this trip. I found myself completely bummed out yesterday afternoon thinking what I was going do to in terms of getting shoes because I just don't have the spare $ to spend on a pair at full price. I actually found myself at a low and then I then was reminded that there was also a Foot Locker in the mall - I completely forgot about that!

I marched right into Foot Locker to find many many pairs of shoes on at clearance prices! They even had several different pairs of Asics gel runners on and after researching, I had decided that Asics was how I wanted to go. I tried on different models in different sizes -- I have freakishly small feet and they didn't have my size in anything!!! Once I found the model I liked (which was on sale for $79.99!!!), the salesman offered to see if he could order me a pair to have shipped to my office. I lucked out and they had 1 pair left in size 6. WOOO HOOO!!!! I ordered them on the spot and with my gift cards, they only cost me $7.70!

Now I am anxiously awaiting for them to arrive so I can start this thing!

Welcome To My Journey

Well I've got the outfit (sort of..) but still need some shoes before I can begin!

I figured that starting out this new journey of mine, while wearing my old cross country running shoes, would not be a good idea. I don't have the best knees to start with due to my horseback riding, so I'm definitely not going to cheap out on myself with this. After doing a lot of research online, and checking out the local SportChek, I've decided that I'm going to give the Asics gel shoes a try. Something sort of like these:

Since there is a sale on right now - buy 1 pair, get the 2nd 50% off - and since my mom is going to try out at least the first part of the journey with me (did I mention that yet? if not, yes! it's true! my mom wants to train for a 5K for me, and then if all goes well to do the Disney Princess Half Marathon next spring!), we are going to go shopping together one night this week and get outfitted with PROPER footwear. Providing I find the right shoes and everything goes as planned, training will commence on Saturday!

Stay tuned!