I did it! 5k! And life after 5k

I did it! I ran a 5k! Actually ... I had run 5k before the 5k... I skipped two days ahead in the program just to make sure I could do that. I don't recommend that ... I mayyyyy be having a recurrence of the ankle pain I experienced earlier with the too much/too fast start I had.

I made it a point earlier that week to go to Target and get some real running clothes, because my shorts were too short and uncomfortable to wear, and the only other shorts available were ... my husband's. Instead, I got a running skirt/skort which I LOVE, and a shirt made of appropriate material, not a cotton graphic t-shirt. I felt like a real runner on Saturday morning, but that didn't stop me from being a bundle of nerves. I swear I just KNEW I was going to throw up, and at that point I couldn't tell whether it was from nerves or from the effort I thought I was going to expend. Either way, I was scared, although of what, I couldn't tell. Probably simply pre-race nerves.

I got to the race as soon as registration opened, since I had no idea what to expect. It was a local neighborhood race to benefit a Catholic school, and the number of participants was relatively small, from what I'm given to understand. I think there were 360 people registered altogether, divided up between the one mile event and the 5k. There were a lot of kids from the school, too, although there were some other runners, people wearing the Marine Corps Marathon shirts, the Army 10-miler, other half-marathons and marathons. There was the obligatory old dude wearing shorts that were WAY too short, the obligatory dude runner who strips off his shirt the first chance he gets, moms with strollers, crazy fit people and not so fit people.

It seemed like it took forever for the 5k race to start, which was concerning me because the sun was getting higher in the sky. I was worried about overheating, and I already knew from that one poor run that I don't do well running in the sun. The 1M race started, and after all runners came back from that, and after "technical difficulties" with the timing chip software, the 5k race finally got started.

I immediately plugged in my headphones to my run mix and just got going. There was some people-dodging, but mostly people were running around me, since my pace seems to be somewhere between 11:00-11:30/mi. There were hills, but they weren't too terribly awful. Mostly, I zoned out. I focused on the music, I focused on the pace. Occasionally I ran around someone. There were one or two stretches where running in the sun was unavoidable. I felt very hot, and I got a strange ache/stitch that felt like it was underneath my whole ribcage. I had never experienced that before, but I just slowed down and controlled my breathing. The worst thing was the heat, which wasn't even that bad.

At the end of the race, though, the finish line was UP a hill, and it was actually about .3 miles longer than a 5k. I had decided to sprint the last .2 miles, and THAT was a real challenge. But boy, was it fun focusing all my thoughts and energy on that finish line that didn't get closer fast enough despite every ounce of everything I had trying to bring it closer. And when I finally finished, husband and kids there to cheer me on, it was glorious. I had done it! I had proof! I ran a 5k. I had a t-shirt and results to show for it. I'm a REAL runner now!

Since then, I thought I would start on the couch to 10k program, but instead I think I'm going to spend the month of June getting comfortable running 3 miles consistently.

You know as strange as it sounds, I'm still trying to figure out what I think of running. Running isn't comfortable. As a little bit of a hedonist, it puzzles me a little bit why I would do it if I'm not in love with the act of running. Some of it is sheer willpower, heading towards a goal which I MUST attain. Some of it is liking the idea of simply being able to run long distances, and being fit. Some of it is my weight loss goal. I do like being outside, or when I run inside on the treadmill, feeling like I'm doing something productive when I do something like watch TV or movies. I'll probably get to like the act of running itself -- I'm told after your first couple of miles it becomes more enjoyable. However, I'm only just able to run those first couple of miles, and not much more yet. I like developing discipline, I like setting and reaching a goal EVERY time I run. So it seems I like a lot of things about running, just not the discomfort. ;) Which I suppose is 100% natural. But it also makes running seem a little bit unnatural or discordant... about what else do we say, "I like all these things ABOUT X, but I don't always enjoy X" ?

In any case, next I have the Marine Corps 10k to run in October. Between now and then, I will be getting used to running 5k, and then moving up to 10k. The journey never really ends, though. It seems to be taking me down interesting places.

Well, until next time!

Week 7 Day 2 -- Deja Vu All Over Again

I've neglected the blog a little bit because I've got a FB support group of friends who also run or want to run or are starting C25k. So, sorry, blog!

Well I guess I have to write about week 7 day 2, since I accidentally just ran it twice. ;P Which I guess is okay, because the first one wasn't the right amount of running.

I have been convinced by a friend to start running outside instead of on a treadmill. Of course, this friend lives in Florida, where everything is flat. I live ... in hill country. It's definitely a different type of running, but I'm not unprepared for it. It's probably good that I get outdoors to run, since I have my first 5k race outdoors (of course) this upcoming Saturday.

I woke up late in the day on Friday and thought to myself, "Hey, self, why don't you go for a run?" At that point, it's near 11am (don't judge, ok. Shut up). I poked my head out the door and thought, "naaaah, it's fine outside! It's a balmy low 70s and it probably won't get much warmer! I'll be fine! Right?"

WRONG

Whatever the temperature, you of course feel hotter when running, added to the fact that running in the near-noon sun makes you feel even hotter. Smart people probably know this. I'm an idiot. I got about halfway through the first part of the run, where there is a long, long, slow ascent to a hill. In the sun, I just couldn't do it. I turned around, still running, and went back in the other direction.

What I FORGOT, though, was there was a frikken ginormous hill that I had just run *down*, far larger and steeper than the slow ascent that had been ahead of me. Stupid me. I stopped and walked when I realized that I was sweating buckets, and that I just couldn't get my breathing under control. Once I got to the top of the hill I ran again. It wasn't the 20 minutes straight of running, more like 16mins, walking, then 4mins. My legs felt like jelly -- it was the first time I had done any hill running in quite a while. I was disappointed by that, but I also felt so blazing hot that I didn't care, and I knew I hadn't wimped out. I had done the right thing in the circumstances.

Today, I learned my lesson and thought that I'd go out just a few minutes before sunset. I thought I should have enough light to be able to complete my run without it getting too dark. I don't have any special reflective-y gear, only 90s graphic t-shirts, mostly from Broadway shows, and my husband's Navy shorts, because prior to this I was not an athlete and I have been trying to do this running thing on the cheap. Plus, a lady running at night or after dark doesn't sound safe. So some sun, and light, was a must.

No need to fear! Everything was totally fine. Plus, did you know that somehow the grass and trees are nature's A/C? I could have sworn as I ran along, breathing in the delicious honeysuckle aroma, that something like a cool breeze (like, 65 degrees cool!) was coming off the grass and through the trees. Halfway through my run along the same route, along the same long, slow ascent that made me turn around last time, it felt great. I was fine. I could do it! I did the whole run!

Unfortunately it wasn't the RIGHT run. :P I should have run 5 minutes longer than I did. For some reason, I couldn't get MapMyRun and 10k Runner to play nice on my iPhone. I think the latter must have restarted, and so instead of being on w7d3, I was on w7d2. Again.

I am hoping that the hills will help me come race day, despite being a little behind. r/C25k says it unlocks "beast mode". ;) I can get behind that.

One other interesting phenomenon I noticed -- when one starts out, you get used to running a minute, and then walking to recover. Once recovered, you run a little longer, recover again, etc. Now that I'm running 20+ minutes, I'm still recovering from my run, but I noticed it WHILE running. Towards the beginning of the run, almost at the start, there was a short but very steep hill which got my heart rate up. Then I ran *down* the hill (the one that killed me and made me walk), and I noticed that, while running, my heart was nonetheless slowing down. I was recovering from the exertion while still exerting myself. I was completely recovered at the bottom of the huge hill, ready to conquer the long, slow hill (henceforth to be known as the LSH). Once I got to the top of the LSH and was running along a more or less flat course, I found myself recovering from the previous hill. Towards the end of the run, it was just running. It wasn't even terribly hard (which probably should have tipped me off), so I started to sprint towards the end of it, just for fun.

This is neat! I'm really excited about everything, and impatient to improve my running time and distance. Maybe next time I won't make boneheaded mistakes. ;P

I'll check in after the race in a couple days.

C25k - w6 d1

Just completed week 6 day 1, which is 10 minutes of running, 5 minutes of walking, and another 10 minutes of walking.

I'm getting close to the 5k goal! I can hardly believe it. In January and most of February, I was feeling gross and lacking in energy. I could hardly get up off the couch. I have no idea WHY I decided to be insane with a friend of mine and volunteer to run a half-marathon, but I did, and it's been a change for the better. After completing a 5k, I'll go on to post about training for a 10k, and then a half-marathon, partially because I have some ideas bouncing around about them, and partially in case anyone else is interested in what going beyond C25k looks like.

I signed up for my first 5k yesterday. I had been looking all over active.com for 5ks in my area around the time of my finishing the program, but the ones I found that were interesting, affordable, or not completely sold-out seemed to be in September/October/November. No good for me -- I'll be 5k ready at the end of May. I don't know how it slipped my notice the half-dozen times I combed through the site, but I found one locally (in my suburb! of a major metropolitan area! where most things occur in the more populated areas!) that benefits a local Catholic school. It also happens to be on the very day I finish the C25k program (essentially skipping w8 d3 for the 5k proper). Perfect timing!

So this week I run in 20 minute chunks, divided up differently. This also is the difference between my 5k running app (5k runner) and the original C25k program. d3 of last week would have had me go from 8R + 5W + 8R to a straight 20 minute run, and then back today to breaking it up with a walk. I won't be doing the 20 minute run until next week. Next day will be a 3R instead of 5, then 15R + 3W + 5R, and from there building up 5 minutes at a time to the 35 minute run / 5k (at a 12 minute mile pace, which is roughly what I'm doing).

After passing the 5k mark, I intend to work on my speed as I then start working towards a 10k, and in order to work on speed evidently according to a bunch of links here and within, I should do a bunch of 5ks where I"m actually *racing*, where it's actually hard from start to finish. Which makes sense, these are *races* after all. Why not?

So that's my next plan -- do a 5k, work towards a 10k while increasing speed. Run a bunch of 5ks to PR on a 10k and more.

Whoo!

W4 D3 - Half Way to 5k!

On paper, it seems the only difference between this run and the last one is a shortened walk interval between runs. However when actually running this, I was surprised at how much easier it was to *run*. I don't know if I was having an off day when I ran W4 D2, but I was definitely not counting the seconds until the end of the run, nor was I huffing and puffing quite as much, though it was nonetheless a challenge.

I'm quite excited by this. Which is good, because very soon those green bars won't be solid, but broken up into 1-minute intervals, running 10 minutes at a time. It still SOUNDS impossible. I have to get over this mental block in my head that keeps telling me, "There is no WAY you can do this." If you had told me in January that I'd be running/walking 2 miles three times a week, and that's only a small way to training for a half-marathon, I would have thought you were nuts. Even if you would have told me at my fittest I probably would have thought you were nuts. Running has always been *impossible* for me. Now it's not. I just need to adjust to this paradigm shift. ;)

Week 4, Day 2 -- Challenge

Well, here we go. Today was a real challenge. I think this was partially because I tried to dial up the speed last time, which was not a good idea, despite it not being by much. Consequently, I have some soreness on the inside side of my lower leg, like directly above the ankle. I think these may be shin splints? Not sure, but they're not too bad right now. I haven't noticed them getting worse, they're just not totally gone from the last time I ran to now. I noticed it last time as a tightness in that area when I was running. The next day I was sore, and today I'm still sore. They don't hurt too much when I run, except (of course) for today. We will see how these go -- the internets tell me that this usually subsides "as fitness improves". Okay, cool.

I did the 5-minute run! Twice! Yay!!! The first time was pretty cool -- I definitely noticed I was more sweaty and flushed at the end of it than at any point previously since starting c25k over again and dialing back the speed. I told myself I would not look at the time until a certain point in the song. In fact I was able to do most of the run not looking, and feeling good, although getting a little tired in the last 45 seconds of the run. The next 5 minute run was ... rather more difficult. O_o As was the 3 minute run following. I found myself staring at the clock because I couldn't concentrate on much else. Whew. Even the cool-down run I turned the walk speed from 3.5 mph down to 3 because I was ... I was just so tired. Perhaps I need to eat better on running days now that they are a challenge.

But yay! 5 minutes! Over 2 miles (maybe 2.5?) says the treadmill. I'm excited about this, although a tiny bit concerned about moving on. We will see how the soreness plays out. I may repeat this week just to get it solidly under my belt. Soon the running time will be measured in 1-minute increments, but will be in 10-minute chunks!

Week 2 Day 3 -- Happy Easter, and happy no injuries!

Happy Easter!

Whew, I was sooooo tired today (Easter is a big, big deal in this house), but I am glad I made myself run, not the least reason being the tremendous amount of calories I'm sure I ate. Between "helping" the kids with their candy, and the Easter brunch, it was just ... too much. So, even though I was ready to fall down and sleep, a run ultimately felt pretty decent.

(Yes, I am keeping up with my calorie restriction diet and continuous, gradual weight loss, but very very occasionally I allow myself to splurge for one day or one meal. If I didn't, I'd never keep up with the program. You have to like something to stick with it that much.)

And hooray for no injuries! This was the point, when I first started the c25k program, where everything from the knee down started to ache, starting after a run (which I knew wasn't a good sign). By the middle of W3 D3 I knew I had to stop because I had injured myself. It looks like it really was my starting pace which did it to me.

Today's run wasn't too hard, even with the new switch to a toe-strike. I think in a couple of weeks I may attempt to pick up the pace veeeeeery slowly. I think maybe by the end of week 4 or week 5, my body should be more or less acclimated to regular running -- but that's just a guess, I'll have to check with someone else who would know.

Very much looking forward to next week's running. Week 3, here I come! Rar!

Addendum: I hadn't been *great* about stretching before now, but I decided to youtube something and get on that ball in a more disciplined way rather than half-assing it. This guy is funny, so I've been doing what he said. Minus that lunge thing, which I cannot seem to get to work.

W2 D1 Redux - Toe-striking

Today I completed the week 2 day 1 run (running intervals pictured above). At last, a place where I can break a bit of a sweat. Today's run wasn't yet a challenge, but it still felt like an accomplishment to finish. And not a single twinge from the knee, although it did feel a little odd, but it quickly dissipated.

I like to think this is because, on the advice of a friend, I've actually switched up my running style a little bit. Rather than a heavy heel-strike (with a strong pronation due to horrendous arches), I've tried to switch to a toe/forefoot strike. The anecdotal advice of M said that all her problems (ankle, knee) cleared up when she did this. What the heck, I thought. When I re-started the program, I was a bit bored, so to make it interesting I figured I'd try it.

It seems to pair well with toe-raises that I do on off-days (and whenever I remember). If you don't know what running with this kind of strike would feel like, picture this: you're outside, on a sidewalk in your bare feet, and you have to run to something. You sort of naturally run toe-heel when you're being ginger with your feet.

Note: I have done ZERO real research about this, I just figured I try it out, because eh, why not. I do switch back and forth between my heel-strike and the toe-strike because 1) toe-striking isn't what I'm used to and it takes some concentration, 2) switching back when calves (say) get tired appears to buy some extra running energy, as I'm working different muscles. It's probably not good practice to change something up without investigating pros and cons.

WHATEVER THO LOL

I also had a biggish calorie deficit prior to the run that I indulged in a smoothie! :D

Overall, encouraged. Still running slowly, and I'm a little concerned about that, but I will work on that once my endurance is up-to-snuff. Right now, my mini-goal is to make it to the end of this week (w2d3) without any pain or injury setting in. At that point, given that I had run for 2-3 weeks before I had to stop, I think I may be acclimated enough to running that I shouldn't expect any major new runner's soreness.

I think I may have mentioned in my "why I run" post about the weight loss I'm trying for. I was at my max post-pregnancy weight when I actively started to try to lose weight (first, by eating normally but cutting out sugar, then by calorie deficit, then by deficit plus running, even though the running is less for weight loss and more for the goals I outlined previously). My goal is to lose 30lbs (at least). So far, I've lost 13lbs. I started measuring inches only a couple weeks ago, but I've already lost one inch off my hips and 2.5 inches off my waist. I'm so encouraged by this, SO encouraged!

Looking forward to Thursday's run!!