Couch 2 5k, Week 2 Day 1 - Experiment in post-run smoothies

Well, today was the first day of upping the running ante, so to speak. A minute and a half of continuous running. That sounds like nothing-- and really, in the scheme of my ultimate half-marathon goal, it is -- but it's new for me, and again new that I have WANTED to run that long. In the past running was a dreaded thing that I did for a greater good. I was madly in love with ROTC and would force myself, out of sheer willpower, to run until I wanted to throw up. And then the next time I would run, I would force myself to run a little bit more than I did last time. I hated that kind of running, it made me want to DIE, just die, on the treadmill or on the pavement. But, whatever, the APFT was 1% of my training. I'd keep up with it to stay in shape (I wasn't terribly worried about my shape back then, I was skinny), but since I was hoping to go into a branch focused more on intellect than brawn, it wasn't going to ruin my life either. Oh the guilt I had to use to push myself to run. I used every Jansinist and gnostic mental exercise I could think of (<--Catholic problems). I tried to distract myself with music. In the end it really WAS sheer willpower. And, oh tragically, since I had been doing all my practicing on a treadmill, I was unprepared to take the ACTUAL APFT in the Texas heat, and with wind resistance. -_- I didn't make a passing time.

This type of running is not bad, and I dearly wish I had known about it back in the day. But at least I'm taking advantage of this now. I even did a run on an incline, and did an *extra* run outside, on hills. Another plus is now that we have a treadmill in-house, I can run on it and put the TV up loud enough to hear it. Sometimes I do a New Year's countdown to running or walking in my head (makes the change much more exciting!), sometimes I just focus on whatever is on TV. When I'm not obsessing over distance or time, it makes it completely fine. In fact, I am looking forward to a time when I can watch an entire movie during my entire run. :D

Fine -- that's the word I kept thinking in shock after my first run. I feel fine! I mean I feel tired, but fine. I don't want to die. I DON'T want to die! WHY do I feel fine!? What sorcery is this!? I think this is the way one is supposed to feel after working out. Even after this second run, I can tell it was a little harder -- and that I was a little dehydrated as I was dizzy after the run -- but still, fine.

I've been rewarding myself after runs with a hot shower, and today I decided to try to do one of those post-workout smoothies. I'm not sure of how it fits into my daily caloric intake, so I'm resolved to do it only once a week, after the first run of the week. Today's smoothie comes from here, the Banana mocha smoothie, with just a few modifications on my part:

Smoothie Recipe: Banana Mocha
"Replenishes glycogen stores and increases endurance" (says the website; I tend to take that with a grain of salt)

1 cup almond milk
½ cup coffee (cooled)
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 frozen banana

calories: 288

Cinnamon, chocolate, banana, peanut butter (which you can't really taste, which is good, because I don't care for peanut butter in non-candy form)... an excuse to eat this in healthy-form. I'll take it!

Today, motivation came in the form of finding a t-shirt I used to wear in college, one of those tight babydoll tees I used to wear when I would practice ballroom, and wearing it to (of course) find it looked terrible on me now. I decided to wear it anyway because one day I will wear it again and it will look ... well, at least not as bad as it does now. Another reason to work out alone -- no one can hear you scream, fat. O_o

Lastly, I think my form must be off. I found that as I started running, I developed pain on the top of my ankle when it was fully flexed and my weight was over it. It only hurt when starting to run, and after whenever it was in that particular position. It must be wrong. Perhaps it comes from learning forward after I hit the button to run on the treadmill, in anticipation of picking up speed. I'll figure it out later. Uhm, I hope. Good thing tomorrow is a day off.