Well! Again! I can't believe how much this running is POSSIBLE. Even this run when my chest started to get a little tight during the first long (2.5 minute) run, after the walk, it was better, it was fine. I carried on the rest of the run. Actually I was amazed how little willpower I needed to muster to keep going. Not to say it wasn't challenging -- although I do admit in the middle of almost every run, I think to myself, "How on EARTH am I going to do this in excess of thirty minutes at a time? I can just barely get it done in the designated time. And yet, at the same time, a five minute run seemed unthinkable four weeks ago, and now I'm halfway there. In fact, this time next week I should be running five minutes at a time. Whew.
My ankle is still bothering me, although it has not gotten progressively worse, so after much vacillating today, and an ill-thought-out attempt to strengthen it by doing toe raises on the edge of a step (OH so much ow!), I ran on it anyway, because I WOULD really hate to miss a day of c25k. At the end of this week, I will be 1/3 of the way through the program! I've lost 7lbs so far! I want to keep doing this! It wasn't too bad -- I also stretched out my hamstrings for like 10 whole minutes or something before running. I don't even know how long it was, as I was attempting to sync exactly one playlist to my phone, but for some reason it took forever and wanted to do a complete update. Sigh. iTunes has really gone downhill.
I got suggestions for a running playlist from rockmyrun.com . Currently it's:
1. Run (Flo Rida)
2. Thrift Shop (Macklemore)
3. It's Time (Imagine Dragons)
4. I Love It (Icona Pop)
5. Firework (Katy Perry)
6. Roar (Katy Perry) <-- Because who doesn't love this workout song? It's basically a reference to "Rocky" AND "The Karate Kid" !
7. Never Gonna Give You Up (Rick Astley -- that's right, I Rick-Rolled myself. Hello, 2007.)
8. You Know My Name (Chris Cornell)
That last song used to be my workout music after a particularly bad breakup, when I was mad at everything and also taking Tae Kwon Do. I put it on and kicked the crap out of everything in sight.
I listened to that music and I also had CNN on in the background, just because I wanted to mix it up. I won't be running my goal races to TV or movies, but I will probably have music. I also have to be prepared for the boredom of ... just running. Back when I was running for ROTC, I used to listen to books on tape while running. Perhaps when I get in better shape I can get back to that again.
Another thing I've done is gotten myself a foam roller. They sounded dumb to me, but my runner mentors have SWORN by them. And frankly, between Tuesday's run and today's, I think I can tell a difference. Scratch that, I can definitely tell a huge difference. Tuesday was another day I wasn't sure whether I was just sore or if I had actually hurt something, but I decided to run anyway. A couple seconds into the first running segment, I heard a Bluth-esque "I've made a Huge Mistake". My knees were stiff, my ankles were KILLING me, and everything felt Wrong. I kept going (maybe not a good idea) because I didn't want to fail. When I stopped and after I did my stretch, everything hurt. Everything. Hurt. I sat in the recliner with my feet up and my ankle in an ACE bandage and just whimpered until bedtime. The next day I hobbled around in the bandage. Today after the run, when my ankles were by no means completely healed, I felt those twinges, but after stretching, I also did some foam rolling, using this video:
Plus this one for the muscle around my ankle that's hurting:
And ... I felt measurably better. I am icing the ankle and will put the ACE bandage back on for good measure, but I could walk up and down stairs and all around MUCH more easily than the last time. So much so that I think I must attribute it to the rolling rather than strength or getting used to the exercise.
I think I did pretty well on this run, despite it being another slow one, so I had the post-run smoothie. Yay!
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