Week 6 Day 1

I actually felt excited about doing my run this evening, and I expected it to be really easy both because I was excited and because after the big 20 minute run at the end of week 5, I only had to do a 5min, 8 min, 5 min run interval pattern today. Nope, it wasn't easy. For a little while I recounted what day it was, because I felt so weak I thought I must have miscounted and run on a rest day...
After the five minute walk, the running started and I headed for our main drag, but there was an ambulance, firetruck, and lots of shady-looking people about, so I decided to head the other direction down the irrigation canal bank. One can go for miles along the canals in this valley. It was wonderfully serene along the canal, there was no one else there but me, and it felt like I was running a long way. I kept thinking of that Ray Bradbury story "The Pedestrian" where no one is outside except the main character...everyone is inside watching tv. I'd never been along the canal before, even though we've lived here forever, and it was cool to see all the gateways to go off on other streets...potential running paths for future runs.
Towards the end of the 8 minute interval I started feeling strong...but still had the brain going back and forth between continuing to run and thinking I couldn't go farther. It felt best when I could just turn off my brain and wallow in the rhythm and senseless moving...like a meditative state.
If you're thinking you might like to try this yourself, take a look at coolrunning.com for more information.

Week 5 Day 3 C25K

Twenty minutes is a looooongg time...but I've had five babies, so I tried to think of it as labor and kept going. Hard to believe that 90 seconds seemed impossible and I was awake at night worrying about it just a few weeks ago. The first half of twenty minutes felt pretty awful, and I almost stopped about a million times, but the halfway mark announcement came sooner than I expected, and then some Mardi Gras style music came on, and I was just about dancing for a while there. The buzz passed, but gave way to a sort of Zen-like concentration that was like meditation and I kept going. I'm glad to see that week 6 works in a similar pattern of a much easier run on the first day, a bit harder on the second day, and the somewhat-less-intimidating-than-it-was-before 25 minute run on the third day.

Week 4/5

I've gotten behind on blogging with it being the end of the school year and all, but I've still been doing the runs. Week four day three was probably the hardest...I guess it was just an off day, because I kept waiting for the part where you get the adrenaline rush and feel good, but it just never came. I felt good that I was done, but the whole run just felt terrible. Most of the runs have had a moment when I felt better if I just stuck with it...
I've been really lucky on weather, it's been chilly enough to need a jacket most evenings, but warm enough that I take it off after the first interval or so. Since it's pretty often over 100 degrees here in the summer, that's a good thing.
I've done two of the week 5 runs so far. The Robert Ullrey podcasts I'm using put them all together even though each day has different intervals, which is kind of weird when you're in the midst of an 8 minute interval and the voice tells the invisible other runners who are still on day 1 that they can stop running now. Not so bad when I realized that the voice was also telling me I just had three minutes left. That used to feel like an impossibly long time, but now it's a relief..."just three minutes left? I got this..."
So today is supposed to be the first 20 minute run. Bleagh...how the heck am I gonna do this?
Stay tuned...

Week 4 Day 1 C25K

It's a video blog today, friends...right here
All about the messing that happens in your head, and the delight of unexpected encouragement...

Mama Keeps Going Week 3 Day 1

I'm a bit behind schedule. The Urgent Care doctor last Sunday told me I should take a couple days off work to recuperate from the sinus infection he treated me for. I saw in his bio online that he was a runner, so I trusted his judgement...sorta...I still went to work, there's only three weeks left in the school year, but I didn't do my run and I took a nap or two when I got home from work.
Sinus infection is gone, still a wee bit of productive cough, but I think the running will help heal that. 
I kept running, before the doctor visit, in spite of the sinus infection because I'd read that running in the fresh air is one of the best ways to naturally cure sinus congestion. One day I almost didn't run, the headache, coughing,  and fatigue were so bad, but while I ran the headache went away. Also, the coughing continued until about the 4th interval of 60 second running, 90 seconds walking but then it stopped completely and didn't reappear until the end of the workout. If I just could have run all day, I would have felt fine, lol.
So today was the delayed beginning of Week 3. I was really surprised at how easy it was. My biggest problem with doing C25K is in my head, so having only 4 intervals to get my doubting brain through was simple. I also didn't think I could get through a 3 minute run, but when it started to feel too long, I remember that 3 minutes in how long songs on the radio were when I was a kid, and I knew at that moment that if I could dance through a whole song, I could do this interval. Piece of cake. The anticipation was much worse than the actual thing. Of course, I learned from the one episode of being cocky last week that part of the secret is keeping the jogging slow and methodical. I stopped thinking "am I there yet, am I almost to the end of the interval?" and just let my brain turn off while my feet mindlessly pumped...

Couch 2 5K Week 2 is FINISHED!!!

This week we're going with the video blog...in my Vespa shirt...with a cameo appearance by The Shortest One. Take a look right here.

Today was a rest day for the run training, and I accompanied Sweet Man to the gym to do a non-running workout. Kids stayed home, so it counts as a date, right? We haven't been to the gym consistently in months, so we're trying to get that habit going again. He ran like a crazy man on the treadmill while I played around on the weight machines. I did all the arm machines, the ab machines, and the back machines, three sets of 10-12 reps. My favorite was the ab machine that works kinda like kneeling on an office chair and swiveling to work your waist. It was actually fun, and I had to keep count to prevent myself from doing too much and risking regrets of soreness tomorrow.
Since I didn't need a pumping soundtrack to keep me going, I had my NPR podcast of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me playing in the ipod. I fear some of my gym-mates must have though me a bit crazy, as I grinned and sometimes laughed out loud during my workout...

So now I've done the full first week of C25K, plus the first run of the second week.

Somehow, according to my scale, I've gained SIX POUNDS!!! Yep, you read that right I GAINED weight. I don't think I've been eating more, the only thing that's changed is the weather warming up, so I have no explanation. We've joked about my being pregnant, having the crazy-fast-growing baby like in Breaking Dawn, but at my age, probably not. Lots of folks have tried to console me with the "muscle is heavier than fat" thing, but this much heavier?

Anyway, it's been a weird week, and I've not exactly followed the plan. I wanted to do a WiiFit workout whenever I wasn't doing a run day, and I've done that half the amount I thought I would. I have gotten in all the runs, but sometimes not on the day I thought they would happen. This week has included The Shortest One's fifth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Hipster Girl's final swim meet of the school year was Saturday, at which she won her heat twice. Sweet Man's field trip to Yosemite gone wrong was also Saturday, during which a student stole a bottle of alcohol and poisoned herself chugging it on the sly. This caused an ambulance trip and Sweet Man spending a late evening ensuring her safety and providing support to her family. Also this week, a very sad event, the drowning death of one of my dear students. Found out about that one last night, and today at school was exhausting. Two kids were with him and tried unsuccessfully to save him, those poor boys were understandably a mess today, but they came to school. Lots of tears and hugs were shared. Good kids. Sad times.

I'm also fighting off a wicked cold, so I had every excuse not to run today, but I got my shoes on and went. The weather is perfect, and the evening light has extended just far enough with the changing seasons that despite a late start I didn't have to run in the dark. Changing from a 60 to a 90 second running interval was mentally challenging more than physical, although a few of the intervals hurt a bit. The trance music has a beat that makes mindless plodding easier. Not graceful or pretty, but relentless, and that works for me.

So I'm hoping sometime this week to see a little weight loss, but I'm going to stick with it one way or the other because I really want to get stronger. I found out the run they used to have in Forks, Washington, where I spend some time every summer, no longer exists, but I looked up some 1 milers and a 5K or two around here for later, so I've still got a plan.