Running Post-Holidays

For a few weeks there during the holiday season, I just about stopped running completely. I had no motivation to run, so I only ran once, maybe twice a week. During our week-and-a-half family visit, I ran twice...and only three miles total.

The lack of motivation to run combined with the increased amount of sugar I was consuming daily really set me back. All throughout the fall, I did three mile runs pretty steadily. But when the holidays came and I stopped running three to four times a week, I could barely make it to two miles. And then I could barely run one mile. It was sad, frustrating, and definitely not motivating. The harder it got to complete a run, the less I wanted to run. Its a vicious cycle.

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After we got home from Christmas, I was talking to my running friend, Melanie, about this frustration. She said she was in the same boat--no motivation, no runs, and more sweets. But her approach to getting back in shape was different than mine. I was trying to force myself to continue with three-mile runs, even though my body couldn't handle it. And when I couldn't complete those runs, I'd feel guilty for slacking off.

Melanie, on the other hand, was running what she could and walking the rest. (Mind you-- she walks so fast I about have to jog to keep up with her.) She was making sure she enjoyed her runs and was keeping positive about it--even if she had to walk some, she'd still exercised.

I liked her approach much better than my guilt-riddled one. So the next time I went to the gym, I ran what I could and walked when I got exhausted. I didn't beat myself up. I acknowledged that I'd slacked off and that I had to gain back the distance I'd lost. I left the gym feeling proud of myself for exercising.

Over the past two weeks, I've gone back to the Couch to 5K plan in order to retrain my body. I had to start over at the halfway mark, which is a bummer, but I can quickly feel my body getting back into shape. This approach feels much more possible than forcing my body to do what it can't. I don't dread running anymore, which is half of the fight. Now that I don't dread it, I'm more willing to get to the gym more often. And as a result, the running is starting to get easier again.

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I'm glad I've broken the cycle! I'm not back to three miles yet, but I know I will be soon. And maybe this time I'll add on a few more miles...who knows?!

My First 5K!

I did it! Our 5K was this past Saturday and I ran the whole dang thing, hills and all!

I was nervous going into it because all my runs the week leading up to the race were awful. Awful. I ran four times the week before, and each time I had no energy and couldn't get myself moving faster than a slow shuffle. And on my last run before the race, I couldn't even finish 3 miles. So come race day, I was definitely nervous I wouldn't be able to finish it.

The morning of the race, Melanie and I got to the race location about an hour and a half before it started so we could find parking, get our stuff in order, get our timing chips, etc. It was freezing that early in the morning so we walked around for a while and people watched and I tried to keep myself positive, which is probably the hardest part in all of this running. Mind over body.

Once we got running, the nerves were gone. It was still a hard course because there were quite a few big, gradual hills and a few steep ones too, but we settled into our pace and talked and it was just like all the other runs we'd done over the past months.

The best part of the race was actually the worst part, too. We'd just passed halfway, we'd just finished the gradual hill that sapped all of my strength, and we had two steep hills coming up one after the other. For the life of me, I couldn't keep myself positive. (This is where Melanie comes in-- she's pretty good at pep talks.) As we're running these hills, a woman comes up next to us and joins in on our conversation like she's been there the whole time. So we started to talk with her and get to know her, and she told us she'd just retired from teaching after thirty years. I told her I was trying to find a teaching job and asked if she had any advice, and she began to offer all these different tips for getting into the school system and told me who I could contact at her former school in order to get a foot in the door. Then she told us that she had done the Couch to 5K program too with women from her church, so we talked about churches and it turns out we'd all done the same Beth Moore Bible study.

As we're talking about all these things, I realized that we were already into the last half mile-- which was thankfully all downhill-- and in no time we crossed the finish line! I tell ya, God's timing was perfect. He knew how negative I can be and He knew how much I'd been dreading those hills, so He sent someone we could talk with and who could distract us in order to get us through the race. It was such an enjoyable race, mostly because of our conversation with that woman (who also introduced me to a couple of her teacher friends after the race-- how sweet is that?). And it was such a great feeling afterwards to realize that I'd officially run a 5K, which is something I never thought I would do.

Sadly, we only got one picture of the race after it was all over and we were sweaty and gross. :) Check out my cool shirt from the race...look closely and you'll see a dog on top of the sign, painting a 9 after 5K. Get it? (Say it all together...5K 9...har har.)

Next up is an 8K by Thanksgiving! Look out world...I'm officially a runner!

Couch to 5k, Week 6

Last night, my running partner Melanie and I finished week 6. We're a little off schedule due to her family vacation last week, plus our schedules now seem to conflict almost every day. I teach the days she doesn't teach, I have Bible study one night and she's got hers the next morning, we've got middle school small group one night, she's got her son's baseball games. Whew. Welcome to fall!

But despite the craziness, we did squeeze in a run last night. We ran about 8:30 last night so it was nice and cool. We had to run 2.25 miles to finish out the week (which is .25 more than last week's run) and I was feeling nervous since I barely survived last week. We were more concerned with distance last night than with our time so we used my pedometer to track our progress. Thankfully Melanie still timed it because according to the pedometer, we'd only run 1.5 miles in 21 minutes. That wasn't right-- last week I ran two miles in 22 minutes and I was moving a lot slower then. We realized the pedometer had to be off because I'd also driven the route before we ran and it was an even 3 miles. We decide to run back to our cars and just hope that was about 2.25 miles. We ran a total of 27 minutes which I figured had to be at least 2.5 miles. At least I hoped so, because I was feeling exhausted and awful.

As I drove home, I felt pretty discouraged that I was so tired after 2.25ish when I've only got two weeks to get up to 3.1 for our race. But Melanie called me as I was driving and told me she drove the route again to check the distance, and it turns out we ran at least 2.7 miles! Hallelujah! I felt so much better once she told me the good news. 2.7 miles is much more than I would have thought I could run at this point, and even though I was so exhausted for the rest of the night, it was worth it to know that I'm that close to the 5k goal. Like I said, I've got right under two weeks until the race so I'm going to try to run at least four times each week, if not more, so that I can run 3.1 a few times before the actual race. I can't believe my first 5K is in two weeks!

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Couch to 5k, Week 5

Week 5 required a different run each day. The first two days, I felt really good and felt like I was making some progress. But the third run of the week was a two mile run with no walking. That was a huge jump from the previous runs, and it kicked my tail. My sister Sarah ran with me since she was in town for the weekend, and she kept me moving when I was ready to quit and walk for a few minutes.

But as discouraging as it was to be that tired, I was very proud of myself. Never in my life have I willingly run two consecutive miles (excluding my middle school soccer days). While Sarah and I ran, my thoughts kept bouncing between "I'm so exhausted!" and "I can't believe I'm on my second mile!" It was a good feeling. The pain in my legs, ribs and stomach was another story. ;)

Proof! Two miles, 22 minutes.

Couch to 5K, Week 4

Technically, its the third week we've been running the Couch to 5K, but its the fourth week according to the plan.

Anyways, I decided to post about my progress in running at the end of each week. This way I can look back and remember how I felt each week, plus track my progress (obviously). So without further ado....week 4.

Checking days off feels so good!

Week 4 required sixteen minutes of running (total), broken up into intervals of three and five minutes. Week 3 only had nine minutes of running, so it was a big step and I definitely felt it. The first day of week 4, Monday, was awful. I was so ready to quit and felt totally exhausted for hours after I ran. Before we ran it again, I ran week 3's workout to feel better about myself...and it didn't work. :) But it got better. We ran again on Thursday and it was a little easier, although I didn't feel great. I did have more energy afterwards, however. That was a good sign to me. And today I felt so much better. Granted, Hurricane Irene brought us a great breeze and cooled the morning off by a few degrees.

Signs of progress:

Monday.
We didn't talk at all during the running. There was no way I could talk and run and survive. :)
My entire body felt like Jell-O when we finished.
I drained my entire water bottle before we finished the run.
I was drained of energy for at least two hours after we ran.

Thursday.
Not a lot of talking, but more.
Tried to drink less water (since I probably won't carry any during the 5K).
More energy after running, although I still had Jell-O for legs.

Saturday.
Talked for most of the run, up until the last 5 minute run.
Didn't drink any water until after the run (since Melanie didn't have her stroller, I had no place to put my water bottle).
Plenty of energy when we finished, enough to check out a Farmer's Market before heading home.

I'm definitely encouraged to see the progress even within this week. It makes me feel much more confident that I'll be ready for the 5K by the end of September.

Bring on week 5!

Couch Potato No More

Sadly, I'm a total couch potato. I can sit on the couch and do nothing for hours thanks to Pinterest, blogs, and Friday Night Lights. I've always wanted to be more active and I'd love to be one of those people who run because it feels good (versus feeling like a slow, painful death), who run when they're stressed so they feel better, and who get energized from running. I am definitely not one of those people yet, but I'm working on it.

I found out three weeks ago about the Couch to 5k program. Nine weeks from not running at all to running three miles. The program sounded perfect for me. I've tried in the past to just get out there and start running, and its always ended with me in pain and swearing off running forever. Enter the Couch to 5K. Each week, you do intervals of walking and jogging until you're ready to run three miles. These last two weeks were slightly challenging, but I always felt great afterwards. Today was a different story. Today, the program got serious about running and added almost double the running from last week. I wanted to quit, to lay down and never get up, but thankfully I have a very encouraging running partner (who happens to push two kids in a stroller while running, so I need to stop whining).

Melanie and I were meeting up a few times per week to go walking in the mornings. She teaches Stroller Strides and is in better shape than I am. But we'd meet up, walk and talk for about an hour, and then play at the park with her kids. When I found out about the Couch to 5K program, I mentioned it to her and told her I thought we could do it. She loved the idea and mentioned she'd always wanted to get into running, since her husband runs and her sister is training for a half marathon. So for the past three weeks, we've been slowly preparing for a 5K at the end of September, the VMC 5K. Its perfectly timed for the end of our nine week training. I'm excited. I'm nervous I won't be ready in time. I'm doubting that I'll even finish the training and do the 5K. I'm proud of myself for running at least three times each week for the last three weeks. I'm so, so glad to be running with Melanie, who always gives me pep talks and won't let me take a break.

If I've learned anything, its that running with a partner is the absolute best accountability. Its so easy to skip running when its just me, but when I've got plans to meet Melanie, I can't skip it. If I can do this, anyone out there can do this. Find a partner, look up the running plan, and just go!

Motivation found here, here, here and here (but all via Pinterest).