Tag Archives: Running

From people who know me well, I get one of two reactions when they find out that I'm running: they're either shocked or awed.  Or a combination of the two.  Because, well, let's face it: if you've known me for any length of time, you know just how odd it is that I'm doing this!  I'm someone who considered marching band to be a sport, for pete's sake.  

And frankly, I'm kind of shocked myself.  I've tried this program a bunch of times before; what is it about THIS time that's different?  What's driving me?  I've been pondering this -- often while I'm out running, feeling like I'm about to die, and asking myself "WHY am I doing this again?"  ;-)  

Here's what I've come up with.  In no particular order:

• I'm going to be 35 next year.  That's not geriatric by any stretch of the imagination, but my body has been reminding me in all kinds of little ways that's it's not 20 anymore.  I've spent the last 10-15 years of my life in not-great shape, and it's going to be a lot easier to get myself back into shape NOW than it will be if I wait.  
• I've noted this here before, I think, but I want to model a slightly more active lifestyle for Ian.  I was not an active kid (nor have I ever been an active adult), and while I don't have any particular desire to encourage him to be some kind of a jock (though if that's the direction he goes in, that's fine), I'd like him to see exercise as normal, not some kind of out-there activity. When he's a little bigger, all three of us can even go out and do things together!
• On a note related to the first two, I'd like to stick around as long as I can. I can't control everything that might happen to my body, but I can be as kind to it as I can in the hopes that it will help.
• Peer pressure. I seem to have hit a critical mass of friends who run, everyone from people who are struggling through a c25k program too right on up to friends who are training for (or have already run) marathons.  It's really inspiring!
• Vanity. It's nice to not be quite as jiggly, and I can say all I want about how it's about my health and not my looks, but I'm not going to lie and pretend it wouldn't be nice to drop a couple of sizes.
• I live near a fabulous network of rail trails, part of the East Coast Greenway, so I have my choice of lovely, flat, safe, [mostly] shaded places to run. Since I'm lucky enough to have such a resource nearby, I want to take advantage of it! (Jim just runs in our neighborhood and doesn't understand why I don't; I just find the trails so pleasant that it's worth a 5-minute drive to get to one of the many trail access points nearby.)
• Some time ago I was thinking that I needed to find some kind of goal to work towards. I never consciously decided that this was going to be that goal, but hey, it works.

So, that's it.  Motivation.  

(To update on my progress: I made it through the 20-minute run with no problems at all (!) and this morning I did my final run-with-a-walking-interval. From here on out, it's all running!  Eek!)

The weather this week was just horridly hot -- heat index of 105 for two days in a row, and not much better on the days before and after that -- so my running came to a halt.  I'm trying to be less of a baby about running in heat than I have been in years past, but I think we can all agree that that is TOO hot.  

So there were six days between my last two runs.  I was afraid that that would be a problem, but I did okay today.  My last time out I did my first nine-minute segment; today was 9 minute run/3 minute walk/9 minute run.  The next time out is 20 minutes straight, and I'm kind of terrified.  I don' t know why there isn't an intermediate run 10/walk 1/run 10 or something.  But I'll do my best.  The next couple of days are supposed to be quite cool and I'm hoping to take advantage of the weather to get through the 20 minute run.  After that there's a few more runs with shorter segments (15 minutes, 18 minutes) but it's not long at all before each run is just longer than the previous one, with no walking breaks.

I've been contemplating signing up for this 5k.  It's just for women, which is appealing: men are intimidating!  But it's on July 7, which is in just a couple of weeks; the signup deadline is coming up in a week or so.  When I first started this c25k plan I had, theoretically, enough time to get through the whole program before the race, but as my progress has slowed over the last couple of weeks thanks to weather and life getting in the way, now it's quite likely I won't be done with it yet.  And further, the c25k name is kind of a misnomer; the last workout has you running 30 minutes straight, and while that's nothing to sniff at, believe me, I'm not running a 10 minute mile!  

I suppose maybe I should just sign up anyway, and see how far I get...if I have to walk, I have to walk.  Right?

As I mentioned a few posts back, this spring I've started a couch-to-5k running program again.  This marks the third or fourth attempt I've made at this sort of program; in past years when I've tried it, I've gotten through a week or three, and then it gets hot (or I go on vacation, or it rains, or I get lazy, or I get pregnant, or or or...I'm really good at excuses) and I quit.  I'm not sure I've ever made it beyond week three before.  

This year, though, it's different.  I'm not entirely certain what exactly has changed, but I feel MUCH more motivated than I ever have before, and I'm already halfway through the program (!).  And, dare I say, I'm enjoying it. 

To follow the program, I'm using an iPhone app called Ease Into 5k.  I really like the app; basically you put on your music, and a voice cuts in to tell you when to walk and when to run.  (Pause for everyone to quietly sing "The Gambler" to themselves.)  You can also configure it to tell you when you're at the halfway point (which I do, since I run on the rail trail rather than in a loop) and to tell you when the last run segment is coming up.  You can (but don't have to!) post your runs to Twitter and Facebook; for me this is an important feature, partly because I am all about the oversharing (or so some people would tell you) but mostly because I'm not very good at holding myself accountable -- but I have friends who aren't afraid to give me a hard time if they haven't seen an update from me in a while!  The app has other functions, too, including an in-app purchase that allows you to measure your distance and pace and all that, but thus far I've not used any of them.  

Today I started week 5 of the program.  Well...actually, LAST week I started week 5, but I could NOT get through the week 5 day 1 workout.  I thought I was going to die.  Then I took a week off because of Book Expo, weather, and poor planning.  In previous years, that would have been the end of the program right there...but today I went out, and not only did I get through week 5 day 1, I got through it EASILY.  Woohoo!

Jim is a runner (like, he used to run cross country during high school) and in the last year or two he's been bitten by the "barefoot running" craze.  He doesn't actually run barefoot, of course (ow) but he does wear those ugly Five Fingers shoes that are all the rage in a certain segment of the population.  I'm not entirely certain I'm 100% behind the barefoot running philosophy, but I DO know that I hate sneakers, never wear them except when I'm exercising, and feel like I'm just tripping clumsily along while wearing them.  (Yes, it's true: I honestly feel more comfortable in 3" heels than I do in sneakers.)  But I refuse to even consider toe shoes like the Five Fingers.  So partly because of Jim's barefoot running thing and his powers of persuasion, and partly because my sneakers are at least five years old, and partly as a reward for getting through the first half of the program successfully, this weekend I got new running shoes.  They're extremely light, quite comfortable, and have essentially zero padding, unlike my old sneakers, which feel kind of like my feet are clunkily encased in several layers of styrofoam and bubble wrap.  I've only worn them for one run so far, but if nothing else I felt much less klutzy in them.  I will withhold full judgment until I've logged some more time in them, but for now I'm giving them a tentative thumbs (toes?) up.  My gait seems to work well with this sort of shoe; I guess people who stride heavily on their heels can have some trouble with shoes that don't have all the normal sneaker cushioning, but this isn't a problem for me.

To call what I'm doing "running" (or even "jogging") seems like a gross overstatement.  I move pretty glacially; I would estimate that I'm probably running at about a 12 min/mile pace.  I'll worry more about my speed after I get to the point where I can run a half-hour at a time, though!  The workout after next has me running a nine-minute segment; I have never in my entire life run nine minutes at one time, not even back when I was young and thin and had to run (or "run") the mile two or three times per school year.  So we'll see how that goes!