Couch to 5K--The Beginning

A little over a week ago, I started the Couch to 5K program to learn how to run. I do not know why I suddenly have an interest in running. Maybe I simply want to have the experience of it so I can more appropriately help future clients who want to be trained to run more efficiently. *shrug*

Running has never been my strong suit. I have done it as little as possible through my whole life, I think. I don't recall ever having a PE coach who actually explained anything to me. I remember having coaches who would yell at the class to do a certain exercise, only to see the girls fumble and then roll their eyes. Yeah, because that makes us better and stronger. Thanks, Coach. I did try during PE; I wasn't the girl who saw the ball coming and jumped out of the way squealing. I chased the ball, I tried catching it, I kicked the ball hard and ran hard to get to first base quickly. I did what I could. I never dove for the volleyball, but I did block a soccer ball with my face (yeah, went to the nurse for that one). They can't say I never put myself out there, but they sure acted like it. It seemed that if we didn't participate in the extracurricular sports that they didn't feel the need to train us, or thought that we weren't worth their time.

My high school only required one year of PE, so I did that my freshman year and nothing else physical (aside from marching band) for the rest of my high school days. My coach that year was not very good, to say the least. She was fresh out of college and still seemed stuck in the popular-high-school-athlete mentality. The girls in my class who actually were athletes would change into their gym clothes and then pow-wow in the coach's office, chatting and laughing with her like they were all best buddies. As soon as the rest of us non-athletic students were dressed (and they chatted a little longer), we started class. We frequented the track outside, not that it mattered. The coach did not structure the class at all, it seemed. We would start by walking. Eventually she would yell out "Everybody run now!" so we ran. She'd chat with someone on the sidelines and after a while yell for us to walk again. She never tracked how far we went, never timed our miles, nothing. I did not have the endurance to actually run, so I very slowly jogged. It was a big joke with my friends because I walked faster than I ran (4 mph walking vs probably 2-3 mph "running"). They would pass me while running, and I would catch up while walking. My final was to run a mile without stopping. If I stopped at all, I failed the whole class and had to retake it the following year. Since I had never run a mile, it was a grueling time. It was inside the gym. Most of the class didn't have to run; they were exempt from the final due to perfect attendance. My friends, God bless them, cheered me on from the sidelines. I was determined to complete the mile because there was no way I was taking another whole year with this coach. To this day, I do not know how I did it, but I finished the mile without stopping.

Here I am, 14 years later, actually wanting to learn how to run. Go figure. And running is one thing I did not learn in college. We learned how to program for people learning to run and things such as that, but we did not have the opportunity to actually learn to run. I figured the easiest way to get started was by using the C25K program (via their android app), which is interval training between walking and running. The program I chose only calls for running on three days out of the week, which is great. I tried running with my boys, considering they can run for 0.75 mi before tuckering out. Alas, it's not meant to be. No matter how much I explained it, when I got to my running interval and thus ran past my kids, #2 inevitably stopped and broke down crying "Mommy, don't leave me!" Every single time. I ran with them for the first two days. Both times I ended up changing the route to go to the playground so they could play while I ran circles around the park to avoid further meltdowns. The third run, I did while hubs was home, so he watched the boys so I could run alone.

And it was fantastic.

Here are my stats for the first three runs. I'll be posting about each run and then what exercises I'm doing on my off days. Lately I've been doing random exercises at the park while my boys play.

Run #1: 23 Mar. 1.47 mi in 28:37. Avg speed 3.09 mph.
Run #2: 27 Mar. 1.53 mi in 29:58. Avg speed 3.05 mph.
Run #3: 30 Mar. 1.73 mi in 29:20. Avg speed 3.54 mph.

Slow but certain gains, which feels great. I have also noticed that my abdomen is smaller since I started running. I don't know if it's anything measurable. It just looks ever so slightly smaller to me. I will do a new set of measurements after the first month. These past runs were intervals of 60 seconds running with 90 seconds walking. This next week bumps up to 90 seconds running and 2 minutes walking. My initial reaction is "Hahahah, yeah right," but looking back at my runs, I know it will work. My third run, I remember feeling surprised when the timer went off and told me to walk. I felt like I could have gone for longer. So, here goes! Tomorrow is my next run.

Oh, one other detail. The last three runs, I have become slightly dizzy. I thought it had something to do with running small circles around the playground, but the third run was straight paths. Then I remembered that I'm at a much higher elevation than I was a month ago. They say it takes about 30 days to acclimate. Hopefully that happens for me soon. I do NOT like that feeling.