Tuesday, May 31, 2011

This is a whiney post. Feel free to skip it if that drives you crazy.

After a lovely weekend camping with a group of friends, I am home. Today is a furlough day. I slept in, did laundry, convinced my cat she is loved, and have generally been productive.

The problem: it's raining.

Pants are not water proof, nor water resistant. My one rain jacket (who needs more than one?) gets too warm when I exercise. My hair is already frizzy from the humidity, and jogging in the rain isn't going to help that.

I just don't want to start the Week 4 workout.

The jogging bits are getting longer. Two rounds of 5 minutes of jogging, with some shorter jogging bits in the middle. While this is the point to getting up to 5K distance, it sounds long. Like a much bigger leap then last week's workout.

Here's the other part. Did the math. The Couch to 5K program is designed for people who can jog a 10 minute mile. That yields 30 minutes of jogging, which is the goal of the program.

10 minute miles are not going to happen at this point. So far, my best calculation is at 12 minute miles by the end of the training. That isn't going to get me to Home Plate in 30 minutes. My worry is that I'm going to have to add another module into the training to increase my jogging time to complete the 5K. Meaning I will have to jog faster (which seems difficult from this perspective) or spend the last few weeks increasing my distance until I can complete 3.1 miles.

Ok, looking at it that way it doesn't sound as bad as it did in my head at the laundromat this morning. 12 minute miles x 3.1 miles = 37.5 minutes. So I add 7 more minutes of jogging time. I'd Blame It on the Rain (yeah, yeah). I'll blame it on whatever situation sounds the most likely to need the blame.

In actuality it's my optimism that needs a shot in the arm.

Anyone got a shot of sunshine to share?

Guess I should hit the road, even though I don't want to.

It feels better after I'm done, right?

(As of 4:33 pm, yes, it does feel better after I'm done. I jogged 16 minutes total today! That may be the most jogging I've ever completed.)

Friday, May 27, 2011

Week 3? Check.

Have Friday off. Leaving for a camping trip in a little while. What am I going to do? Better get my last walk/jog in for the week!

On Wednesday, I took my workout outfit to work and walk/jogged through the neighborhood. Forgot to bring socks (nuts!) so went without. Found a few spots on the arch of my shoe that rub, and learned a valuable lesson about why socks were invented. Anyone on the entire planet who jogs in shoes without socks is nuts. Declarative statement. Of course, I could just have shoes that require socks.

Learned something else on this week-o-walk/jogging (don't feel like I get to call it actual jogging, yet). Pacing. I kept starting out too fast and then I'd be tired and sweaty. So I'm keeping myself to penguin rates and ignoring the other people who go faster then me. Good thing I haven't gotten passed up by any of the older people who circle the lake in my neighborhood.

Two sets of canadian geese families are living by the lake. The older goslings have just molted their baby feathers and are growing their juvenile set. The baby ones still have baby feathers and are the size of the mallards who hang out nearby. The misting rain that started at the end of my walk/jog doesn't feel like spring, but Mother Nature keeps putting spring out there.

I'm off for a camping trip, so I'll see you all next week. Week 4 is a bit intimidating, but I'm pretty sure I can handle it!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Week 2 Run 3

I finished Week 2!

After a slow start to the week (rain in May? Seriously?) I got out for walk/jogs numbers 2 and 3. This week has been a bit challenging. The school year is starting to wind down. While I look forward to the summer, having a chance to get work done with fewer interruptions, I have spent so much time and energy on work this year that I've forgotten what it is that I want to do with my time. I was thinking about this before run2.

What do I want to do with my life?

Big question. Having a hard time figuring this out. I have an idea of what I want, just not totally sure how to go about getting it. What am I willing to settle on for myself, what do I not want to settle for, what am I ok with? These thoughts have been filling my head the past few weeks.

How does this relate to the walk/jogs?

For the first time all week my mind cleared, my gut feelings quieted, and I just lived in the moment.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Week 2

Yeah! I made it to week 2!

So here's the crazy thing. On the last day of week 1, I started jogging before the cue to start. Then I felt like I could keep going even though it was time to walk.

What? Right.

Amazeballs. (That's for Kat).

So today was the first walkjog of week 2. 90 seconds of jogging with 2 minutes of walking. Sounds simple enough. The challenge is not jogging too fast. I noticed I was running out of breath on the second of the jogs, so I slowed down just a bit, which helped. Anyone got any suggestions on breathing while jogging?

On the plus side, I feel great. I'm sleeping well, sugar cravings are dropping (though not gone), and the muscles in my glute are strengthening.

Every City day should be like this one. Right now there's a breeze, puffy clouds have flown over all day, and the sun has shone without reserve. What a lovely Sunday.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Bummer

Not a big bummer, but frustrating. Took the car in for a check-up (of course they found all sorts of fun things to fix!). Took them an hour to pick me up from work. So my walj time was taken away. Moved it to tomorrow-will duck out of a meeting and go for my walj before the rest of the events of the day kick in.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Day 2/3 (Huh?)

So, if today is my third day of training, but my second jog/walk, is it day 2 or day 3?

Either way, I've got it figured out.

Step 1: Sort laundry.
Step 2: Take basket of laundry and return audiobooks to library.
Step 3: Washer the laundry.
Step 4: Put laundry in dryer.
Step 5: Go for walkjog.
Step 6: Sweat over clean laundry while folding it.

Step 1 is complete, putting on my shoes now.

Look out world! Kristina's plodding your way!

Curtain up! Light the lights!
You got nothing to hit but the heights!
You'll be swell. You'll be great.
I can tell. Just you wait.
That lucky star I talk about is due!
Honey, everything's coming up roses for me and for you!
-Gypsy, Stephen Soundheim

Saturday, May 7, 2011

5K

I signed up to run a 5K.

I haven't run. Not really. Not ever.

Jogging at softball practice in elementary and middle school, yes. Walking 40 miles in a weekend-I can do it with the training.

Something is different about running.

There's the jiggle factor. There is nothing cute or comfortable about all the parts of my body that jiggle when I run. My BBW sisters, heck, anyone who knows what it's like to have your thighs wiggle faster then your foot fall, knows how uncomfortable that can be.

There's the sweat factor. I hate sweating. I feel dirty and smelly and uncomfortable. In fact, I shower daily because I am so aware of not wanting to be smelly. You find me smelly, it's temporary. Or at least let me know and I will do something about that.

Then there is the pain factor. I've had shin splints. They such. I had knee problems when I was catching (softball) and was in a knee brace for a while. Don't get me started on my past ankle injuries. Just ask a family member about the number of times I've rolled an ankle for no good reason. The threat of possible pain is enough to prevent me from engaging in a new endeavor.

So why in the world did I sign up for a 5K that needs to be run and not walked?

(Is that previous question grammatically correct? I can't tell. Run? Ran? Whatever.)

One reason: At the end of the race I will get to run across home plate at ATT park.

That is the only reason I will take up running.

Let's not call it running. It's going to be more like jogging. I've been looking at the Couch to 5K (c25k) website, and there is a board for people who are slower called "penguins". I'm going to be a penguin on the road.

The C25K is a 9 week training program. The race is at the end of August. That's 16 weeks away. I spent 20 weeks training for the walk last year. This may be a bit of overkill, but I have limited faith in my ability to make it through the training. In fact, just starting with 20 minutes of 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking seems like a huge deal.

Today is my first scheduled walk/run. It's gusting wind outside up to 25 miles per hour outside. I'm sitting in bed watching the Negotiator on TV, which is a great movie. My cat is sleeping next to me. There's errands to be run, my car needs to go into the shop, and I have a show next weekend which requires a lot of time. There's a list about a mile long of why sitting on my butt at home seems like a better option for today. For life, really.

But. But but but but but but but.

I really want to be able to run across home plate.

I started an activity log on a running website. Just made it the opening website to my web browser.

So here it is. The moment of truth. Am I going to go put on my workout clothes, load up the music that has the intervals pre-recorded (so I know when to walk and when to run), and leave out the front door?