I graduated today!!
Today I did my final run for the C25K workout. Now I can run jog for 30 minutes straight without stopping. This is something I’m not sure I’ve ever been able to do? I’m pretty sure I never thought there was a good reason to be running for this long, which means I probably never attempted it.
C25K is a 9 week training program, but I probably took 15 weeks to finish due to my laziness, the weather, and my travel schedule. I am SO HAPPY to be done though! I sort of never thought I would make it but I did. I remember that time I thought I couldn’t run for 18 minutes, or 20 minutes. Now I can do 30!
I am still somewhat of a bad runner. I mean, I am jogging pretty slowly, averaging between 13 and 14 minute miles on my good days. I am not stretching before and after my runs, and I have ankle injuries I am nursing. Today’s run was a bit painful. Even though I didn’t run for 2-3 days, no sooner than I started to jog, my legs just felt achy all over. I don’t know if it was the weather or my lack of stretching but….it felt like my femurs were trying to quit on me.
I am mulling over the idea of racing. Well, running a race. A friend from my Haiti trip posted some info about a 5K coming up which supports her grad program and medical research. It’s really informal (it’s a walk/run), and she said the goody bag is really good so I should try it out. I am a little afraid though. I almost don’t want to go by myself but I also don’t want to tell my friends to come. I need to stop caring what other people think and just do what’s best for my health. Either way, I have a few more days to think it over.
Now that I finished the program, I need to focus on getting a better time and staying active. I honestly feel like my running time is not going to get better until I lose more weight. The pain in my legs made it seem like my body is saying, “Look. We can’t be carrying all this weight around when we’re running. Lose some poundage, then we’ll talk.” Sigh. My eating habits are a MESS right now (due to stress), so I don’t feel confident in being able to change this as I did before. I am going to pray about it though. I really need to see some improvement in my diet so I can make a solid attack on my unhealthy lifestyle.
Besides the 5K race I may or may not run, I was thinking of moving on to the Bridge to 10K app, which is a program designed by the folks who did the C25K app. It’s only 6 weeks long, and looks doable. I guess I just can’t figure out should I work on speed for my 5K or continue to work on longer running endurance. I’m not even sure what is best right now considering my injuries.
On my next run I am going to go back to one of the old C25K workouts and run intervals, but just run them faster. I mean the smaller intervals, like run hard for 30 seconds, then walk 90 seconds. I think the C25K app is great for helping time intervals for you.
Actually, I might do both: faster intervals and the 10K training program, then see how it goes. Glad I wrote this out so I could think it through :)
Happy running!
C25K Workout #7: Week 3 Day 1 - Nicki Minaj Edition
Today’s run was my first since my knee pain started. I’m not sure my knee pain actually came from running as much as it came from ergonomic flaws when sitting, or maybe just walking too much. Anyway, it never hurts when I’m running. Maybe when I am walking or sitting with my knees at weird angles. Or something.
Today was the first C25K workout with a run for an extended interval: 3 whole minutes. I did it fairly easily. I was cautious because of the pain and because I didn’t know if I would pass out after 3 minutes of running lol. But it was pretty easy. Next workout is the same routine, so I may try pushing myself harder on the run. I wanna get a little more distance out of it.
The workout soundtrack for today was complements of Nicki Minaj. Her new album Pink Friday has some decent beats, and it reminded me that I liked a few beats on some of her old tracks:
