Emerald Eagle learns to run

[Emerald Eagle]

For my first challenge, I choose running! Dum, dum, DUUMMMM!!!!

 

All my life I have never been good at running. When I was 15 years old I was selected to run in the Queen's Baton Relay in the lead up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games (CG equivalent of the Olympic Torch relay) and I nearly said no because I was so scared I would look like a fool running 500m. Thankfully I had mentors that reinforced to me that this was an opportunity not to be missed and I did do the run, but I was SUPER self conscious the whole time.

 

Fast forward to 23 year old me who starts with Nerd Fitness two years ago and was completely relieved to find a system that told me I didn't have to do cardio to be fit! Winning! I dived right in to strength training, first with dumbbell work outs and now with a barbell. 

 

I recently came to a couple of key realisations that I needed to be training more broadly than just weights in the gym.

1. My endurance was not improving as much as I had hoped.

2. The body type I admired and wanted to have myself was one of a diverse athlete, not a strong man. In fact I particularly admired heptathletes that are my definition multi-skilled. (Prompted by the awesome NF article: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-building-any-physique-or-skill-set/

 

When I started reading NF I loved the "Classes" idea, and identified immediately with the Ranger guild. I want to by like Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings - able to run for days, shift heavy stones, and kill all the uruk-hai (ok, maybe not that last one). My husband would describe it as being a Swiss-army knife, having the tools for every situation. 

 

And all of this leads me to: my first attempt to really learn to run. 

 

PLAN: Using the C25K App, run 3 times a week for 12 weeks (I know the program is only 8 weeks long but I think I need buffer time to repeat weeks when it gets hard). 

BOSS BATTLE: Run for the Kids, Sunday 9th April 2017. 4.8km run in Melbourne CBD.

 

I have not registered yet, I am giving myself a week to try it and chicken out if I don't think April is reasonable. It will be my loot for staying on track in training.

 

So, feeling excited, nervous, pumped, hopeful, a little doubtful, and ready to blow my nose at every PE teacher who told me I needed to get my fat butt running.

[Emerald Eagle]

Monday morning, 6am. Second alarm goes off and I get out of bed (despite getting to sleep WAY later than planned the night before). Go downstairs so I don't disturb my husband and put on my pre-laid out clothes, strap my phone to my arm and head out the door.

 

Today's run consisted of:

- WARM UP: 5 min brisk walk

- RUN: 8 rounds of 60 sec run, 90 sec walk

- COOL DOWN: 5 min walk

 

I ran up my street to the local aquaduct trail, along as far as the local shops (which got my almost exactly half way through the run) and back home. 

 

OBSERVATIONS:

- Interval running mentally really worked for me. 

- 60 seconds was about my limit and I had to push every time, but I also never stopped before the voice in my ear said "Start Walking". 

- The aquaduct trail is nice and flat, a good way to start. (Though I do realise the world isn't flat and I'll need to incorporate a few hills etc eventually). 

- Headphone cables are really annoying. (Recommend bluetooth headphones as loot ASAP).

- Need to drink some water after I wake up and before I go running.

 

Stoked that I did it, excited to continue. Maybe I will be a runner after all!

[YoussarianAscended]

Just now, EmeraldEagle said:

When I started reading NF I loved the "Classes" idea, and identified immediately with the Ranger guild. I want to by like Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings - able to run for days, shift heavy stones, and kill all the uruk-hai (ok, maybe not that last one). My husband would describe it as being a Swiss-army knife, having the tools for every situation. 

 

I wonder if that "generalist" vibe is common among Rangers? Part of what brought me to the Ranger class was a desire to not really be super buff, nor be super fit, but just be... better than what I currently am. If I were a fighter IRL I'd be more of a ranged fighter as well, so I think that adds to the relevance.

[Emerald Eagle]

Battle Logs: Tuesday 

 

Had a crappy day at work, eating was not perfect but not terrible. I did not fall into a hole the same way that I have in the past when something knocks me around at work. Was craving baked goods in the morning (old habit, stop at the bakery on the way to work for breakfast). Managed to resist and ate fruit and my breakfast instead. 

There is something in my salads for this week that does not agree with me, but I don't know exactly what it is. My stomach was not happy most of the afternoon. Ended up going downstairs to the bakery (oh the irony) and getting a plain savory roll which did calm my stomach down. I have the same things to eat today (Wednesday) so will monitor and see if the same feelings come up again.

 

On the way home from work stopped at the gym. Was a good way to work off some of the frustration. It was upper body day. Notes from workout:

- Couldn't get a rack to do my bench press so used one of the gyms smaller bar bells, weight 20kg.

- Definitely prefer to setup in a rack for bench press but it is the one lift I don't feel comfortable completing without a spotter.

- Military Presses were challenging, definitely working on making those stronger.

 

It is now Wednesday morning. I did not get up and go for my scheduled run this morning. I did pack my bag with all my running gear and brought it with me to work. I am going to go for a run after work. I am going to go for a run after work. Will report back at the end of the day with run update.

[Emerald Eagle]

A Decision to be Made.

 

Next weekend is a massive weekend for all Australians (National Holiday) and for my friends and I, who are all Rover Scouts, one of two enormous camping / partying weekends on the calendar. This will be my last Aus Day weekend camp before I am too old, and the last state level camp where I can party as I will have responsibilities with the organising committee for the winter event.

 

I am currently very torn. A part of me really wants to let loose on the weekend. Eat and drink what I want, including a lot of alcohol, party late into the night, sleep in, visit the chocolate factory and the local fish and chip shop etc etc. I know all of these things are going to affect my health and fitness journey in the short term, and may be in the longer term as well. I have realised in the last six months that this particular group of friends are not a good influence on me. Almost all of them do not have a healthy lifestyle, when you hang out with them there is always food around and its always junk food. Drinking alcohol, and drinking to excess, is also a big part of the culture of the group.

 

So my choices are:

- Attend the event, stick with my goals and try and make the best choices I can, and have a relaxed weekend with friends without over-indulging. 

Pros - help with my health and fitness.

Cons - peer pressure, potentially falling off the wagon anyway and feeling bad about it, feeling like I didn't get a "proper" final send off and having regrets.

- Attend the event, go with the flow and what I want for the weekend, probably make bad food and drink choices. Get back on the hose on Monday and repair the damage.

Pros - get to have an awesome weekend.

Cons - probably feel sick, probably take several steps backwards, have to work to get back to where I am now (a place I don't really like anyway) to get past here and move forward to the place I want to be. 

- Not attend the event and avoid the temptation, miss out on the experience and enjoying the time with my friends.

Pros - stay on track with my health and fitness.

Cons - miss out on a great weekend away. Lose money for pre-paid ticket already bought for the event. 

 

There is an internal battle between my head and my heart. I honestly don't know which one will win out. For now I will continue on my current path and think more on it. I still have just over a week to decide what to do.

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Wednesday. Run Completed! 

 

As stated previously I did sleep in, however didn't break my plan to run today and found 30 minutes between finishing work (late) and heading to a Scout meeting tonight. Actually a really good way to kill time between the two thing (home is too far away to drive to and have any meaningful time before leaving again for the meeting). 

 

Now I just have to avoid the temptation of sweets at the meeting and I can tick off an almost flawless day of health and fitness. Win!

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Thursday / Friday Morning

 

Yesterday was a "rest day". I did pack my gym bag just in case but work was too busy to get to the gym before Rovers (yes the same group who are going camping next weekend). We had a chilled night around a campfire, which was really lovely. We spent time chatting and planning our camp, menu etc for the weekend. We always eat pretty well at camps, and people are happy to put in a bit more money to eat better quality food which is great for me! I would have catered for myself if absolutely necessary, but now I can be a part of the group and be satisfied I'll be able to not completed sabotage my eating.

 

There was still a bit of peer pressure to let loose and drink excessively over the weekend. I understand why they were saying what they were saying, I have a track record of drinking hard on these weekends, and it is my last event as a Rover. It's hard when that's not the person I want to be anymore, but your friends still remember the old you.

 

Anyway, the point of my story was going to be that there were snacks all around the fire (it's Rovers, there is ALWAYS food somewhere) and I ate a handful of nuts and nothing else. No chips, no smores, no chocolate, NOTHING. I went home and ate the nutritional dinner I had planned with my husband. I'm calling that a win!

 

It is now Friday morning, I was meant to go for a run this morning, I did not. The weather here today is stormy, and when my alarm went off at 6am I could here the rain pelting down on the roof. I decided to roll over and go back to sleep. Not ideal, but I still have the rest of the day to get my run in. My gym bag is packed and in my car - the plan is to go to gym and if it is still raining run my intervals on the treadmill. Running on the treadmill is not something I've done very often and I generally do not like it at all. I figure tonight is not a bad night to try it out for my current run a 5K challenge and see how it goes. I'm also thinking about coupling my run with a weights session afterwards, to see how that goes. Might be a  terrible idea but worth a try! Even if the weights session doesn't go so well I have a PT session Saturday morning that I know will give me a good work out.

 

Will check back in to advise on whether I follow through and complete the run today! 

 

P.S. Even if no one is reading this I think writing in this thread is helping with my accountability. I know it has been less than a week and it is yet to be seen if I will follow through long term, but my current feeling is that I will. *fingers crossed* that is the case!

[Emerald Eagle]

On 1/16/2017 at 10:40 AM, YoussarianAscended said:

 

I wonder if that "generalist" vibe is common among Rangers? Part of what brought me to the Ranger class was a desire to not really be super buff, nor be super fit, but just be... better than what I currently am. If I were a fighter IRL I'd be more of a ranged fighter as well, so I think that adds to the relevance.

 

I think probably. For me I had a gut feeling that Rangers was where I belonged. When I read Steve's article all those years ago it was where I had an affinity. I always thought that not having a passion for one particular thing was detrimental to my fitness - I didn't want to a strong man and *just* lift weights, and I didn't want to be a marathon runner who runs all day. It took a while to realise that being a Generalist was ok, and could even be a strength.

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Friday Night

 

I completed my run (YAY!) which makes it 3/3 this week. Feeling quite chuffed that I managed to stick with it. Tonight I did my run on the treadmill at the gym. This is definitely not my favourite way of running, I would much prefer to be out in the world, but thanks to the unpredictable weather in Melbourne the treadmill was the best choice, and I would prefer running on a treadmill to not running at all (building habits - yay!).

 

The run felt pretty good tonight as well - the third time that I've done this type of interval run (60 seconds on, 90 seconds recovery) and tonight it felt good. I know the treadmill is completely flat and not like the real world, but I was definitely not flagging after a minute the same way I was on my first run. I definitely count that as a win!

 

LOOT UNLOCKED: Race Entry

 

For every week between now and the 5K race I plan to run (Sunday 9th April 2017), if I complete 3 training runs in the week following the plan in the C25K App I get to unlock some loot. This week's loot was entry into the race. I am now registered, it's really real! Also posted it on Facebook so that all my friends and family could see. It's going to be a lot harder to back out now! 

 

Bring on a weekend of domestic bliss and a gym session or two.

[Emerald Eagle]

Run For The Kids: Supporting the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne 

 

The run I'm doing has a fundraising component for the local children's hospital. The hospital is world renowned and does a big fundraiser every year over easter.

 

It feels a bit like fate that today I earned my race registration. Today in Melbourne city there was a horrible incident where a man drove his car into a crowd of people. Several people, including some children, were killed and a number were seriously injured. All of these children are being treated at the Royal Children's Hospital. Many of my friends and family who live in the city are shaken. They do not believe it was a terrorist attack, almost certainly a drug-induced mania, but scary none the less. Definitely praying for all of the people affected, both directly and indirectly, and particularly the medical staff at the Royal Children's and other hospitals in the city supporting those injured. 

 

If anyone is interested in checking out my fundraising page it can be found here: https://runforthekids2017.gofundraise.com.au/page/GemmaNash

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Saturday Night

 

Sleep in (much needed) and then a PT session. First session with my trainer in 2017 after being away for the beginning of January. It was leg day and she definitely made me work! The session included 4 different types of squats, and 3 different types of lunges. My legs were definitely feeling it by the end!

 

The plan is that the strength work will complement my running, particularly working on my legs. 

 

I also had to weigh in, I don't like weighing in too often as it can affect my mood and my mindset. Since I last weighed in on Tuesday (my monthly weigh in / take photos / take measurements etc.) I have lost 0.9kg. Awesome. Reinforces to me that eating right and regularly working out is working, and if I continue to keep at it then it will continue to work.  

 

I am also slightly intrigued about the affect that running is having on my weight loss. I know NF preaches strength training for weight loss but I wonder if the combined training will really work for me. The next 11 weeks should be a good experiment. 

 

Summary: Feeling very positive and pumped. Ready for a domestic day and meal prep session tomorrow. 

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Sunday

 

Exercise-wise today was rest day. After working out 5/6 of the previous days my legs needed a rest. 

 

However, Sunday was Domestic Day! Left himself sleeping and got up early to get the grocery shopping done. Meal prep was smaller this week, I'm only working three days and then have Thu-Fri off when we go away camping

 

Menu for the upcoming week:

Breakfast - Bacon and Broccoli salad

Lunch - Zucchini Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta filling

 

I also cooked lunch for himself - Roast Lamb and veggies.

 

As we had to be out in the afternoon I did not get the rest of the domestic rangering done that I was hoping. I did manage to squeeze in two loads of washing! Hopefully I can find time this week to tackle the lounge room.

 

Tomorrow I am meant to start Week 2 of the C25K plan. It's meant to be HOT so the plan is to go to bed early tonight and get up first thing in the morning to run before the heat hits. Should probably shut down my laptop and start getting ready for the week ahead.

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Monday

 

I did not get up and run before work  I genuinely meant to when I went to bed Sunday night but I could not drag myself out of bed on Monday morning. Thankfully I still found time after work to get a run in and some overhead work for the Ranger mini-challenge. 

 

Part of me thinks I should just accept that I am not a morning person and work out during the day rather than force myself to get out of bed. The other side of me really wants to be a morning person, thinks working out first thing is really good for you (so says science) and I need to keep at it. I guess we shall see! 

 

Running in Week 2 comprises of 90 seconds running, 120 seconds walking for 6 rounds (plus warm up and cool down). None of the 90 second windows felt unachievable, on one I was struggling a bit but I think that had more to do with the heat than anything else. 

 

A couple of observations that I need to follow up:

1. I'm not sure how to correctly run. I mean, my body can run but particularly on the treadmill I have time to think about what my feet are doing and I don't think they're doing the right thing. I definitely want to Google some videos and see what the interwebs say. Might even post in the forums here and see if people have any advice.

2. I need a new playlist. Wasn't feeling my usual one so I swapped to the NFA Women's playlist and it was alright but a bit up and down. Time to invest in putting a kick arse playlist together to keep me going!

 

Finished the day off with a delicious summer dinner of marinated prawns and salad, enjoyed with himself.

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Tuesday

 

I did not have a run scheduled today, so I did not have a run to miss. 

 

In the morning my willpower folded and I bought and ate a pastry from the bakery downstairs at work. It was delicious. It was probably not the best choice but I got back on the wagon, ate my salad for lunch, and didn't let it de-rail my progress.

 

After work we had an early dinner scheduled with the in-laws. While the stir-fry that was served was not perfect (egg noodles and a sweet sauce) it was tasty and full of veggies so I ate it knowing I had a gym session afterwards. Even said no to dessert, which I definitely consider a win.

 

Headed to gym and had a session with my PT. It included more machines than I would have liked but my arms definitely got a work out. Even did a bit of overhead work which counted towards the Ranger's mini-challenge.

 

Finished off the day with some leftover lamb chops (I was hungry after gym) and putting together a new playlist to listen to while I run.

 

Wednesday

 

I did it! It was not pretty, not even a little bit, I did not run for all of the seconds the app told me I should but I dragged by saggy arse out of bed and went for a run before work. I'm counting that as a win for today. Now to stay on track with food for the rest of today and more PT tonight. 

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Monday morning (about Thursday - Sunday)

 

I did not complete a third run this week, which means I missed my goal for the week, no loot for me. If I'm honest I am not really surprised, I knew we were going away for the long weekend, I knew I wanted to really enjoy the weekend, and I knew that I would probably get home too tired to run on Sunday.

 

Thursday morning we attended a one year old birthday party. It was a really beautiful celebration of life and a great little person. I ate BBQ meat and salad for lunch, not too bad, and had a piece of birthday cake to celebrate. Afterwards I felt really sick - it's interesting after cutting way back on sugar how much a little bit can affect you. In hindsight I really wish I had listened to my body and slowed right down. *sigh*

 

We then left on our camping adventure. 3 nights away with great mates drinking, and eating, and enjoying the great outdoors. One of the boys had offered to organise food and insisted on doing a lot of the cooking. It was a nice gesture, and he wanted a couple of us oldies to enjoy our last camping trip before we're too old. The downside was that he's not the most amazing cook and the menu included a lot of things I would not have chosen to eat. Some of it also didn't taste that great so I ended up eating a lot more snacks than I should have.

 

Lesson learnt, I cannot resist something if it is just sitting on the table in front of me. Chips, lollies, biscuits, nuts, soft drink, all were consumed over the weekend in quantities I am not particularly proud of. Two out of the three nights I also drank quite a bit of alcohol, and ended up stumbling to bed.

 

On the plus side despite coming home tired I managed to invest 2 hours in meal prep for the week. I had a healthy breakfast prepared for this morning, I have the last of the lunches I prepared for this week with me today and ingredients to make healthy lunches for the rest of the week. Himself also had lunch to take to work.

 

Realistically this is the last time that I'm going to have the same opportunity and temptations to go off the rails like this. I'm not considering it a failure, just a speed bump, and fully intend to get right back to growing stronger and healthier and fitter this morning.

 

Things I to consider going forward after this weekend:

- Maybe it's time to give up alcohol, or more importantly drinking to excess. I almost always drink to access because of peer pressure of self-pressure based on wanting to fit in. Alcohol is not going to help me achieve my goals. 

- Tired Eagle is not a healthy eagle. Getting enough sleep *needs* to be a priority.

- This journey is an active journey. I'm not a passenger I need to be the driver and the navigator and that means taking control of my own destiny (food choices mainly). 

 

Aim for this week is 4 runs to make up for the one I missed last week and two gym sessions. Will report back hopefully with some wins!

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Tuesday

 

Had a super crappy terrible day at work. Don't feel like re-hashing it but came home SUPER grumpy and a bit fed up with the world. I felt frustrated that I

am not making progress and I'm back where I started two years ago, frustrated that I had sabotaged my progress over the weekend, and ready to throw in the towel at work. I managed to take all of this out on my poor husband who didn't ask for it and was not ready for what was coming. 

 

I left the house feeling frustrated and resigned and headed to gym. 

 

I ran by C25K run (the one I was meant to do last week). I feel like running on the treadmill is a bit of a cop out and not as challenging or "real" as running outside. But I did it, so I'll take he win. Blasting loud rock music and letting all my frustration out on the run definitely helped. There was no way I was going to stop running before that beep, I was not going to let one more thing defeat me that day.

 

I then had about half an hour to cool down before my PT session. I spent the time stretching and reading a novel. (Side note, it is so good to get back into reading for pleasure. I forgot how enjoyable and relaxing it is!) Then it was PT and tonight was boxing!

 

Before I moved to one-on-one sessions with my PT I used to attend some of her small group classes. We'd do circuits, combining body weight, kettlebells and dumbbells, and once a week we would do boxing. Boxing was always my favourite class, it was cardio without being boring and boy did it make my shoulders burn.

 

Well a one-on-one boxing session is even better. We barely stopped for the 45 minutes and my shoulders were burning by the end. We also did some extra work on my non-dominant arm which I think I might keep up long term. When I lift I am obviously one-sided, my dominant hand/arm is a lot stronger than my other arm. 

 

Came home, apologised and made up with himself, and cooked delicious fresh dinner to finish the day (marinated lamb chops, veggies sticks, and baked spiralised potato). 

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Wednesday

 

I didn't get a run in but I did have another PT session (doing extras in the next few weeks to make up for ones I missed over Christmas/New Year). Decided we would do arms *gulp* even after the boxing session from yesterday. I really wasn't feeling too sore and I knew if we did legs I would use that as an excuse to not run later in the week (damn you DOMS). 

 

Session went well; my arms, chest and back good were smashed. 

 

Headed home to an empty house, made another delicious dinner (pork rashers, steamed veggies, spiralised potatoes) and then tackled the mountain of dishes that had accumulated in our kitchen. 

 

On Thursday I *will* run, by hell or high water! 

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Thursday

 

Had another average day at work, went to gym after work and ran Week 3, Day 1 of the C25K App on the treadmill. Went to a different gym closer to work (benefits of a membership at a chain gym), and their treadmills are much newer and nicer than the ones at my regular gym. 

 

This particular interval included running for 3 minutes straight, twice. And I did it. No stopping, for 3 minutes. I honestly cannot remember the last time I ran for 3 minutes straight, was probably back when I did PE in High School. Definitely felt like a huge win.

 

Then went to dinner with a very old friend. It was really lovely to catch up and spend time with her, she also had some very helpful life and career advice (as always). Was glad I made time to see her and we will hopefully catch up more regularly now. It was one of my goals this year to be more social and make time for my friends. 

 

All in all a better day.

[Emerald Eagle]

XP Update: 

Run 16/01/2017 = 5XP

Run 18/01/2017 = 5XP (10XP)

Run 20/01/2017 = 5XP (15XP)

Bonus 3x Run in a week = 10XP (25XP)

Run 23/01/2017 = 5XP (30XP)

Run 25/01/2017 = 5XP (35XP)

No Bonus

Run 31/01/2017 = 5XP (40XP)

Run 02/02/2017 = 5XP (45XP)

No Bonus  

 

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Friday - Monday

 

On Friday I slept in, had another average day at work, and then went out for dinner with some of my friends from high school. I did not go for a run, and on Friday I fully intended to go for a run over the weekend. It was really nice to see all of the girls from school as I don't get to see them very often. I do want to make an effort this year to be more social and put more time into maintaining my relationships with friends who are important in my life. 

 

On Saturday himself and I drove down to the Peninsula and went sea kayaking. It was a lot of fun and definitely an upper body work out. It's awesome to be able to do more active outdoors things together. We had lunch at a nice cafe overlooking the water and then headed home. I spent the afternoon (when I intended to go for a run) snoozing, a luxury I don't often allow myself and one I obviously needed. I did manage to get my domestic rangering challenge done for the mini before we headed out for the evening. 

 

On Sunday I frantically grocery shopped and meal prepped in the few hours I had free in the morning. We spent the afternoon tied up in planning meetings for youth group and church. 2017 is going to be busy  

 

After a late night on Sunday I knew I wasn't going to get up and run in the morning but I had packed my gym bag. Unfortunately I left it at home  I really wanted to try going for a run in my lunch break or sneak it in between finishing work and my Scout meeting that night and that didn't happen. I still had a healthy dinner and a productive meeting so at least that part of my day went as planned!

 

I really really REALLY want the loot I have planned for this week (Bluetooth headphones - eep!) so I will make a concerted effort to get my runs in this week. Tuesday's plan is a run between work and dinner with my parents, I'll update when to let you guys know how it goes. 

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Tuesday

 

Today was a good day (for anything that's not work, we might talk about that eventually but posting publicly on the interwebs is not a step I feel comfortable taking at this stage). The day started with a delicious carb-free breakfast, the creation of my first ever 4 week challenge thread  (it's here if anyone is interested), and lots of water consumed while sitting at my desk. 

 

After work - run completed. + 5XP.

 

After work I went to the gym close to my parents house, the gym I used to work out at when I first began this journey over two years ago. Boy I had forgotten how small it was, also bro central. One benefit of having all the bros at the gym was that I could get easy access to a treadmill while they did their endless bicep curls. Ran my C25K App - Week 3, Day 2 and survived, though only just. It felt harder than when I ran Week 3, Day 1 on Thursday last week. I'm not sure why but this reinforces to me that I need to be more consistent if I want to see real improvement. 

 

Finished the night off with dinner at my parents house and watching our wedding video for the first time. So many memories.  It was a late night but it was worth it. Tomorrow the plan is more good eating, another run and a PT session. Should be a good day!

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Wednesday

 

Packed my gym bag before work and remembered to take it with me this time! This meant I could be at gym an hour before my PT session was scheduled and get my run in on the treadmill. This run was the last Week 3 run on the C25K App, and I'm still finding the 3 minute interval challenging. I did try to add complexity by playing around with the angle on the treadmill, running uphill for a lot of the session, including the warm up, and then backing it off to flat for the final 3 minute interval when I was tiring. 

 

+ 5XP.

 

I tried something new by changing up what I was listening to while running. Normally I need to listen to music that really fires me up - rock at a high tempo, bouncy poppy music that keeps you bopping along on the run. Today I put on my worship playlist and tried to really listen to the music while I ran. Long term I would love for my run to also be quiet time that I spend with God. I'm not really good at sitting still in contemplation so maybe if I can get into this running thing that will be my time to reflect.

 

When my run finished I had 20 minutes or so to have a drink and cool down before my PT session. We did legs, the first legs session I have done for a while, and I did surprisingly well despite having run before the session. The session seemed to have millions of lunges in it and lots of bodyweight squats (because when we started there were no squat racks free  ). I have a run scheduled for Friday. I haven't really run with DOMS so hopefully my legs aren't too bad and I can make it through. 

 

Week 4 is a big step up from Week 3. The break down is: 

- Warm Up (5 minutes brisk walking)

- 3 mins jogging

- 1.5 mins walking

- 5 mins jogging

- 2.5 mins walking

- 3 mins jogging

- 1.5 mins walking

- 5 mins jogging

- Cool Down (5 minutes of walking and stretching)

 

this could be very interesting!

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Friday

 

Made average food choices for breakfast and lunch, felt full and like I didn't need dinner so only ate some leftover pork and cherry tomatoes. 

 

Did complete my run for the day, after work and before youth group at church. During the day my knee had been feeling weird, I can't really explain what it felt like it but it was definitely not 100% so I decided to re-run the Week 3 run from my C25K App. Really I just wanted to get the run done, score my 3/3 for the week and get back on track. I might tackle the first Week 4 run on Sunday if I'm feeling good, otherwise I'll leave Sunday as a rest day and start on Monday.

 

Despite my worries about my legs the run did feel ok, I'm both excited and apprehensive about starting Week 4. From my readings online this is the week a lot of people drop out. I'm really trying to make sure that doesn't happen for me!

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Monday (about Sat - Mon)

 

What a weekend! It seriously felt like I spent the whole weekend in the kitchen. Today (Monday) is himself's birthday and on Saturday we had a big party for about 60 friends and family. I put on roast meat and salads for everyone, and made a very cute birthday cake as well. In between all the cooking I did manage to fit in a PT session workout. We did shoulders and boy were they sore afterwards. I'm really not sure I enjoy isolation workouts that are *all* shoulders or *all* back etc. but I'm not really sure how to talk to PT about it. Something to work on.

 

Sunday was a rest day workout wise. I did go grocery shopping and meal prep. We had enough leftover roast meat to feed himself and me for lunches this week, a definite bonus! I cooked up some veggies to go with it and make more zucchini slice for breakfast. Yummo!

 

Earned my bonus for the week and got my loot bluetooth headphones are on the way from Amazon to me!

 

+ 10XP (bonus - 3 runs and 2 workouts in one week.)

 

Today I finally tackled Week 4, and it actually went ok. I thought it was going to be hard and it definitely wasn't easy but I survived! Only had to slow right down for about 15 seconds in the last interval of running. Will be interested to see my progress at the end of the week.

 

+ 5XP for run.

 

This was the first run I have done in my lunch break and it went pretty well. It took me basically the whole hour to drive the 10 minutes to the gym, get changed, run, cool down, shower, and drive back to work. I thought today's run was going to be a disaster when I got to the gym and realised I had left my headphones at home! I do have a spare set at my desk at work, but I was not going to have time to go back to work and still get my run in. I decided that I would run without them, and have my phone sitting on the treadmill with the C25K App open so that I could see the time that was left for the particular interval. I did also have the sound on my phone but I was worried it would annoy someone else using the gym and they'd report me to the office so I picked a treadmill right in the corner of the gym out of the way and kept the sound pretty low. 

 

This feels like a big Woot! to me. Two weeks ago running for 3 minutes straight for an achievement and now I've made it to 5 minutes non-stop! This interval running thing really works for my brain. If I'd just been "trying to run as far as I can" I would have stopped ages earlier but setting the goal of just 5 minutes or only 90 seconds left makes me really push through. Bring on the rest of this week!

[Emerald Eagle]

Update: Wednesday

 

Day was fairly crappy. Don't really need to re-hash it all again, more details are included in my challenge thread if you're interested. Schedule was for a run and a PT session after work, however my PT cancelled. I completed the run on the treadmill at the gym but couldn't convince myself to lift without someone there to push me.

 

The run itself was challenging. I'm concerned that if I struggle to run on the treadmill in optimal conditions that I'm going to really struggle running in the "real world". So next week I'm hoping that I can get at least one run in outdoors, and hopefully two the week after that so that I can continue to build up to the race in early April.

 

Going to really need to focus to stay on track - this next weekend and week are very busy so this will be a good test about keeping my health and fitness a priority. 

 

Thursday is a rest day and I need to get a run completed on Friday, hopefully at lunch time. Will keep you posted!