C25K for DLers (run, run, run!)

[Lady Door]

Skipped Thursday, did run this morning. It helps a lot when Andrew takes the dog for his morning walk, so I can just go to the gym.

2.35 in 30:00 on the treadmill. 2.5->3.5 warm-up, 6.0 3 minute runs, 3.7 walks, 5.7 5 minute runs, 3.7->3.0 cool down.

Did a LOT better - I think the fan really makes the difference. Didn't have my iPod and intervals music today, so I self-timed -- which made it VERY torturous. "Must be done with my 5 minutes now, I- what?! :30?! GODDAMNIT."

Didn't quite push through running the entire long intervals (:30 short of both, though I did toss in an extra 1:00 run at the end), so I'm thinking I will be repeating Week 4 next week. I may try to make up for the missed workout tomorrow, and if I do I'll decide if I think I can push to Week 5. If I miss it, though, definitely going to repeat Week 4.

Am not doing everything I can to lose weight, so I'm going to have to halve my ambitious goal -- now aiming for 10 pounds by the end of C25K. I am doing okay, and doing some things very well (calories are consistently under 2000, regularly in my desired range, haven't had soda for ~2 weeks) and other things not so well (still not eating very "good" foods regularly, binge calories with "bad" foods during lunch against stress, etc.). It's a work in progress, and I don't want to discourage myself from trying altogether, so I'm making my goal more reasonable.

I think that leaves me with ~5 pounds left to lose in 4-5 weeks, since my last weigh-in was 178.

[superaielman]

3 miles in 45. Eh effort, must get bike fixed or suck up the pain of jogging.

[Lady Door]

Ugh, tired. But I got up, and I ran. Week 4 again. I ran the entire intervals this time, though, so yay for progress! If I can run the whole interval on Wednesday, I'll do Week 5 Day 1 on Friday (and then start with Week 5 Day 1 again on Monday).

2.45 miles in 30:00. Hooray.

Dislike being so tired, not sure what's up with that. No real weight loss again. Sigh.

[NotMiki]

All-nighter immediately followed by a 14-minute 1.5 mile plus backpack in light rain.

...am I doing it right?

[superaielman]

Busted out the exercise bike, since my bike's busted and jogging is futile until I build my strength up. Barely managed 10mph on it, which is pretty sad.

[Cotigo]

All-nighter immediately followed by a 14-minute 1.5 mile plus backpack in light rain.

...am I doing it right?

Close enough.

Working out regularly, but have not kept up with the running at all.  I could do it if I could get my ass out of bed before 8AM but that ain't happening. 

[Idun]

I think that leaves me with ~5 pounds left to lose in 4-5 weeks, since my last weigh-in was 178.

Yay! Congratulations! (:

[Lady Door]

Thanks. I'm so used to fluctuating, and I feel like I have so much to lose, that I forget 5 pounds isn't bad. So thank you!

-

EXERCISE PRO: Energy!
EXERCISE CON: Energy!

What a @&#*# waste. I run, and I get energy! But that turns into being antsy as all hell SITTING AT MY DESK AT WORK FOR 8 HOURS. >_< I end up looking like a crazy person, or someone with Huntington's, because I'm so goddamned twitchy and I get up every 5 minutes.

C25K Week 4, Day 2 - Complete. Did the run, but it felt rough. Part of that might be sleep issues. I'll evaluate how I feel Friday morning, and if I'm good to go, Week 5 Day 1 it is! Otherwise it's Week 4 Day 3.

30 minutes, 2.5 miles, treadmill. Progress. Small progress, but progress nonetheless!

Food is getting better again. Part of this is because I am randomly broke, and so not eating out as much. Works for me.

[Cotigo]

Woke up at 7 so I decided to go  to the gym before work. Then I got bored on my lunch break/my body's too used to going at that time so I repeated week 4 day 1. 

Now I'm falling asleep at work. Jot the brightest plan, in hindsight. It'd be awesome if I could make this routine,  though. Might actually be able to say I'm in shape in that case. Oh well, we'll see how that goes. 

[Lady Door]

Short post, but: did Week 5 Day 1 okay, yay! Lesser mileage -- 2.4 -- but more sustained running. Run 5, walk 3, run 5, walk 3, run 5.

Good times.

[Shale]

Good Lord am I out of shape. I figured I'd start this up now that the weather's cooled off, and I had to stretch the walking periods in Week 1 to 3 minutes just to make it through the full course. I think I may keep that up on the next two days before I try the 60-90 cycle again.

I miss being able to do a two-mile run when I felt like it. Stupid laziness.

[Lady Door]

Having to take a break this week to deal with an injury. SIGH. Weeks 5 and 6 have been impassable barriers to me in the past. I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN, damnit.

I just would also like to be able to walk without limping. So.

[SnowFire]

Getting back in shape definitely helped when wandering around on my trip two weeks ago.  Hurray for being able to walk 5 miles around San Francisco up and down hills without really getting too tired.

Ran a mile in 7:20 on Monday.  Working toward the magic 7 minute mark.  Did the 2 miles in 18:05, which works.

Was slower today.  Did my mile in 8:00, and the two miles in 19:00 or so.  Oh well.

[Cotigo]

Having to take a break this week to deal with an injury. SIGH. Weeks 5 and 6 have been impassable barriers to me in the past. I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN, damnit.

I just would also like to be able to walk without limping. So.

Uh really, my advice would be if a week is too difficult for you just do the last week you could do.  Do that until you do it easily and can do the next week.  Or something.  Just keep at it even if you're not meeting the schedule.  Repetition and sticking to any sort of routine is more important than pacing yourself to a schedule like the C25K's. 

If you keep injuring yourself trying to keep pace with that schedule, then holy crap WTF slow the hell down.  I'm barely in any sort of shape but I know that maintaining a routine makes it easier to get my ass exercising.  Every time I've injured myself, it was at least 2 weeks (usually more) before I could exercise without being in pain, and every time it was pretty dang difficult to motivate myself to get back to any sort of exercise. If you're injuring yourself you're pushing yourself too hard.   Advance at a slower pace.  Even if you're not making as much progress as you would like on your weight/endurance/whatever, you'll still be regularly active, which is way better for you than doing nothing while you recover from an injury.

EDIT:  Slow the hell down may mean slow down even more than you think you should. 

[Shale]

Week 0 done! Should be able to handle starting the actual regimen on Monday. Gooooooooo me?

[Shale]

Week 1 workout: Success. I am certifiably in less pathetic shape than I was a week ago. I found myself falling into the same trap Ashley mentioned a while back - this is exercise, not a race. Need to stop trying to speed up.

[Lady Door]

Congrats! It's really hard not to want to run as fast as you can until you can't run anymore. It's one thing to do it for sprinting small distances, quite another to do it when trying to run intervals.

--

It's not Week 5 and 6 runs that have been injuring me and causing me to stop; this iteration of C25K is actually the first time I've had any injuries! Usually it's the ridiculous leg pain for the first week (a la "oh shit, you can use these muscles for something?" inactivity to omg running) and the tightness in muscles for 3-4. I just end up getting distracted or overly ambitious around 5 or 6, which kicks my routine in the ass and leads to me not running anymore. Last time, this spring, I got the great idea to aim for a 12k before I had even finished Week 6, and thus swapped my training to accomodate that. Guess what I didn't do? <_<

The injury this time is a lasting foot pain that I thought I'd let rest. It actually hurt before I even started C25K. Running didn't seem to make it worse, but something about the end of the previous week made it really bad, so I took a break. My shins had also been hurting, and that definitely was because of C25K. The week off seems to have helped both of them, so I'm back again.

--

Ran today. Week 5 Day 1 on the treadmill. (Not posting distance anymore - I'm running for time right now.)

Went okay. Didn't run the last minute of the third 5-minute run. I'll see how I feel on Wednesday - I may redo W5D1 until I can complete it without stopping. Week 5 is brutal with the ramping, it being the first week where the three runs are all different, so I'm not doing myself any favors to try and push forward and hope I catch up with myself.

Weight is... I dunno, I didn't check. I suspect it's mostly in the same area. (EDIT: Actually, 176 as of 10/19. Woohoo!) Running just does that to me. Eating is fine, though trending a little on the bad side, except I haven't had any soda in 2-3 weeks, which is awesome! (No caffeine, consequently, though I will start drinking tea at work again when it gets cool.) Started eating in more lately, so that should help a lot. Noticing a small difference in the way clothing fits!

[Lady Door]

Did Week 5 Day 2. 8 minutes of running, twice! And I did it without stopping, hooray. Friday is the big one -- 20 minutes of running, no walking breaks.

I felt pretty good today, though the second segment of running was hard. It's not the running that's difficult, though, it's the momentum. I feel like a flywheel - it's really hard to get started, but once you do the momentum helps keep you going. So stopping and then starting again is less fun. Oh well. I felt really good running the first 8 minutes and didn't really feel the need to stop. This is a good thing! It will make running for 20 minutes easier. I hope. <_<

In, uh, unrelated news, my feet hurt. I now have blisters, and the pain I've had in one foot for the past 3 months is now appearing in the other. HOORAY. I really should go see a doctor soon.

[Lady Door]

Did Week 5, Day 3 - 20 minutes of running, no walk breaks. I did it, and I did it without struggling, and it was fantastic.

Okay, yes, I have blisters, and I am now limping everywhere again, but the run itself was great. It took me up until minute 7 or so to really feel the rhythm of it, and I was feeling like I could run forever at 12. It started getting a little mentally tough at 17, but the last 2 minutes were cake.

I still have a long way to go for my running goals, but this is the first major one. I ran for 20 minutes! Without stopping! At a 10:30 pace!   

[Shale]

I feel like shit and had to skip this morning's run. I am posting this here in order to shame Future Me into making up for it tomorrow morning.

[Grefter]

More like

I am posting this here in order to shame Future Me into making out with Past Me tomorrow morning.

[NotMiki]

I've been making a concerted effort to run to and from school when possible (as opposed to only when I'm late) and have gotten into decently better shape from it.  Don't know how much I weigh, how long the run is exactly (best guess is 1.2-1.3mi, and fairly hilly), or how long I run before needing to walk (3 minutes, tops), but I just made my route in under 11 minutes, a new personal best, so I figured I'd share.

...Yeah, goes a lot quicker without a backpack filled with textbooks.

[Lady Door]

Week 6, Day 1 - sans iPod.

5 run/3 walk/8 run/3 walk/5 run - went pretty smoothly. You'd think after running for 20 minutes straight that running for 18 minutes with two length walk breaks would be cake, but NO. I partially blame this on it being Monday, me sleeping poorly, and it being humid as hell in the gym. I partially also blame it on I'm fat and really out of shape and I have more bad runs than good. >_>

No weight changes, no clothing size changes. I see shape changes, though. Need to adjust my eating again. I've been hovering in the 1800-2000 range, and I really, really need to aim for the 1400-1600 range AND stop eating so much bad stuff. I haven't had a soda in a long time now, not so much as a sip, so hooray for that! I rarely miss it.

[Shale]

Shame: Success!

Hamstrings: Failure. I'm not sure what happened, but I had to ice the backs of my legs after today's run. It's not like I haven't been stretching out, and there was no moment when I landed badly or anything. Gonna stay off my feet when I can and hope that helps, and it's probably time to start going to the local nature trail instead of hitting the pavement.

[Lady Door]

Week 6, Day 2 AKA The Last Day of Intervals

Day 2 of Week 6 is the last day that isn't straight running. 5 minute warm-up, 10 minute run, 3 minute walk, 10 minute run. I did it, it was good, and I feel great. The hardest part about the last 5 minutes is all mental. My breathing is great, my legs are fine, my energy is okay. Pissed off at my body otherwise -- it is rather uncomfortable to run the speeds I'm running with the weight I carry; not difficult, just uncomfortable.

Pre-run protein: 1/2 tablespoon of chunky peanut butter.
Breakfast today: 1 serving Honey Nut Cheerios, 1/4 cup Silk, 1 extra large banana.
Lunch today: 1.5 cups salad (romaine), 1 serving Italian dressing, 1 extra large banana.
Snack: Nature Valley granola bar.

I'll get back to you on dinner.

But the above is about 750 calories, which leaves me 700-900 for dinner and another snack. Pretty good!