Victory!

So I wanted to follow up on my race status since the last post on my Movement from the Couch.  I have in fact completed both races, the 5K and the 4 Miler.  I am proud to say that I was able to run both the whole way!  I am not only impressed with completing those races, but my time for both wasn't half bad either.

Wounded Warrior 5K (aka - LM 5K)

So in my first for real race ever, I was mostly on time for the start.  I managed to get there, get out of the car, and find my posse I was going to start with with a handful of minutes to spare.  No one was under any illusion that we would run the whole race together.  Especially considering some flat out told me they would run the first short bit, be it a block or a mile and then walk the rest of the race.  :)  No hard feelings for sure.  By the end of the first hill we were all split up.  I fell somewhere in the middle of our group and just kept on trucking.  I have to say, the layout of this race did nothing for me.  It was an out and back (as people in the running business call it) which I have decided aren't my favorite, but for this one I couldn't remember where I had been running on the way out, so I didn't know where I was going on the way back.  That's just as annoying because you think you should know, you were only just there.  The course was anything but flat, so that also had some annoyance factor.  I think about half of the second mile was straight uphill.  The second half was at least downhill, but still not enough of a boost for all that uphill.  Haha.

Anywho, the overall weather was nice.  It felt too cool to run without a long sleeve shirt, but really, I didn't need it after about the first mile, but my bib was on there, so I couldn't just take it off.  Lesson learned.  :)

My overall time for that race was a 35:57, which put me at an 11:25 mile.  Way faster than I was hoping for, so that made me feel pretty giddy.  As for my first race, it was small, uncomplicated, and just a way to get out there and get timed.  :)

Mother's Day 4 Miler

How nuts must have I have been to sign up for a 4 mile race a week after finishing my first 5K?  My friend Megan had talked me into doing this race with her with all kinds of encouragement, "You'll be fine.  If you can run 5K, you can totally do 4 miles."  In the back of my head I was thinking, are you high?  Haha.  I am thinking of this from the perspective of a person who couldn't run a mile in February, so 4 miles seemed a bit of a tall order.  I went into this race thinking, ok, if I have to it's ok to walk.  My personal goal was to go at least 3 miles since I had demonstrated that I could handle that without many issues last weekend.  When I got to the third mile, I was thinking, "Ok, cool, well you can walk anytime now and no shame."  The back of my brain was like, seriously?  You can do this, get your butt up that hill and get on with it!   The back of my brain won out in the end.  I managed to pull it together for the last hill and finish the race without walking.  Totally shocked about that, but still kind of an ego boost.  "I CAN DO IT!"

So the overall results for my 4 mile status: finished in 46:49, which breaks down to an 11:42 mile.  I thought that was pretty fantastic for adding an additional 0.9 miles to my longest run which was only last week.  This also earned me 46 active minutes on my pedometer which topped off my max points for the day and earned me a badge of "Busy Bee" for having 45 active minutes in one day.  Winning!

So now I am an official running fool.  Onward ho!

Movement from the Couch

So I thought it might be nice to give an update on my attempts with the "Couch to 5K" program I started earlier this year (see earlier post of the subject here).  I re-read that post before starting this one and I have to say, that leap to 5 minutes, while intense mentally, my body was able to handle.  I was shocked that I didn't feel like passing out immediately afterwards either! 

I am proud to say I am still with the program and did not abandon ship at week 4 when I went up to 5 minutes of running.  I have now completed week 6 and am up to 22 minutes of running!  For whatever reason this seems to be working.  I think it's all in how this program is set up.  They really do take you from the wading pool into the deep end but at gradual stages.  I know for a fact if I had tried to just all out run for 20 minutes at the start, I would have said, "Eff this! I am going back to my couch!"  Someone was onto something when they created this.

I do find that I have more energy when I am done with a workout.  I know it's only going to be about 40 minutes from the time I leave my door until the time I get back so that helps a lot.  It's also been nice to see that I can handle an increase in physical activity with the increase in duration of running periods.  I must be building endurance/muscle to be able to handle it.  I didn't think my body was capable of that!  Shows what I know!

On these last few where I have done straight running for 20 and 22 minutes, I find it hard to keep my brain from going completely stupid on me.  I now understand why people listen to music and how that might make the workout go a bit faster.  Right now I just count in my head, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc until I get to 100 then  reset back to 1.  I count to help keep my pace right, but I probably don't need to for the entire 20+ minutes.  I just have no idea what else to do with myself while I am plodding along.  I people watch of course and pay attention to my surroundings, but from a multi-tasker, I find it hard to basically just be doing ONE thing. 

On the equipment investment, I am up to about $130 for new sneakers which were literally life changing and a pair of capri running pants.  They are super fabulous and comfortable too.  I didn't think the sneakers would make THAT much of a difference, but again, how wrong I was.  They made it feel more light on my feet.  I guess that's called support.  Haha.  The folks at Potomac River Running Company were really helpful.  They are also really big sponsors for races in the area (some right by my house) and host a number of them throughout the year. 

The crazy thing I saw the other day was a blog about motivation and fitness and something like the top 5 things to get into a routine and make it stick.  I usually scoff at these lists because they tend to be full of stupid things, but the one I found interesting was the, "Find your reason".  This may seem like a no brainer, but it made sense why they had it listed.  The reasons, "for something to do" or "I want to be healthy" probably aren't going to get you too far.  You really should make it as specific as possible.  I also want to be healthy, but I want to be healthy for my family and to be able to move and do what I need to in order to keep up with my young son.  I don't want to be the playground parent that sits on the bench and watches their kid play around.  I would much rather be the parent playing WITH my kid.  That is a specific reason and has significant meaning to me.  I am reminded every day when I hold my son or chase after him when he crawls.  He is a happy reminder that I am doing this for the right reasons for me. Might not be for everyone, but hey, you have to find YOUR reason. :)

 So far it's been working out and I hope it continues.  I have a tentative race lined up for 3 weeks from yesterday, when I should be wrapping up the training program.  We will see how close I get when I do the actual 5K race!