5K training: Week 1

Well, I’ve officially completed Week 1 of my training, and I have 8 more to go. Perhaps deciding to go to the gym 4 days a week after not going at all for months and months was not the best decision I’ve ever made, but I’m still glad I did it.

I think the hardest and most frustrating thing about facing the gym and the treadmill again is knowing how much I was once capable of and how little I’m capable of now. But the good news is that in just one week I’m already seeing results. I’ve unofficially lost 2 lbs. (I say unofficially because I’ve only weighed myself twice) and my legs look a lot smoother (that’s right, I had/have cellulite, and yes, it’s gross).

But anyways, for the sake of being accountable and to help me burn some rubber, here is my recap:

Sunday: I ran/walked 2.55 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. After a two-day break from the gym, I felt really positive about it.

Monday: I ran/walked 1.67 miles in about 20 minutes on the treadmill. Workout cut short because my stomach hurt. Not feeling so positive anymore.

Wednesday: Feeling uber exhausted, so I went with a 30-min. workout on the elliptical. I probably could have pushed myself harder, buuuut sometimes you need a break.

Thursday: Still feeling pretty exhausted, but knew I had to hit the treadmill again. In about 25 minutes (including a 5-min. warm-up), I ran/walked 1.88 miles. I think this was also due to the fact that I could sync my breathing with my pace and ended up feeling like I couldn’t breathe. Going to rework my workout playlist to help pace and breathe better.

I’ll return to the gym on Sunday to start Week 2. But in the meantime, for any treadmill runners, have any tips on breathing while running?

5K training: Day 1

Yesterday was the first day I stepped on my old nemesis, the treadmill, in a little over two years. Now I’ve done other forms of exercising on and off since then, although I’m definitely not in shape. But I’ve always had the most trouble with running.

Back in 2009, I decided to wage war with the treadmill and had felt like I was actually winning. Unfortunately, the war came to a halt (or perhaps the treadmill had won?) because I moved to NYC and no longer had access to a treadmill. Now, not only am I waging war with the treadmill, but with running in general. Like I previously posted, I’ve decided to run a 5k called Run for the Wild to help save the lions. The run takes place at the Bronx Zoo (how cool, right?) in April.

I’ve been hesitant about returning to war, but I finally had no excuse to not jump back in. I’d like to consider yesterday a success. I ran/walked for about 20 mins. After a quick warm-up, I ran for as long as I could (about the length of one song, which may seem like nothing to all you crazy runners, but to me, it’s a lifetime), then I walked for a little bit, then I ran again as long as I could, and so forth, until I reached the cooldown. All-in-all, my total distance was about 1.5 miles. Not bad for a person who hasn’t really run in more than two years, right?

I think it helped to have good, aggressive music, too. My album of choice since high school (meh, I dated myself, eh?) is Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory. All of the songs are well-paced (for me), and they’re aggressive, which forces me to be aggressive. I recently bought myself an iPod Nano to help with my training, but I have yet to make awesome playlists, etc. Do you have any songs that help motivate you to run? Please share! Music is sort of crucial to my ability to run.

Photo from amazon.com

I’m also thinking about buying an armband for my nano. Do you use one? I was specifically looking at the AeroSport Active-use Armband, but I’ll probably just go to the store and see if they have any. Let me know if you have one that you absolutely love though!

Photo from: Griffintechnology.com

 I'm hoping to fit in Day 2 tomorrow (assuming I'm not any more sore than I am today). Wish me luck!

Mardi Gras!

Well, so far it turns out, I’m not a very consistent blogger. I had a feeling this would happen since February has been one of the busiest months I’ve had in a while. I also find it hard to motivate myself to write outside of work. But hopefully I’ll find a way to make this work.

Speaking of making goals, it’s officially Fat Tuesday, which means Lent starts tomorrow. I’m not really a practicing Catholic, but there is something about Lent that draws me in every year.

This year I’ve decided to give up:

1) Potato/tortilla chips. This is probably one of my favorite snacks in the entire world and my most consumed snack food. I thought about going totally potato-less, but with March Madness coming and frequent trips to Bark Hot Dogs, I feel this would be impossible. Baby steps, my friends.

From Kettlebrand.com

2) Electronics after 11pm. I did this last year, and overall, it was pretty successful. I often felt more rested and got more reading in.

3) Blog at least twice a week. This goes without saying.  (Is it tacky to include this post for this week?)

Are you giving up anything for Lent?