I happened to be working from home today, and in talking with Liz… we decided to do our regular run after work. There was some rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so we opted to try to pack in a lot of outdoor stuff we had planned… today.
Liz and I have been pretty good about keeping our Couch to 5K regimen going. We’re running 3x per week, and we’ve completed three weeks – about to enter the start of the fourth.
Liz and I are giving the Couch to 5K thing another go. She’s been itching to be more active, and I’m usually the one who drags his feet on this kind of thing. But in talking this past week, we both decided that more motion in our lives would be a good thing.
This morning, Liz and I headed out into the early AM and ran around the boulevard. It was our first official run of 2013, and it was a rough re-introduction after many months away.
We got up pretty early this morning, making our way downtown at around 6:00 AM. Liz was going to meet her friend Meg at Buckingham Fountain around 6:40 AM. Though we made it downtown in decent time, we got stuck a bit, trying to get into the underground garages on Michigan. When it got closer to 6:30 AM, Liz hopped out of the car and went off to meet her running partner.
Currently, I’m listening to Chuck Palahniuk and the audiobook version of his essay collection Stranger than Fiction. Some stories are longer than others, but each averages around 6-7 minutes. It’s been nice to try to lose myself in the listening, even though my brain attempts to figure out approximately how much time I have left to go.
Liz and I have been doing our running in the mornings, and so far that’s been working out pretty well. With a slight increase in the overall time (and us adding in some ab exercises, immediately afterwards)… we try to get out the door as close to 7 AM as possible.
And lately? It’s been pretty darned cold out there. I think this morning the temperature was 41, but the “feels like” temp was 35. When Liz asked if I had any gloves to wear, I thought for a second and realized – Yes! I did.
Here’s what totally helped: I looked around online, and many other people had reservations about this particular segment of the program. Many folks were giving the same advice: slow down. Slow it WAY down. So though I looked like a senior citizen with a limp, we kept things slow and I was able to keep one foot moving in front of the other. Time enough to work on speed and distance… for now, my goal is time-based.
Yesterday, Liz and I started week 4 of the Couch to 5K program, and I’ll say this: I was pretty nervous, going into things… as it was definitely kicked up a notch.
The lines “And all you need is just one more excuse,” and “I want to hear your very best excuse” are perfect for me. Whenever I feel my energy flagging, I fixate on these two lines and dig in a little more.
As of this second week, I’m becoming more aggressive about our runs – treating them in a kind of combative way. I’m hoping this will change, as I can’t imagine maintaining this mindset for a super long time. But for now, it’s giving me a good kick in the ass, to ensure I keep at it.
Yesterday, Liz and I decided to start up a running regimen. We’re doing the Couch to 5K plan, as Liz is going to be participating in a run with her sister, Katie.