This week I had:
Tuesday, Bootcamp
Wednesday, Running
Thursday, Bootcamp
Friday, Kickboxing
The highlight of my week was how good I felt running on Wednesday in my upper body. I felt like I could run forever and wasn't out of breath or winded or anything, BUT my shins (shin splints) hurt the worst they ever have. I almost couldn't walk home. I did run a mile though, faster than ever before which was so awesome. Bootcamp this week was great - no soreness this week really. Kickboxing, as always, was an insane workout but was so rewarding. As of today I haven't eaten out in 7 days! Last Sunday was a splurge day and as a result I didn't have any change in weight this week but I also didn't gain so that is positive. Trying to decide to let this day be a splurge day or not to see how it affects weight loss in the week. Starting week 3, I feel so good that Im doing this. I'm having to take a break from running per the trainers request, so that my shin splints have a chance to heal. But once those shin splints are back on track Im off and running!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Bootcamp Day #2, Kickboxing Day #1, Running Program
So Bootcamp Day 2 was pretty rough esp with being sore from day 1. But nothing compares to kickboxing day 1, holy moly is kickboxing a workout. Nothing like I've ever done before and man was I sore that night. Look forward to more kickboxing in my future for sure because that stuff is legit. After bootcamp on thursday, kickboxing on Friday, the 20 week running training program kicked off on Saturday with a group run. There were 91 people there! We had a time trial for a mile and I made it in 15 minutes, which is sadly really good for me. We have running homework during the week on our own and then every Saturday we all run together. I think its going to be great! Started having shin splint issues again sadly just after that one run on Saturday - gonna check with trainers about what they suggest.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Bootcamp Day #1
Started 6am bootcamp today with a few girls from school. I tried to arrange about 10 of us to start, but ended up with 3 plus me going at 6am and Amber who goes at night. We are doing two days bootcamp, and one day kickboxing. Today, our first day, went really well and I love our trainer who really respects each of our own individualized abilities and pace. The soreness is setting in tonight, but its the soreness that I like because I know I worked hard!! Looking forward to this journey!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Following up
Running since finishing the C25K program on July 2nd has been minimal. 5 weeks in Mexico, followed by a stressful time with qualifying exams, and then Alisa being gone for two weeks to Europe has left us a little rusty. Nonetheless, we stuck to our commitment of running in the race for the cure. We didn't run the whole thing, but we did run a bit. We feel grateful for how far we've come. I feel like if we'd have had the race closer to the time we finished our training program we might have been a little more successful, but well, life happens. We are both trying to get renewed about running. I'd like to get back on the training schedule so that I have a schedule and milestones. For now, we celebrate how far we've come!
Friday, July 2, 2010
WE FINISHED!!!
Week 9 Day 3 - 30 min run - and we are DONE!! Well, done with the C25k program at least. Can't believe how far we have come. Tonight we were troopers and ran in the rain. What a joy to set out to complete a fitness goal and ACTUALLY complete it. Seems like just yesterday we were huffing it and dying on our 30 second runs. I don't know that I love running yet, but I love the way I feel after doing it, and pushing myself to the max. We are excited about continuing our running in the future and look forward to our first race on Oct 2nd.
From the c25k forum
This is the best post I've read yet on all the things essential about completing the c25k -
These are the top 10 pieces of advice from the forums which not only helped me finish C25K, but kept me going after it ended. I don't claim at all to be an expert, so please take this advice with caution. These are things that worked for me personally, and since I've benefited from everyone's support, I wanted to share and hope you find some of them useful.
BACKGROUND AND DISCLAIMER: I am a person who has never been athletic, struggled with weight all my life and have never run an entire mile without stopping to walk along the way -- EVER. I'm not the "used to be fit in high school" person and have always struggled with running. And to top it off, I had major surgery on one of my legs which has limited my activity for the past year or so. Though the odds seemed to be stacked against me, I still set out to finish the program. And not to be cliche, but if I can do it, you can too!
(In no particular order)
1. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. I tried C25K before and quit because I couldn't finish the intervals and got discouraged. After reading through the discussions, I realized I was running too fast. So I started out jogging the intervals at a very SLOW pace. In fact, I could basically walk as fast as I was jogging. However, my goal was to FINISH the interval in a jogging/running stride, and if it had be at a very slow pace so be it. I would only speed up if I was nearing the end of an interval and felt like I could push myself for the last 30 seconds, minute, 2 minutes, etc. And anytime I felt too tired to keep running during an interval, I would tell myself to run slower for a period of time before I would allow myself to walk. As a result, I finished all the intervals as intended (no walking when I should have been running!), and it kept me motivated. So when in doubt SLOW DOWN! You have the rest of your running career to run faster.
2. Research running forms. Because of my surgery I wanted to ensure that running did not exacerbate or create new injuries, so I researched a couple of running forms. Since you're starting out and running slower, this is the best time to form good habits. It would be a shame to have to course correct later, because you've injured yourself. It can be overwhelming, but just look at a couple. I chose "Chi" running and love it, but there are tons of discussions on this topic to help you find one that works for you.
3. Invest in good running shoes. Make sure you have good shoes (within your price range of course) to help prevent injury. I would recommend against using old running/tennis shoes that you've had in your closet for a couple of years. I was tempted to do that myself, but I am really glad I didn't. Instead I went to a specialty running store to get fit properly, and it's been a worthwhile investment.
4. Focus on the 30 minutes and less on the 5K. Because of my fitness level and previous injuries, I decided to just focus on running for 30 minutes and ran however far I could in the allotted time intervals. For me, focusing on the distance would have pushed me to run faster than I was ready to or would have discouraged me because it felt too long. But once I finished the program and could run for 30 minutes, I now had distance as another goal to focus on completing.
5. Use a C25K podcast/application. These are so helpful to track the time for you, so you can just focus on running. Love, love, love them! I looked into Robert Ullrey's podcasts which are free, but ended up using the C25k App for the iPhone. The best $3.99 I've spent, because it tracks the time, allows you to set your own music playlist from iTunes and has a nice, easy interface.
6. Mix in moderately fast to slow music. I used to only listen to high energy, high tempo music, because I thought it would keep me energized, but it also encouraged me to run faster than I should. So I started adding slower songs to my music mix to remind me to slow down.
7. Allow yourself to have some bad days. There will be some days that will be great and some days that for whatever reason don't go as well. Don't take bad days as an indication that you can't do it. When I had bad days, I just kept it at that -- a bad DAY.
8. Try the 10 minute rule. On the days when I really struggled with motivation, I would tell myself to go out for 10 minutes. If I still didn't feel like it after that, I would allow myself to stop and at least have the satisfaction that I tried. But once I got out there, I found the energy to go another 10 minutes -- and then another 10 minutes or however long I had left. Before I knew it, it was over! So focusing on smaller time increments can help if you're struggling with motivation.
9. Breathe. When I would get tired, I would slow down and focus on my breathing -- in through my nose to my gut and out through my mouth. It helped get my mind temporarily off the pain and ensured my body got the oxygen and the extra boost it needed. I'm still trying to figure this out myself, so I would recommend researching the discussions on this topic.
10. Don't tell yourself you can't do it until you've tried it. My runner friends told me running is as mental as it is physical, and I definitely found it to be true. Your mind can either set you up for success or failure. So don't defeat yourself before you even start. There were times on the program when I would look to the next day/week and have a mild heart attack. But when I started thinking "There's absolutely no way that I can do that...", I would stop myself and think "At least try it first before saying that." And amazingly, I would be able to do it using all the tips above to get me through that first 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.
I recently finished the program and will be running my first 5K soon. I can't tell you how gratifying it was to run my last run on the program and even better, I want to keep going. You can and will be there one day too! Good luck and believe in yourself.
These are the top 10 pieces of advice from the forums which not only helped me finish C25K, but kept me going after it ended. I don't claim at all to be an expert, so please take this advice with caution. These are things that worked for me personally, and since I've benefited from everyone's support, I wanted to share and hope you find some of them useful.
BACKGROUND AND DISCLAIMER: I am a person who has never been athletic, struggled with weight all my life and have never run an entire mile without stopping to walk along the way -- EVER. I'm not the "used to be fit in high school" person and have always struggled with running. And to top it off, I had major surgery on one of my legs which has limited my activity for the past year or so. Though the odds seemed to be stacked against me, I still set out to finish the program. And not to be cliche, but if I can do it, you can too!
(In no particular order)
1. SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. I tried C25K before and quit because I couldn't finish the intervals and got discouraged. After reading through the discussions, I realized I was running too fast. So I started out jogging the intervals at a very SLOW pace. In fact, I could basically walk as fast as I was jogging. However, my goal was to FINISH the interval in a jogging/running stride, and if it had be at a very slow pace so be it. I would only speed up if I was nearing the end of an interval and felt like I could push myself for the last 30 seconds, minute, 2 minutes, etc. And anytime I felt too tired to keep running during an interval, I would tell myself to run slower for a period of time before I would allow myself to walk. As a result, I finished all the intervals as intended (no walking when I should have been running!), and it kept me motivated. So when in doubt SLOW DOWN! You have the rest of your running career to run faster.
2. Research running forms. Because of my surgery I wanted to ensure that running did not exacerbate or create new injuries, so I researched a couple of running forms. Since you're starting out and running slower, this is the best time to form good habits. It would be a shame to have to course correct later, because you've injured yourself. It can be overwhelming, but just look at a couple. I chose "Chi" running and love it, but there are tons of discussions on this topic to help you find one that works for you.
3. Invest in good running shoes. Make sure you have good shoes (within your price range of course) to help prevent injury. I would recommend against using old running/tennis shoes that you've had in your closet for a couple of years. I was tempted to do that myself, but I am really glad I didn't. Instead I went to a specialty running store to get fit properly, and it's been a worthwhile investment.
4. Focus on the 30 minutes and less on the 5K. Because of my fitness level and previous injuries, I decided to just focus on running for 30 minutes and ran however far I could in the allotted time intervals. For me, focusing on the distance would have pushed me to run faster than I was ready to or would have discouraged me because it felt too long. But once I finished the program and could run for 30 minutes, I now had distance as another goal to focus on completing.
5. Use a C25K podcast/application. These are so helpful to track the time for you, so you can just focus on running. Love, love, love them! I looked into Robert Ullrey's podcasts which are free, but ended up using the C25k App for the iPhone. The best $3.99 I've spent, because it tracks the time, allows you to set your own music playlist from iTunes and has a nice, easy interface.
6. Mix in moderately fast to slow music. I used to only listen to high energy, high tempo music, because I thought it would keep me energized, but it also encouraged me to run faster than I should. So I started adding slower songs to my music mix to remind me to slow down.
7. Allow yourself to have some bad days. There will be some days that will be great and some days that for whatever reason don't go as well. Don't take bad days as an indication that you can't do it. When I had bad days, I just kept it at that -- a bad DAY.
8. Try the 10 minute rule. On the days when I really struggled with motivation, I would tell myself to go out for 10 minutes. If I still didn't feel like it after that, I would allow myself to stop and at least have the satisfaction that I tried. But once I got out there, I found the energy to go another 10 minutes -- and then another 10 minutes or however long I had left. Before I knew it, it was over! So focusing on smaller time increments can help if you're struggling with motivation.
9. Breathe. When I would get tired, I would slow down and focus on my breathing -- in through my nose to my gut and out through my mouth. It helped get my mind temporarily off the pain and ensured my body got the oxygen and the extra boost it needed. I'm still trying to figure this out myself, so I would recommend researching the discussions on this topic.
10. Don't tell yourself you can't do it until you've tried it. My runner friends told me running is as mental as it is physical, and I definitely found it to be true. Your mind can either set you up for success or failure. So don't defeat yourself before you even start. There were times on the program when I would look to the next day/week and have a mild heart attack. But when I started thinking "There's absolutely no way that I can do that...", I would stop myself and think "At least try it first before saying that." And amazingly, I would be able to do it using all the tips above to get me through that first 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.
I recently finished the program and will be running my first 5K soon. I can't tell you how gratifying it was to run my last run on the program and even better, I want to keep going. You can and will be there one day too! Good luck and believe in yourself.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Week 9 Day 2 - Milestone
30 min run - and my first long distance run without having to stop and walk. Since we started the 25 min runs, which then lead to 28 min runs, and now 30 min runs I've always had to walk during the run for 1 to 2 minutes before being able to finish. Tonight however, I ran the whole 30 min without walking!!! I can't believe it. It felt much easier today than Day 1 this week, but it did feel excruciatingly LONG. I felt like we'd been running for 45min+. 30 minutes running, holy moly - its so crazy that at week 1 we were so horrible and out of shape. The program works kids....and we wrap it up on Friday!
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