Final day of Couch to 5k

It's been nine weeks. Nine weeks of three times a week forcing myself out the door and into the gym or onto my neighborhood streets with the iPhone strapped on and the awkwardly fitting earphones in my tiny ears (seriously they are freakishly tiny).

I am grateful for the fact that Podrunner had the program. I'm glad I like techno music so I was able to enjoy the program with its  preset BPMs helping me to keep going, even if I didn't match them all of the time.

I'm glad I'm not alone in the journey and there are others pinning some wonderful stuff on Pinterest to help me put things in perspective (because sometimes we don't always clearly hear those closest to us).

I am glad the gym is only 5 minutes from our house, which made some of those early morning workouts possible and those after dark workouts safe (even if I think I hate running on the treadmill, cause maybe I don't because when you are done, you are done and don't have to keep walking home).

I'm glad for my awesome support team. A friend from JLSA who told me she was doing it and inspired me in the first place. My awesome friend, work cubie mate and Dance Central Partner who's been there since way before this started and will be here into the next phase of things to come.

My hubby. He went with me to the gym. He went with me on the jogruns in the neighborhood. He might have been moving backwards while I was moving forwards because I am so much slower and shorter than him and his stride is so ridiculously long because he is a 1/2 foot taller than me. He was there when I got home and he'll be ready to go on more jogruns in the future.

To total up week 9:

Jogrun #1: 3.11 miles in 47 minutes and 22 seconds

Jogrun #2: 3 miles on the treadmill in 42 minutes and 46 seconds

Jogrun #3: 3.11 miles in 48 minutes and some miscellaneous number of seconds.

Total for week 9: 9.22 miles
Total for all 9 weeks: 59.73 miles.  I'd almost be in Austin. Hot damn.

Found on Pinterest.

There's a graduation mix that is the finale of the program and has you jogrunning 35 minutes. I'll tackle that this weekend. It's gonna be all good.

Maybe the 10-week Gateway to 8k will be next. Who know's how far one will have to go to avoid the zombies.

Day 25 of Couch to 5K

Today I did day 1 of week 9.

Day 1 of week 9 of couch to 5k is day 25 of the program.

Of course many more days have passed since I started. But to know that I've laced on the sneaks with the intent of going on a jogrun for some predetermined interval of time for 25 days blows my mind a little.

I woke up this morning, volunteered for JLSA. Came home. Ate a-not-so-worth-of-my-time lunch. Procrastinated by waiting for Justin to come home from Lowe's with more supplies for the dining room remodel (I need to do a whole post on the gorgeousness taking place in there) offered my help, was told it was all in hand (and it really is) and then feigned shock when I saw that the clock said 1:25 p.m. as I was stuffing my iPhone into my armband to hit the road.

And then I did 3.11 miles in 47 minutes and 22 seconds. So a pace of 15:16 per mile according to mapmyrun.com , or just at about 3.9 mph.

Then I decided to do a little statistical digging and mapped just the part of the route that I jogran. (When you make up words, you also get to make up verb usage.)  The 30 minute bit between the 5 minute warm-up and what turned into a 12-minute cool down.

This is where I got excited. I did 2.15 miles in 30 minutes. That is more than 4mph. Outside. In my miniaturized swiss alp neighborhood. And that felt a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

Pinned on Pinterest from here.

Maybe I could survive a zombie apocalypse.

Week 8 of Couch to 5K

First and foremost a spoiler alert for The Walking Dead. You should click off this entry right now if you didn't see the episode that aired on 11/13/11.

Can you believe Andrea shot Darryl?!  What the heck was that?!?!  Seriously, the expletives that were uttered as we saw the writing on the wall and the shot was fired. Man oh man.

In other news, I finished week 8.  Thank you Podrunner!

This week consisted of three sessions that all have 5 minute warm-ups, 28 minute jogruns and 5 minute cool downs.

Week 8 was happening when I wrote my posts for week 6 and 7.  The day I wrote those posts I had done day 2 of week 8 on the treadmill. If you've been reading about my progress, then you know I dread a long jogrun on the treadmill.  There's something about my wiring that makes the whole thing somewhat panic inducing and the time remaining feel infinite.  But, I got through it, because I've come so far that I wasn't going to let a measly 28-minute treadmill jogrun stand between me and the end of the first leg of this journey.

And now it's time for the breakdown (Am I the only one who thinks of En Vogue's  Never Gonna Get It when they say that.  Here's a reminder: Link to the video.) :

Day 1: Outdoor run, 2.66 miles in 40 minutes and 45 seconds. A pace of 15:20 per mile (or approximately 3.92 mph).

Day 2: Treadmill run, 2.7 miles in 39 minutes and 30 seconds at approximately 4.2 mph ( 14.28 per mile).  It's the one advantage of the machine, you can manage your speed.

Day 3: Outdoor run, 2.66 miles in 43 minutes. A pace of 16:10 per mile (or 3.72 mph).  I blame the cold early morning for this one. But you know what? I still did it.

That evening I pinned the below to one of my Pinterest boards, because I saw it the night that I finished week 8 and damn if it isn't true:

It was originally pinned from this blog that is going straight to my Google reader list.

The post that pin comes from has another saying on it: "I never regret it when I do it, but I always regret it when I don't."  

It's the simple truths that'll smack you across the face.

You like how I managed to work zombies into this post?

Week 7 of Couch to 5K

Oh week 7. How I thought I would surely have to lay down in the front yard of some random house, pause the music and call Justin to come pick me up.  (That could've been awkward for everyone.)

Twenty-five minutes in my neighborhood goes by faster than on the treadmill, but wait, what! That street is way more sloped than I thought it was when I walked Wookie! on it the other day. Tricky street. And that street wasn't alone.  I knew it felt too good jogrunning (yes, it is a verb and a noun) down the street before so, so you when I reverse my route, the pain of the uphill climb is just closer to the end of the jogrun, and let's be real folks- I'm definitely not faster at the end of a run than I am at the beginning.

Three days of 25 minute jogruns. Outside. Oh, but there was some magic that occurred on one of these runs.  Let's take a look at the breakdown that's provided by the lovely mapmyrun.com:

Day 1: I covered 2.36 miles in 37 minutes and 13 seconds at an average pace of 15:47 per mile (or 3.8 miles per hour)

Day 2: I covered 2.39 miles in 36 minutes and 13 seconds at an average pace of 15:09 per mile (or 3.9 miles per hour)

Day 3: I covered 2.39 miles in 35 minutes and 13 seconds at an average page of 14:44 per mile. That is just over 4 miles per hour!!!!!! I finally broke the mark!  Something is going in the right direction!! Woohoo!!!

Here's when the Pinspiration from Pinterest.com comes in:

From: http://wanttobehealthynhappy.tumblr.com/

I've only, only, got one more day left in week 8. Way past half way there. Suck it zombies.

Week 6 of Couch to 5K

I'm fully aware that zombies will eat anything. But that's only if they catch me.  I am totally counting on the kind that won't evolve they way they've done in The Walking Dead. 

Right now I am one jogrun away from the end of week 8 so week 6 seems like an eternity ago.  It was the last week with any "short" jogruns. (In the past I mentioned that I would be calling the "runs" jogruns, because I am sinking-in-quicksand slow.)

Short jogruns in week 6 were 5, 8 and 10 minutes long. At the time, that also felt like an eternity.  I did the final 25-minute long run of that week at the gym. On a treadmill. I wanted to stop running all together. It felt like it was never going to end.

I also can't remember how far I went on the treadmill that day.  I did however track my outdoor runs using mapmyrun.com. I still think my neighborhood is hilly. I am sure I am sorely mistaken, but to me it seems like a miniaturized version of the swiss alps. (Not really, but my husband says that I am prone to exaggeration, so I'll take the liberty to exaggerate here.) 

Day one of week 6 went a little something like this: 2 miles in 33 minutes and 39 seconds at an average pace of 16:47 per mile (or about 3.6 mph).

Day two of week six went more like this: 2.21 miles in 37 minutes and 33 seconds at an average pace of 17:01 per mile (or about 3.5 mph- I think the me from two days before over did it).

I'm pretty sure on the indoor jogrun I must have hit 2 miles. So that's what I'll give myself some credit for in this.

For week 6 I completed approximately 6.21 miles.
In total through week 6, I completed 35.35 miles.

Found some great inspiration on Pinterest.com, but I'm saving that for a week 7 or week 8 post.  So you'll have to come back and read those.

Week 5 of Couch to 5K

I'm still here. Still plodding along and actually in the midst of week 6, but wanted to catch up on week 5.

Before I do that though, thank you to those with the encouraging words!  I am signed up for a 5k- Light the Night for Prevent Blindness at SeaWorld of San Antonio.  (Maybe it will be flatter than my neighborhood? A girl can hope!)

So for week 5, I kept it real and went outdoors to my neighborhood.  However, let's remember that when the zombie apocalypse hits I'm never leaving my house.  (It will be like that house on The Walking Dead with perpetual electricity.) 

With my chosen route it seems like the walking warm-up ends and my jogrun (that's what I'll call it from now on) always starts when the road starts curving uphill.  Seriously, you can do a loop in my neighborhood and go uphill both ways. So if the zombies chase me uphill maybe I'll outlast them.  (Does anyone outlast a zombie?)

Basically I averaged a 16.85 minute mile, or 3.56 mph. I used mapmyrun.com to track all of this
Day 1 looked liked this: 37 minutes, 2.21 miles, the max run was 5 minutes at a time (3x).
Day 2 went a little like this: 35 minutes, 2 miles, the max run was 8(!!) minutes at a time (2x).
Day 3 was the biggun': 32 minutes, 1.96 miles, but I did 20 minutes nonstop!!

Total mileage for the week: 6.17 miles
Grand total for all 5 weeks: 29.14 miles

I'm making it through week 6 right now.  Obviously I don't have any real speed at this point. Right now my mileage and times are pretty close to week 5, but I keep going and going and going.  This week I've been tracing the alphabet with my foot to stretch things out and try to avoid the shin splints that tried to creep into my legs.

Trying to remember the following:

Found on pinterest of course.