I did it! I got to the gym and starting the training for my 5k run.
Last night after a long day of doing really repetitive and excruciatingly detailed lab work, I got home an hour later than planned. My best friend had planned to come to the gym with me and then we were going to make supper. It turns out that she exercised earlier and decided not to come. Hurdle #1. I whined a bit. I did NOT want to go. Partner and partner's brother are going to the gym and tell me I must go with them. I whine some more. I need to stay and help with supper! They didn't buy the excuse but then partner's brother has to run to the store first. This takes 30 minutes. My crippled will was fading fast. When PB got home I whined some more. The end result, though, was that I went! I never would have done it without my partner's gentle but firm insistance. I also constantly reminded myself that to do this I HAVE to start sometime and it is never going to be easy.
Once at the gym, it was great. I have a rough schedule that will (hopefully) ease me up to reasonable amounts of running somewhat gently. I'm starting with the following
routine.
warm-up walk 4 min
run 2 min
walk 4 min
repeat run-walk 4 times
cool down walk 4 min
During the "body" of the work out I try to walk as fast as I can while still allowing myself to lightly recover from the run. It is pretty intense for me but managable. Keep in mind that I'm in really bad shape and at least 80 pounds overweight. I took care to stretch well after the work out and I'm going to pay close attention to what my joints are telling me. I think I'm going to start to take glucosamine to help my knees handle the added stress. Today I will take a day off from running and tomorrow I will do the same work out again. After I was done I felt amazing! My legs muscles are a little tender today but just enough to remind me that I was active yesterday and honestly that feels pretty fantastic.
On the food side of things I didn't do so well. I didn't have time to pack a lunch so I ended up eating university cafe food. I was craving fries so I got a veggie burger and fries and then regretting it all afternoon. I'm not going to dwell on that though and today I'll do better. One of the hard things about the food side of things right now is that here in Hometown it is time for a lot of the people I know to be heading off to their respective University cities and there are the obligatory "so long" parties etc. Tonight I have one of these to go to and it is centered around wings and beer. I think I'll pass on the beer or just have one and I'll get some veggies to go with the wings so that I don't eat so many.
Thanks to everyone for the encouraging comments. I notice that the fall seems to be a good time for local runs so if anyone is interested in joining in with the training check out your local area to see if there might be a run or a walk in the area that you could prepare for. I'm going to register today and pay the fee. It is non-refundable and so that will help ensure that I don't drop out since I'll have something invested in it. But for now... I get to go and be a lab monkey all day, weeeeeeeeeee. Datasheet anyone?
Tags: Exercise, Obstacles
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2 comments:
Yay! Vyrada! It is good to hear that you had such a successful workout yesterday. You pushed past those obstacles and it paid off!
Although you didn't do so well on the food, you did good in other areas. Baby steps (my unofficial motto)! At least you had 1 positive outcome from Monday. Today is a new day!
Keep it up!
Way to go Vyrada! Even though all I do here is complain, I actually used to run. A lot. And I started the same way you are. I used to read Runner's World - it was a big inspiration. They have great tips and tricks and they used to (don't konw if they do anymore) had a great column by a guy who called himself "The Penguin" (because he's a slow runner). I loved it. If you get into runnning you could get a subscription! Online they have workouts and training plans that anyone can download. Reading about you starting running is bringing back enough good memories to make me want to go running....almost! Keep up posted.
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