Week 4 is in the bag...

Oh yeah! I finished week 4 this afternoon. It was a difficult one for me. I was feeling quite confident so I decided to pick up the pace a little bit. I decided to finish my round trip 3 minutes faster than I normally do. Well let's just say that about three quarters of a the way through my run I realized that I was a little off pace to meet my goal. So I picked it up to make up some time. Well needless to say that was probably a big mistake about a quarter mile away from my run I was dragging tail all the way back to the end. I finished about 40 seconds off my goal. Usually I would feel good about coming so close to my goal, especially since I ran my circuit faster than ever before. But I didn't feel good after this run. I felt extremely drained. No runner's high. No great feeling of accomplishment. Just complete and total exhaustion. But now, about 3 hours later, I'm just really happy that I've finished week 4. Week 5 is a challenge that I'm looking forward to, but at the same I'm very leery of the 3rd workout. For those who are not familiar with coolrunning.com's couch to 5k program, here's the issue. For the past 4 weeks I've been running intervals increasing my running intervals from 1 minute to 5 minutes. Well starting next week the intervals increase to 8 minutes. Not too bad, just an increase of 3 minutes per interval from last week. But on the 3rd workout I'm supposed to just run 20 minutes straight without any walk breaks! Talk about a mental test! But I've talked to other on the message boards that have done the workout and the tell me that even though it is a very tough challenge it is doable. So I'll keep focused and take next week's challenge head-on. I'll keep you updated.

Another Workout Done

Finished with Week 4 Workout 2! What a sense of accomplishment. This run still hurt, but I can honestly say, it was really that bad. Suprisingly after my first 5 minute interval, I felt pretty good. Both physically and mentally. Physically I wasn't hurting too bad, and mentally I was pumped because I wasn't dead. But then I hit a bit of a snag. I go to my turn around point in my little running circuit and when I turned around, boom I was hit by a lovely headwind. That kinda sucked. But it still didn't kill me.

One scary moment on the road. About 10 minutes in, I felt a slight twinge in my left knee. I almost started to have a panic attack. I just kept thinking to myself, This can't be happening. But after a few seconds the twinge went away. So I'm hoping it was no big deal.

Well rest day tomorrow and I can't wait until Saturday to finish up Week 4.

Don't Mess up my routine MAN!!!

I don't know what it is. But I'm a guy who likes routine in his life. To a certain extent that is. I don't need my day completely planned out, but enough to where I don't have to worry about unexpected events messing up my life. But my simple routine has be pushed a day back. Who was the culprit? Mother's day. Now don't get me wrong. I think Mother's day is a very valuable holiday that celebrates those who give us life. But when it messes with my running routine...watch out. I normally workout Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I couldn't run Sunday, It was my wife's first mother's day. So we spent the day together and had a great time. On Monday I ran before I went to work. It was an awesome workout by the way!!! Tuesday is a rest day. Uh oh, today should be a run day, but alas I sit here in my College Library writing this blog entry. Why do you ask? Because I worked from 7am to 3:30pm. Then had to rush over here to cram for an Organic Chemistry Exam at 5:30pm. Leaving me no time to run. Does the cosmos realize what it is doing to me? But I'll just take some deep breaths and calm myself and run tomorrow. No harm right? I guess so.

Jedi Mind Tricks

So I just got back from the track. I did Week 4 Workout 1 of Coolrunnings.com's Couch to 5K program. Whew! It was a tough one for me. I managed to get through about 90% of the workout before my mind started negotiating with me. I had just little of a 1/4 mile to go when my mind told me to stop. Believe me I really wanted to. My legs hurt, my chest was burning, and I had a side stich from hell! My mind started rationalizing why I should stop, What if you injure yourself by completing this workout. What if you have a heart attack and die? You can always finish the workout next time. But then I thought to myself why come all this way only to stop short when the finish line is in plain sight? So I drove on through the rest of the workout without stopping. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy and it hurt like hell, but I was smiling as I reach the end of the workout. I was so damn glad that I didn't stop when my mind was telling me to. I guess it's true what they say, running is 50% physical and 50% mental. My mind was willing to give up before my body was. The good thing is, now I know that I can make it through this week of workouts. So there's no excuse not to finish! It's only been about a month and I can feel my body improving. I can't wait until my next workout.