It's been almost 3 weeks since I did any kind of running, and even that wasn't much. And in the month before that I only managed 3 or 4 fairly short runs. It's SO easy to let valid reasons like moving and illness turn into lame excuses. I've known for about a week now that, even though I'm not at 100%, that I could run, I just didn't want to make the effort to push myself.
The bad side about that too, is that even though I haven't been running, I have been losing weight - or getting smaller. That's odd too - I haven't actually lost that much weight, but my clothes keep getting looser, and my face keeps looking thinner. I'm not sure what my body is doing. I saw that the jeans I usually wear were on sale last week, so I stopped in the store and tried some on and discovered I can now comfortably wear a size 10, so I'm down two sizes since I started running - but I've only dropped about 10 lbs. Usually it takes me 20 lbs to drop a clothing size, so I don't quite understand what's happening, but I'm going to go with it for now. But the bad part is, when my body is moving in the direction I want it to, without exercise, it becomes a little harder to motivate myself to put on the sneakers and get out the door.
Still, this morning, I did it. I put on my running clothes, grabbed my ipod (which miraculously started working after 2 months of being dead when I stupidly let it get all sweaty during a run) and turned on the C25K app.
I'd planned to take it easy and do a Week 6 run that had a lot of walking intervals, but somehow, I accidentally set it to a Week 8 run with no walking intervals. By the time I realized my mistake, I was halfway through the run and decided to just stick with it. I'm amazed at how well I did. It was a straight 28 minute run and I made it through about 22 minutes before a big hill did me in and I took a 2 minute walking break before I resumed running.
I have to say that the biggest challenge of my new neighborhood is the hills!! They are EVERYWHERE. Basically every step is either up hill or down hill, there are virtually no flat areas. It's very intimidating, and even my technique of looking at the ground (when you look straight down, you can't see that you're on an incline) doesn't quite solve the problem - there's only so much you can fool yourself. Even when my eyes don't know I'm going uphill my lungs and legs do!!
But I've learned to be patient with myself with this running thing. If I run for a total of 26 minutes, and have to walk uphill for 2 minutes, that's still doing better than sitting on my butt thinking about how I should run.
Still, this morning, I did it. I put on my running clothes, grabbed my ipod (which miraculously started working after 2 months of being dead when I stupidly let it get all sweaty during a run) and turned on the C25K app.
I'd planned to take it easy and do a Week 6 run that had a lot of walking intervals, but somehow, I accidentally set it to a Week 8 run with no walking intervals. By the time I realized my mistake, I was halfway through the run and decided to just stick with it. I'm amazed at how well I did. It was a straight 28 minute run and I made it through about 22 minutes before a big hill did me in and I took a 2 minute walking break before I resumed running.
I have to say that the biggest challenge of my new neighborhood is the hills!! They are EVERYWHERE. Basically every step is either up hill or down hill, there are virtually no flat areas. It's very intimidating, and even my technique of looking at the ground (when you look straight down, you can't see that you're on an incline) doesn't quite solve the problem - there's only so much you can fool yourself. Even when my eyes don't know I'm going uphill my lungs and legs do!!
But I've learned to be patient with myself with this running thing. If I run for a total of 26 minutes, and have to walk uphill for 2 minutes, that's still doing better than sitting on my butt thinking about how I should run.
Tomorrow, I'd really like to try combining running with swimming some laps. The early morning lap swim at the public pool near me is going on for another week, and it would be great to get a couple of times in before it ends. My legs are getting stronger, but my arms are like a jello!! It's time for me to start working on strengthening my whole body.
I'm happy to be back on it. And really happy that I found a new route to run. I like this route better than any of the others I've tried so far - I really find that running in a park area, surrounded by trees makes a difference for me. And seeing other runners along the way helps as well. Today, running along Riverside park I saw so many other Black women running - and that is always encouraging. And the view of the GW Bridge and the Hudson River was spectacular. I'm looking forward to my next run - and that's always a good thing.
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