Monday, March 5, 2012

I want to become a runner.

Some back story on my (rather brief) history as a runner. I've tried a few times now to really get healthy and refocus my priorities in terms of health. I purposely phrased it like this, because I realize now it's not just about losing weight. I think that so many times when I tried to just lose weight, but failed to address the other stuff, just pushed me farther and farther away from being successful. One of those times, I decided to try running. I spent possibly the best $2.99 (now it's $3.99), and downloaded Run 5k. It used to be called Couch to 5k, and you can download tons of plans online for free. I like the app though, because I need someone to tell me when to start and stop running. It's all a psychological thing, but you know when you feel like you just can't go any more and you just want to stop? Well I do, just that. I stop. But if that little timer is ticking down and saying I have 2 minutes left, you better bet I'm not going to stop.

The point of the app/program is that you work your way up to running. The first time I tried it, those first 30 seconds were absolutely miserable. But I kept going, and made it about 4 weeks in. I think that was about 2 minutes running, max. But one day I stepped the wrong way and I'm pretty sure I screwed up my sciatic nerve so I figured I should rest and let it heal. Well that didn't really happen, but ironically, as long as I stay active and  do some sort of athletic activity, it doesn't really hurt much.

This fall, I started Run 5k again- from the beginning. I had lost about 25 pounds over the summer, and had worked at a job that kept me on my feet all the time. So I was looking to keep up that level of energy. So I made it up through about week 7 and took a break for the cold months. I probably could have run outside still, but I was running at like 11pm, so it was cold. Trust me.

So now I've started back up where I left off, and I can feel that I haven't been running in awhile, but I still managed a 33 minute "run" (5 warm-up/20 run/1 walk/2 run/5 cool-down). And when I'm on there, the motivating fact is still that I am running. Not fast, but I'll get there. Maybe at some point, I'll set a goal to run a 5k, but that's something I definitely have to work my way up to.

No comments:

Post a Comment