Week 5 day 3 - Couch to 5k

I completed this on Sunday!! I am so proud. 20 mins!!! Me? That couldn't run 1 minute at a time! I could have wept for joy. I really can't believe this programs works this well. Gosh I am so proud. I had to slow my speed down to 5.0 because of all I read (if you are doing this program I totally recommend this). Otherwise, I would have been unable to complete it.

Guys, I am a runner!

Did week 6, day 1 today. I thought it would be easier because it was back to intervals but the last 5 minute run was a killer. It might have been because I upped it to 5.2. Who knows. But I did it!

If i actually build up to 30 mins I will be so stoked.

Couch to 5K Update

I finished day 3 of week 4 in the couch to 5k yesterday. I am SO proud of myself because this was the hardest week and I am a bit scared of what is to come next week. Here's my review of the couch to 5k program.

Let me start from the beginning. The first week was pretty easy for me. I wasn't a runner at all but I did a lot of other types of cardio so I wasn't exactly a couch potato. I would get a bit tired during the last 2 or 3 runs but I completed the runs with no problem.

Week 2 reversed the run times with the walk times and in the last 2 or 3 runs I would find myself glancing at the time to see how much longer i had to run.

In week 3 you walk and run the same number of minutes. This also introduced the 3 minute run. I had to pick songs wisely so I stayed motivated throughout the 3 minutes. i found the 3 minute walk after was very necessary. I think this was the first week I didn't find it easy but it was doable.

Week 4. Ah, week 4. This week was a 3 minute and 5 minute run with minimal walking times in between. On day 1, I thought i would die. i had to slow down my pace  (from 5.5 to 5.2) on the last 5 minute run in order to complete it. When I was done, i felt like I would throw up like the contestants on the biggest loser. Honestly, this took everything out of me.

I didn't work out the next day because I was in the middle of moving and I really felt I needed to recover. On wednesday, I woke up and I was not mentally prepared to try it again so I decided to do it after work. Which I thankfully did not put off. It was hard too but actually not as bad as the first time. I still had to slow down for the last 5 minutes and I had to keep mentally motivating myself ("you can do it" "you're a gazelle" "imagine a lion is chasing you").  I didn't fell like throwing up after and I was quite proud.

Yesterday was a totally different story. I was actually looking forward to running. I completed the runs a lot easier than the last 2 times. I didn't have to slow my pace for the last  run and in fact I increased it for the last minute and a half.

I don't konw how I will fare next week because I hear there is a 20 min run in there but i have chosen to trust in the program. There is no way I could have done what I did yesterday 4 weeks ago so it is definitely making me better. Sometimes I really wonder if I will be able to run 30mins without stopping but we'll just have to make it to week 7/8.

Some tips

1. Run to music that motivates you (and is not too slow). I find some songs really motivate me to keep going. Sometimes I focus on the music instead of the time.
2. if you are running in a gym, run next to someone who is doing it easily. i find it motivating to look next to me and running at a 6.5 easily. I tell myself if they can do 6.5 for 30 mins straight, I should be able to do 5.5. for 5 mins
3. If you are running on a treadmill, cover up the time. You don't want to focus on what you have left. I use the zenlabs app on my ipod and it tells me when to run and walk...so I can focus on something else.

There you have it. I definitely recommend the couch to 5k so far. No significant weightloss yet but I can definitely see and improvement in my legs.

Let me know if you have specific questions in the comments.

Couch to 5K - Week 2.

Just a quick note to say I'm about to do week 2 of the C25K. I'm a little nervous because week 1 was pretty easy for me to complete and I'm not so sure how I will do with these slightly longer runs! Weighed in this morning. Still the same as yesterday :(. Will try to not check till at least Friday. I'll be back to update


#UPDATE: I survived it. The last 2 runs were not as inspired as the first ones but I did them without any problem. My right achilles tendon hurts though so have to look into taking care of that. I sprained my ankle 2 months ago (in ZUMBA!) so hopefully this is not a side effect. I didn't expect the 2 minute walk so that was a nice bonus and definitely let me recover.

Bikram - It IS mostly water

Most of you know I was close to 190 last week. I did about 3 or 4 days of bikram yoga and a couple days of zumba. I was also too tired to eat much. Aaaanyway, I went away for the weekend, and ate a little more than usual (i knew this was going to happen so I tried to be under my calories for the week). Ended up about 600 over for the week and weighed in on Tuesday at 193.6.

So, a 1 pound loss. Which shows me that most of the weight I lost was water from Bikram.

BUT.

I am happy!! The bridesmaid dress still fits (didnt imagine the inches lost) AND my period came the day after weigh-in so I'm pretty sure there was some retention going on.

Anyway, today I went to the mall to try some size 10 dresses as motivation (since my BM dress can no longer serve that purpose) and some of them fit! Clearly I've lost some inches - yaay. I am sticking to my exercise regime. I have only missed 2 workouts so far (and I have multiple scheduled a day so I'm not too bothered about it) AND I also completed day 2 of couch25K.

Bikram is over after today (living social deal expires) and it is way too expensive for me to keep going. So unless another deal comes up in a different studio, it's just couch25K, Zumba and Body pump for me.


Remember, hard work is not EASY. We all know that but yet we don't.