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.

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.

I ran a 5k!

Well ran/walk.

On Friday, I went to the gym and did my usual on the elliptical. When I was done, I felt like sweating a little bit more so I decided to use the treadmill. I told myself I would run/walk 1 mile. This is something that is fairly challenging for me.

I did the first minute walking to warm up. Then I started running. Immediately, I noticed my breathing was easier than what I'm used to so I decided to cover up the time and just run till I felt I couldn't go on. I know sometimes when you focus on time, you can sell yourself short. Imagine my surprise when the song I was listening to ended and I was STILL running. I ran for a little bit longer before I felt the need to slow down. I looked at the time and I had run a little over 3 full minutes. Some of you might be laughing to yourselves (aka, the people that can bang out a mile at 6.0) but this was a major first for me!

I felt like a runner.

Wow, Deranged must really have upped my aerobic capacity.

The next day, I woke up with this thought in my head "I want to do a 5k". So many people in the blogosphere talk about it. First things first. I had to figure out how many miles that actually was. Google told me 3.1 miles. Hmm, so I had to do what I did the previous day 3 times. I was pumped, I felt I could do it.

And I did. The longest I ran was 4 minutes. I played with the speed to keep things interesting. I walked a lot, don't get me wrong. Definitely had to catch my breath. By the time I was done, I was DONE. I had no more energy left in me - I could feel it. Kudos to all y'all that do this on the regular. It was HARD! When I got home, i had to just sit and be. Sweat was pouring out of every pore.

Looking back, I probably should have eaten a little more before (I had a slice of toast and peanut butter) but I am so proud of myself.

I know some of you have some things you think you could never do. Running is that for me. I read all these blogs where people ENJOY running and I think to myself that our genetic hardwiring must be different. I can do the elliptical, I can weight train, I can swim but I am NOT a runner. That's what I used to believe.

I'm not officially a runner now but I can at least envision myself as one later on in the future. I don't know if I'll keep it up but it's nice to know that dramatic change is possible.