Day 1 of Week 2...

So this morning was a bit brutal, I'll admit. I moved on to week 2 which means more time spent jogging and more intervals. I've had a couple people ask me specifics about the program, so I'm going to lay out the first two weeks from warm up to cool down.

Week one:
warm up: 5 minutes of brisk walking
4 intervals of 2 minutes of jogging followed by 2.5 minutes of brisk walking
cool down: 5 minutes of brisk walking

Week two:
warm up: 5 minutes of brisk walking
5 intervals of 2.5 minutes of jogging followed by 2.5 minutes of brisk walking
cool down: 5 minutes of brisk walking


Sounds pretty easy? Pshhh...try running for the first time in years with some extra pounds tacked onto your frame and see what happens. I don't feel like a fifteen year old kid getting ready for soccer anymore. Honestly, I didn't feel too badly until about a minute into my second jogging interval, and then I started to pray for it to start downpouring so I could crawl back home because "Ooops, its raining. I can't possibly run in the rain. I may melt, or die." But, alas...it did not start to rain. And I did, indeed, finish my run.

What changes have I started to see/feel? Well, I'm not huffing and puffing as much, which is nice. My muscles do feel like they are on fire around the middle of my third interval still. Am I still playing mindgames with myself to get me through that jogging interval? Yes! Whenever I'm having a little bit of a rough time with an interval, or say to myself that I can't possibly make it the rest of the time running, I have to lie a little bit to myself. I'll pick a point in the road and think that if I can just get there, I'll stop. But, when I get to that spot, I pick a new spot farther away and tell myself, again, that if I can just make it to that spot, I can stop. And then, my interval is done and I get to take a break.

Hopefully it will be nice for Thursday's run. Or maybe, it will rain....

Studying and exams and moving, oh my...

So I feel like I've just woken up from a four-week black out. Apparently, being able to function like a normal human being during final exams your first year of veterinary school is asking a little too much. On top of that, I spent every free second I had moving out of my apartment and into a new house with awesome room mates. I've had my nose in the books for weeks, but I'm finally done with finals! Yay!

So summer is officially here, and I'm back in Connecticut. I made the fourteen hour drive home two days ago, and I'm back on track with my training. I spent a few extra workouts for my couch-2-5k program on week 1. Its been a little harder on my knees and back than I would like, but I feel like I hit my stride on my run this morning. Tuesday will be my next run, and I'll be changing it up to week 2.

I've decided to take it a little slower with the P90X workouts that I'll be doing on my days off from running. I'm planning on working in the ab routine on a regular basis. I'm going to try to incorporate the other workouts in a few weeks when my body has adjusted a little better to running on a regular basis. I feel like every time I try to start a new workout program too fast, I overtrain, and end up taking three steps backwards instead of accomplishing what I originally intended to do. So for now, I'm going to keep plugging away at the miles, and I'm looking forward to Tuesday's run!