Week 4!

Okay, so I've been a bit busy with work lately and haven't had an opportunity to write. I'm in the process of working through "week 4" of the program. Week four consists of a five minute warm up, and then five intervals of running for 4 minutes, with one minute to recover in between each interval, and a five minute cool down. I have been on week four for two week now. I did take another short break from running for about a week because it seemed like everything hurt a little too much. So I went to the state forest and hiked instead, spent another awesome day on the Appalachian trail, and I take the dog for about forty-five minute walk every night.

In the past week, I have been incorporating hills into my run, which makes those four minutes seem to last forever. However, every time I start to think about how crappy I feel, I think back to how I felt when I first started this program. I remember when running for 90 seconds was torture, and I don't feel so bad because now I can get through four minutes of running up enormous hills five times in a row. It may not seem like much to the seasoned pro or the marathon runner, but it means a lot to me. I know its taking me longer than the eight weeks it should take to complete this program, but I don't care. I'm proud of what I can do at this moment, and I'm going to keep working towards completing the program.

Week five is going to be a big step up, with three intervals of 8 minutes of running. What I may end up doing is the transition week that is optional with 6 minutes of running to get me ready for week 5.

I am registered for a 5k in October at school, so I am definitely looking forward to that. Now I just need to find a few buddies (A.K.A. my housemates, even though they don't know it yet...) to run with me!

Off the beaten path

So the thing that I hate most about starting a running routine again are the inevitable shin splints I get every single time. I was told by a rather knowledge woman in a reputable running store that it is usually due to worn-out sneakers. That was about two months ago, and I have broken in my new sneakers since that day, but I'm still dealing with these blasted shin splints. Hence why it is been tough for me to run at all lately. I have been hiking in the state forest instead.

I went for a run yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks, and my shins are starting to be cooperative. I decided to leave the dog behind yesterday because I just moved to a new part of Massachusetts and there really aren't any sidewalks to run on. I stayed on the side streets, and came across a cemetary with a really pretty lake in the middle, so I decided to take a detour around it. I was right in the middle of my run, and found myself either continuing running in traffic or taking a turn around the deserted paths that gently sloped up and around some rolling hills. I'm not sure what the policy is on joggers in cemetaries, but by the time I did one loop around, my 5k program had finished on my phone, and I cooled down by walking around the water. I found myself reflecting on what I think started my downhill spiral into becoming out of shape and lazy, which was my grandmother passing away 9 years ago. That may seem like a long time, but I don't think I ever really dealt with it properly. I'm not sure how a 15 year old is supposed to manage grief, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do a very good job adjusting to losing one of the most important people in my life. Maybe I was feeling emotional, but I feel like I closed one chapter of my life yesterday. I feel like I might have been able to finally say goodbye to something that has been hanging over my head for the longest time.

Today was my day off from my 5k program, but I took the dog for a hike in the state forest. My muscles were feeling pretty good, despite yesterday's run, so I decided to try out a little trail running. There is something about being on the trail and only thinking about where your feet are going to hit the ground next that I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn't have any music to listen to, but I found that I didn't need it, which is unusual for me. When I'm on the road, I need to listen to something to keep me preoccupied. Today all I needed was to feel the pine needles crunching under my feet. My next goal is to find some good quality trail sneakers and some sort of apparatus I can put around my waist or attach to the dog's leash to put my keys and whatnot in.


Hiking at the state forest with the mutt...

Tomorrow is the first run of week 4....here's hoping it goes well!

Running through the rain drops

I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself by being snarky about running in the rain on my last post. My first day of week three came and I had no other choice than to run during downpours. Running with glasses on is not a pleasant experience. I do believe I need some sort of glasses-windshield wiper device to afix to my specs because I couldn't see anything. To make it worse, they were also fogging up. Not a good way to start week 3. I'm spending some extra time on week 3, because I can't seem to get through all of the intervals comfortably. Week 3 consists of a five minute warm up, five intervals of jogging for 3 minutes with walking for 2 minutes in between, and then a five minute cool down. I can get through the fourth interval, but for some reason I just can't finish that fifth one. So, I'm working on repeating week 3. Again.

This is the third week I have been at this level, but I took a couple of days off because my shin splints were really bad. I'm prone to this, and always have been, especially back in high school when I was playing soccer. On my off days, I went for an epic seven hour hike on the Appalachian trail and a short, local hike at a state park. I'm also helping my parents move and paint their new house, which is a good workout in itself.

There are a few 5k races I have my eye on this summer, and I'm hoping I'm in good enough shape to enter one of them before summer ends. Even if I use it to help me train for a real race, I think I'm going to register for one soon so that I can't back out of the committment. Let's see which one I find to enter!

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!

Putting one foot in front of the other...

Run # 2 of Week 1

I just finished up my second run of week 1. I have one more run this week, and I hope I can make it through to week 2. I decided to run outside today and between the cold and the wind, it was not fun. I was huffing and puffing anyways, and the wind on PEI blows so hard it feels like you are being suffocated. I took three rest days between runs this week. I am planning on doing my P90X on the days I'm not running. Tomorrow will be the P90X kickboxing workout, and I'm excited about it because its a really fun workout.

Overall, I feel pretty good about the past few days. My scale is starting to move and I've been sleeping better. However, I'm starving all the time. That is nothing new though, because every time I go on a "diet" (really just restricting my calories to a normal level), I'm hungry all the time. I learning to accept being hungry and waiting it out, but it sucks...a lot! I'm not doing anything special in terms of my nutrition plan except for being aware of what I'm eating (portion control-wise) and not eating refined sugars.

On the school side of my life, I have a 5 page paper and 8 final exams standing in my way of summer freedom. I still can't believe how fast first year has gone by. I feel like I just got my acceptance letter and started planning my move to Canada. I'm doing research at one of the vet schools in the states over the summer, and I can't wait to get started.

Welcome to my blog...

I'm a 24 year old veterinary student from Connecticut studying on the beautiful Prince Edward Island. I'm in the first year of my studies, and didn't realize how much sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day was going to affect me, mentally and physically. I left a job where I ran in circles all day long and cleaned out horse stalls on the side. Among the things I miss from back home, is being in shape! So what do you do when you wake up and you realize you have become the proverbial bump on a log? You get your little buns in gear!

In the next year, I'm planning on running a half-marathon and completing a full 90 days of the workout program P90X. This little intro into my life welcomes you to the mission I'm going on to get back in shape and get supremely fit for the first time in my life. It might not be this summer, but you better believe that someday soon I'll be buying my first bikini and displaying it proudly on the beaches of PEI.

Which brings me to...Day 1. Today was the first day of a new running program called "Couch to 5K". Week one's run gets you to warm up for 5 minutes at a brisk walk, then alternate joggging for 2 minutes with brisk walking for 3 minutes. Repeat this 4 times, followed by a cool down, and you are done. Sounds pretty easy right? Not so much. I think I had forgotten all those days of getting into shape for soccer in high school and how much my body begrudges running for the first time after doing nothing all winter. New running shoes helped me out a little bit, but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow when I get up.

My running schedule calls for me to repeat the first day's run two more times before moving on to Week 2. I'm planning on alternating run days with P90X workouts on the days I'm not running. I've tried to complete P90X once before, but found I got too sore and too tired to do the required six days a week with one day off to rest. Hopefully this combination of cardio and weight training will make it easier for me to get back into working out.

Time to go hit the anatomy books...I'll let you know how my next adventure in training turns out!