C25K: Week 6 Day 2

So as I mentioned in my other life, I've been potty training the little princess which killed me last week. I grounded myself and didn't go anywhere except to the bathroom with Sassy every 20 minutes for the entire week!  So after getting a run in on Monday I wasn't able to run the rest of the week.  So this week I picked up on Monday and ran the W6D2 and then today I went out and ran it again so that I could keep my long run for Friday.

Week 6 Day 2 is the last interval run of the Couch to 5K program.  That's a little overwhelming to think.  Today's run consistent of 2-10 minute runs with a 3 minute walk in between.  I know that's not a lot of walking but there is just something comforting in knowing that after pushing myself hard for 10 minutes I'll get a short reprieve.  I know I've already done one long run at the end of Week 5 Day 3, but I still find them overwhelming to think about.

Therefore, I won't talk about what's coming up Friday.  I'll talk about what I accomplished today.  I hit the door the minute my Prince Charming got home.  My neighborhood is only 3 streets so with a 10 minute run I didn't want the monotony and constant turns of getting to the end of the street to turn around and run down it to the next street so I decided to run on the main road, Tracey.  Out here in the country (pronounced kuuuuuun-tree with a horrible southern accent) we don't have curbs or edges to the road.  Heck, you're lucky if there is a white line and not just a steep drop off into the drainage ditches.  So I was a little nervous running out on the main drag where people speed.  I hugged the white line as best as possible like one foot in front of the other on the white line and basically booked it as fast as I could to the next neighborhood over.  And it must have worked because I clocked my fastest mile yet 9:23.  My second mile on the way back to my neighborhood was 9:38.  So running on a busy street with drivers who really don't know how to share the road can help your pace because you want to get back to the safety of your neighborhood and quick!

But today my shoulders have been really tight.  I need some advice for how to loosen up my shoulders and upper body while I run.  I apparently run really tense through there because as the runs are getting longer my shoulders and upper back are starting to hurt more.  Any suggestions?

C25K: Week 6 Day 1

Well I blew off running last week.  I have a long list of excuses, but that's exactly what they are, excuses. And I really regretted it because while Monday was blazing hot last week Wednesday and Friday were really quite nice.  I should have gone running.

But anyway in my other life right now I'm potty training my lovely Sassy who is 2.5 years old.  Heaven help me.  If I can survive this I deserve to be in the happiest place on earth (aka Disney World).  After a week and a half of letting her go commando it was time to give her panties which means I'm grounded until she figures this out.  So that means that I didn't hit the pavement until about 7:45 after I got the kids in bed and the evening chores done.  But I had a nice run.  I ran around the neighborhood which has a slightly graded hill that I made sure to hit 3 or 4 times.  My pace slowed a little on the hill but it was good to practice there.  The Y track is pretty flat and I know races aren't always flat land so while my hill on Tracy Rd isn't very steep it's better than nothing.

So this week the first day had intervals of 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 5 minutes for running with a 3 minute and a 5 minute recovery walk.  I got through all the runs with no problem.  I came out the gun on the first run to hard running around a 9 min/mile pace which is probably why I was running around a 10:30 for some of the longer 8 minute stretch.  But I made through all the runs and felt strong.

I'm looking forward to Wednesday.  It's my last interval run of this program.  From there on out it'll be straight blocks of runs.