Thursday, August 08, 2013

Couch to 10k: Week 5 Session 2

Session 2 - 34 min. Run 2 minutes. Walk 1 minute. Do this 8 times. 

Hoo boy this was hard.  I was all enthusiastic but by the final round of running/walking I was tired and slow.  And I got a stitch, but only for a few seconds.  However, this session is essentially what I tried to do in session 1, which left me with such sore legs I couldn't bend down properly for a week.  I also only managed 6 and a half rounds in that session.

Today I managed it all and I haven't destroyed myself.  I suspect part of the reason for my tiredness was because I went to the gym yesterday - I did about 1.5 hours on the treadmill (walking) and the rowing machine.  I felt fine then.  But while running today it was clear that yesterday had taken something out of me.  I was going to head to the gym again on Sunday but now I am reconsidering.  Looking at the next few session plans (3 mins running/1 minute walking, 5 mins running/1 min walking) I don't want to jeopardise my progress by tiring myself out with regular gym sessions.

Although I am feeling apprehensive about the next 2 weeks worth of training, I am going to continue reminding myself that another easy recovery week is coming.  Judging by the last easy recovery week, I will be shattered right up to the penultimate session, then I will end up feeling a lot better and be raring to go again the following week.  However, I think I'll be doing week 7 and cursing all the running Gods I can think of.  But hey, that's where the fundraising acts as motivation right?!

As I run and walk I have tons of thoughts racing through my head.  Running does not make me calm or clear my mind.  I'm usually thinking about this blog and I usually forget everything half an hour after I got home.  Today I wrote down notes to remind myself for this blog. *proudface*

So today I was thinking about how I'd dearly love to take long strides, to be able to lollop along.  I take short strides.  I sort of pitter patter along and my legs don't go far.  I suspect this is due to two factors - 1) I'm still not very good at or used to running and I get tired.  2) Giant strides don't work very well on uneven ground when you don't want to trip up.  Perhaps when I do more road running my strides will lengthen.

I was also thinking about all the bugs that die in my mouth when I run.  I'm a vegetarian.  Eating insects isn't what I like doing.  However I can't breathe in through my nose as I wouldn't get enough oxygen (I am gasping for breath when I run).  Bugs aren't the wildlife experience I was hoping for when I started this programme.  Fortunately, I saw a Jay today and heard a lot of crickets.  That was nice.

Just a reminder that in order to encourage me to complete this darn programme, I am fundraising for the Abortion Support Network (ASN).  For every session I complete I will donate £1 to ASN.  I would also like to ask my readers to sponsor me, perhaps by donating some money for each session that I complete.  You can find out how to donate to ASN here.

Total raised: £17 (That includes £1 for today's training session and £1 for the gym session yesterday).

No comments: