Machine of torture??

Well, I don't really think it is, but others have disagreed with me. Last night the machine in my previous post was taken, so I hopped on this one and made Nat get on it too. I did the interval program, level 2 for 20 minutes. In 20 minutes I burned* 274 calories. (*that's what the machine said, which I'm sure has to be inflated) Anyway, I'm not really all about the calories anyway, because I don't count what I consume, thus it makes no difference to count what I burn off, but it was encouraging to see that calories/hr at 1000+ during those highest resistance times, that's for sure. We did a few upper body weight as well, but overall were pretty spent.

I took a hot shower last night so I'm not that sore, but I can definately feel it all over, which is what I love about this machine - it works my entire body.

Hey, what happened to running you ask? Well, I'm getting there. The plan is to do machines one more time, then give the treadmill a try again. Wish me luck.

Setting realistic goals

Ok, so in my last post I was getting frustrated. Running was really hurting me and because I was hurting I wasn't doing it long enough to do any good, nor to burn any calories. I think it was just too much too fast on my muscles and joints. I was really, really, "less than couch fit". So, I took some time off running and hit the gym instead. 3 times last week I did an elliptical machine, very similar to this one.
The elliptical is easier on my knees and shins, but still gets my heart rate up and works my muscles, it just seems to do it more evenly versus shooting pains in my shins. I did the "interval" training program, which rotates between two minutes at a higher incline and resistance, two minutes at a lower incline/resistance. Last year when I was working out 5-6 days a week for 1-2 hrs at a time, I could do the interval program for 45-50 minutes, then went and lifted weights, did some core exercises, etc. I hopped on Thursday, set it for 30 minutes. Sounds reasonable, right?

No. F*ck, I couldn't even get through TWO intervals without hurting and had to drop resistance and incline. Wow. Ok, I'm in really bad shape. I was worried. I got through 25 minutes, but it was rough and I had to do a lesser workout overall.

But, I'm happy to report that I did it Saturday and Sunday, and by Sunday, I did the whole 30 minutes without dropping the resistance. No, I didn't go at with the vigor I did last year, but I finished it. I discovered that switching between going forward and backwards gave my calves a break and more worked out my quads and hamstrings. Also important muscles, so if my calves were giving me trouble, I'd switch to backwards.

No, I'm not going to give up on the running. I still have a goal to do the 5K, but being realistic with my fitness level right now, I think I should switch my goal to running at least half of it. We'll see- I'll probably try running again later this week but not until I do the elliptical a few more times. Who knows, maybe once I get a smidge more in shape I can get back on the training schedules and I might surprise myself.

Frustrated

Ok, I'm getting frustrated. This morning I got up, stretched, grabbed Layla and went outside. Walked 5 mins, jogged 1 min, walked about 3 (tried to do 90 secs, couldn't do it) jogged one and that's about all I could do. (well, then I walked for another 20 mins) My outer lower leg / shins are killing me. My knee still hurts a little bit. I had wanted this to get easier and thought it would and its not.

The thing is my legs don't always hurt like they did this morning. It seems like every other time, or every two times. I suppose its possible I didn't stretch as well as I needed to, since I was sleeping before that and was of course super stiff. Or maybe I have some knot somewhere that's messing things up. Or maybe my back's out of line. Or maybe I need to walk more at first to really limber up and I didn't give myself the proper amount of time? If I think back, the times where this happens the least is when I walk .8 miles to the long flat stretch of road and do the training there. So, if I warm up for 15 minutes it seems it doesn't hurt? Maybe, its not like I've done it a ton of times and have reference points.

Don't worry-these aren't excuses to keep from exercising. I'm going to keep up the overall training 3 times a week, but I may not be able to make as much forward progress as fast as I wanted. I said this last week, but I guess this morning really drove the point home- I need to hit the gym to so some low impact workouts. (like on the elliptical) Get my muscles and lungs worked out while being less hard on my joints.

Its also possible I need to just try some consistently flat treadmill training - it just seems to silly and mean not to walk my dog when she spends all night and when we're gone in her crate. I don't know.

But I'm not giving up - just frustrated, that's all.

Have Faith...

Well... Nat, Megan and I did our workout today. Nat informed us that we should be doing a 90 min walk alternated with a 60 min run. I had serious doubts as to whether I could pull it off (seeing as I have only done the workout on two previous occasions!). Well, with heavy feet, droopy eye-lids and a healthy dose of pessimism, we hit the pavement. Luckily I found that my cellular phone has a stopwatch on it, so I can honestly say WE DID IT!!!
1.48 miles; 30 consecutive mins of true aerobic activity (3836 steps); and 150 calories burned!!!
We are taking advantage of the warm weather tomorrow and gonna do it again!!!

Keeping it up

So on Friday night I went on what was supposed to be a training session, but my knee popped a little bit during the first minute of jogging so I just walked for about a mile and a half. It didn’t pop out of place, it just popped, but I’m not messing around with my knee so I didn’t want to push it.

Then Saturday Nat came over and we went 2.8 miles- with about a .8 mile for both warmup and cooldown. (yes, we properly stretched!) I jogged 4 minutes and she jogged 6 (go Nat!!). We weren’t exact with the timing, because at first we jogged together and she wanted to jog after 2 minutes, so then she went ahead, then a minute later I jogged, so she jogged with me, after only a minute break on her end, so it was hard to keep track of each of our increments. The bottom line with 20 minutes, she got in 6 minutes and I got in 4, with varying breaks of 1-5 minutes in between.

No, I’m not doing as well as I hoped, but I’m keeping it up and doing some sort of jogging, whatever I think my knee can handle, 3 times a week. In the meantime, I’m trying to walk a lot as well and I hope it will get easier as time goes on and I’ll be able to make up lost time as the weeks progress. I may not make it to run/jog the actual whole 5K, but if I can get it done in 40 minutes or less I’ll be happy.

Giving it a rest

Well, when I left work today I was going to gome, change, grab my dog and go for a walk / run. But honestly, my legs are still a little sore. I really don't want to do anything to derail my training for a long period of time - they say shin splints aren't anything to mess with and the only way to fix them is to rest. I know if I take a week off I'll never get going again and I'm really afraid of straining a muscle and putting myself out of commission for a while, so I took tonight off again. My "training week" goes from Monday-Sunday so I still have tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday to get in my remaining training sessions. My hubby works all 3 nights so I'm pretty sure I can get in two training sessions.

But, as I logged on to post this post, I read Nat's and I'm so proud of her for going by herself today after work that as soon as I hit "publish post" I'm going to do some core toning exercises, so I don't feel like a worthless bum. Thanks Nat, for keeping me going.....and good job!!!

Almost a Couch Potato

Well, I went at it alone today. I have to go right after work because if I get home, I know I won't do it. And I remembered my watch, so I actually timed myself - yay for me. And I think I did pretty good. Here was my routine today:

Warmup 7 min
Run 1 min
Walk 2 min

I repeated the run/walk cycle 4 more times and then walked for my cool down for 7 minutes. My calves are throbbing as I am typing this, but I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself. That's almost 30 minutes of activity and I did not think I could do that much running.

So, according to the original couch to 5K plan, I am almost to their starting point, which is warm up, run 60 sec., walk 90 sec., repeat. Maybe next week, I will graduate to Couch Potato.

Tues, Feb 10th

Well, I had my 2nd walk/run session today. We ended up doing 1.45 miles in 33 minutes. Hey, it's a start. We missed our organizer though and of course, none of us had a watch or any way to keep time, so we just ran when we felt like it. I know, not the most structured training plan, but hey, my calves are sore today, so we must have done something right. Or wrong, whatever.

I am determined to be running down the strip when I get to Vegas at the beginning of April, so I'm on this whole running plan. And I'd like to be a size or more smaller - this should help.

Rookie mistakes

I made a rookie mistake Sunday and again on Tuesday. I’ll start with Sunday- I really needed to train but the day got away from me and I ended up with only 15 minutes to get a walk/run in. I didn’t stretch at all and only warmed up for 3 minutes. I jogged a min, walked 4, jogged a min…….then hobbled to the curb, legs cramping. After sitting there for a few mins, stretching as best I could, I hobbled home. (Luckily I wasn’t too far away) Ok, maybe I should stretch next time.

(Oh, I finally picked up a pair of new shoes, Reebok Verona. They are uber cute-pink and white, and very comfortable with lots of give.)

Yesterday after class I changed clothes, put on the new kicks, and hit the walking trails at SIUE with a fellow classmate. I realized about 2 mins in I didn’t stretch so I did a little quickie stretch and went on….and soon felt cramping in my lower leg again. Man. So I took some time and tried to really stretch. Of course by then it was too late to totally fix the cramping, so I was in a bit of discomfort but I suffered through it and jogged a min, walked 3, jogged a min, walked 3, jogged a min. I decided to push myself to the next training level since Friday with the 4 min break went ok. However, because I walked so slow earlier in the day because of cramping, I felt I need a bit more walking, so I stretched and took my puppy for a somewhat slow 1.3 mile walk. I’m a bit sore today, but I think that’s to be expected in training. I will probably stick with the jog 1 min/take a 3 min break for the rest of this week.

And I’ll remember to stretch. :)

Beating to my own drum

So, yesterday we finally all got together for a training session. About 1/4 way through my shin/calf whatever started hurting very badly. As in couldn't really walk badly. (note, I have NOT bought new shoes yet) I told the ladies to forge ahead, and they did, for a bit, then came back and started walking in the parking lot of a nearby church. Here's the funny part - even though I couldn't walk, I could march. So march I did. Picture this....four girls in a parking lot, two walking together, one walking in a different direction and one marching in the middle yelling "start running" .... "only 30 seconds to go" ..... " you can do it". If I would've drove by I would've died laughing....talk about marching to your own drum!!!!

I digress. The other ladies did good, and jogged one minute, walked 6, jogged one. An excellent training session-for everyone but me. While marching was indeed a workout (and by marching I mean knee lifting marching), and it was good for me, it wasn't training for the 5K. So I felt the need to make up the training session tonight. But, I have a cold and man, the last thing I wanted to do was go walking. Even though it was a beatiful day for February, I woke up every two hours last night, if not more and I was rather sleep deprived. What do you think: did I force myself to do it or not?

Well?

I'm blogging like I have something to say so I'm sure you guess that I did make it through a training session, but not without a few hiccups. I found a different pair of shoes, tucked away in my closet. Far less structure, but light so we'll see. I made myself a homemade latte and grabbed Layla and went walking. I get the part of my neighborhood where there are sidewalks, set my stopwatch on my phone, and start jogging. About 20 seconds in my phone rings and it my husband. So I stop jogging to answer it. Ok, well that didn't count as a minute so now I have to do it again. Dang it. Ok, get ready...start jogging. Make it about 10 seconds and see a big ole icy patch, tiptoe around it, and keep jogging....for about 10 more seconds then a car is pulling out of a driveway. Dang it. So I wait...then TWO cars pull out of the driveway. Ok, now my "jogging time" is officially interrupted and once again can't count. Grr.

Try #3- jog for a minute. Ok. That wasn't too bad. I decide I'm going to to make up a workout and see if I can jog after only 4 minutes of walking. 4 minutes later, I jog. That minute seemed a little longer than that first one, but I made it. Allright. Maybe I can make it THREE minutes out of 20? About 4 minutes later, I try it. (I say about because my stopwatch reset, but it was a bit less than a song's worth of time, so 4 minutes, give or take a few seconds.) Wow. That minute was a LOT longer than the last one. I make it through, really pushing myself that last 6 seconds. I had to practically crawl to get my breath back, but eventually it came back. Whew! All in all, I walked 2.5 miles and jogged 3 one minute segments, plus a couple 15-20 second spurts. A long way from jogging a 5k, but all in all a rather successful training session.

Disclaimer-I'm really sure that I walk slower than most people. My legs didn't hurt but I think its mostly because I walked so slow. The shoes might've helped, but its mostly the slower walking.

I'll get better ladies, I promise, and in the meantime, don't let me keep you down!!

All about pronation

All the runner sites stress the importance of good shoes that are fit to your pronation (which way your foot rolls when you run, thus which part of your foot that bears the most weight) as well as arch height. Since my shoes are from 2007 and I'm pretty sure are general use shoes, I evidently need new shoes and that might help my leg pain by correcting my pronation.

I looked on Runner’s World Shoe Finder and it comes up with recommended shoes for you. There’s also a link which explains pronation in depth, which is helpful because shoes have different cushioning choices and knowing your pronation is important when choosing the right shoe. (or so it says….)

You plug in your weight, pronation, etc, and it comes back the with level of cushion you need….which you can use for your search to come back with specific shoes to choose from.

So, I’m armed with a coupon for the Reebok outlet store and 4 different Reebok shoes that are supposed to be good for my “underpronation”. Wish me luck.

Day 2 - just another Day 1, but done

Ok, Day 2 of training done. I'll be honest, I did basically the same thing as Day 1 of training, although I did it on a treadmill without worrying about slipping in melting ice, so I think I jogged a smidge faster. I walked 11 minutes, jogged one, walked 6, jogged one, walked 7 for a total of 25 minutes. I had forgotten there was only supposed to be a 5 minute break in between my jogging sessions. The overall amount of jogging (2 minutes) wouldn't have changed, but the goal is to move towards a 90 second walking break in between jogging. (Which, by the way, is what most "couch to 5K" plans have you start with - sadly, I am evidently "less than couch" fit)

Another confession is I walked really slow in between. REALLY slow-less than 3mph. Not because I needed to walk that slow to catch my breath, but because the area just outside my shins hurts. It either posterior shin splints or weak muscles or bad support. (my step is pronated slightly because I have high arches...I thought my current arch supports were good enough but I guess not) I'm going to do some exercises to strengthen that area and see if that helps in addition to getting some better arch supports.

But I think I'm going to try to add a 4th day to my training-some general low impact cardio, like on an elliptical to give my lungs a workout while giving my knee and shins a must needed break, and some strength training, which is always a good thing.

Don't worry, I don't think I'll cause myself any great injury by sticking to my training plan, I just have to stick it out for a few weeks while my muscles get used to being used again for something other than leisurely mall-like strolls.

If I'm going to stay on track, next time is a 5 minute break, then a 4 minute break, which will mean adding an additional minute of jogging. Wow. The time after next I need to add another minute in??? I can do it. Hopefully you guys find this running thing a bit easier, but if not, if we can get through the first 4 weeks I think it'll be easy sailing.

A 29 year old trapped in a 85 year old's body

Well, Saturday was the first day of training according to my "Real Couch to 5K" plan. I walked a little longer than I was supposed to in the beginning and end, but left the middle training program about the same.....I walked about 15 minutes, jogged 1, walked 6, jogged 1, and walked 15.

And the verdict is.....I am horribly out of shape. I was sucking wind and hobbling along, trying not to be too stressful on my knee that I think I resembled an 85 year old heart transplant patient. But, I ran. Day 1 of training is over. Now I just have to keep it up!!!