Week 4

Week 4 is done! I have reached the half way mark! I can now run (jog, shuffle, stumble) for 16 minutes of the core 20 minute workout. I have an impressive (in my book anyhow) 4 week history of sticking doggedly to the c25k routine as designed by Zen Labs. The commitment is there for sure. Yet, tonight, my usual post run euphoria has skipped out on me. In it's place is a touch of apprehension with a fringe of self doubt.

Our usual walking slot discussion (I don't 'do' talking and running at the same time) centres around the plan. What is in the immediate future and how we may need to lengthen the route etc. I think it's fair to say that the onset of my current emotional state could be pinpointed almost exactly to the second that Abbie mentioned that by the end of next week we would be running 2 miles. Her concern was simply that we needed to measure the distance to ensure that we did it in the allotted time. My concern, probably more accurately described as terror, was two fold... 1) Can I really run 2 miles without stopping? and 2) I'm going as fast as I can for pity's sake!

Now I am here, staring at the screen, wishing I could write something more inspirational. Wishing that I could feel a smidge of the certainty I felt just a week ago about achieving my goal. Instead, I will settle for the deal I made with myself the night I started.... I decided that if I was opting in to this then there would be no opting out. No giving up. No matter what.

The good news is that I learned some new things this week. I learned that it's easier to run in sunshine than in darkness and that my legs keep going way beyond what I would have thought possible before. So with a great weather forecast ahead for the week, I am going to pray that the leg reserves are even deeper than I have found to date.

Cervantes said that valour lies just halfway between rashness and cowardice.  So.... here's to halfway!

Week 3

Yeah! Week 3 complete! Surprisingly, it also passed uneventfully. (Well....one minor temper tantrum when there was a mix up about what was in store for me week4... sorry about that Abbie.) Even better than uneventful is that each day I feel an improvement.

I have begun to get a little competitive (what me?!!! Even I can't believe it. I normally opt out of anything more competitive than monopoly) I have begun trying to cover more ground by the half way mark. I have started really pushing at the end of the last run, picking a point in the distance and going for it before the magic beeps. No more praying for the beeps, more like I'm trying to beat them.

Three weeks, three nights a week, nine sessions. It's not much is it? Yet, already, the improvement in me is exponential in it's progress. The change is so much more than physical. Any misgivings I had regarding my ability to complete this challenge are gone. I truly believe I will be running 5k by the last week in April.

Week 4 is the challenge for now. It's a fair step up on week 3 but I'm ready. Bring it on.

Week 2

This weeks post should probably be called 'stuff that gets in the way' or 'reasons why I might generally give up'. Hold on a sec, don't panic, or shake your head with a little wry smile of knowingness. I have completed week 2. I wouldn't say completed against the odds, more like completed despite the odds.

There's been some bad weather, some bad form and some hangover issues. There have been a few tense moments on the Fernhill Road and a few down right nasty moments on the bypass but, I am very happy to report, Abbie managed not to quit, and I managed not to sack her. (and believe me I'd definitely be the loser in both situations)

Despite aforementioned hangover, Day 3 was definitely the least taxing. I noticed that the burn in the legs starts much later into our session than the original 40 seconds and the heartburn (seriously) didn't start till I was nearly home.

I'm glad I've had a crappy week. It has shown me that 'Opt - in - Sara' isn't going to be swayed lightly.

Week 1

The challenge is to build the ability to run 5k in only 8 weeks. The method is to follow a preset routine of exercise that I downloaded to my itouch. It's as simple as that. Thank you C25k for a great app and off we go.

I should explain also that the 'we' part of that statement is not royal or figurative. It refers to my 18 year old daughter Abbie. She is fit as a fiddle and needs an over - weight, over - zealous mother plodding along side her, 3 nights a week, about as much as she needs a hole in the head. However, seeing as she is studying quite intensively at the moment, I think she is viewing this as 30 minutes light entertainment. It's good to laugh, they say.

So we settled on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Sunday mornings. 30 minutes a go. Sure how hard could it be?

Day 1
I checked the screen of the iTouch during my first jogging section and was shocked at how long 40 seconds can actually seem, seriously, legs burning after 40 seconds. As my brain grappled with the possibility that this could quite probably be the longest 8 weeks of my life, Abbie caught my pained expression and thought I was trying to be funny so I played along. Then came the magic chimes and the voice from heaven telling me to start walking. The rotating stints of walking and jogging made the 30 mins bearable and, by the time I got home I had a strange feeling that I had not felt for a while. Took me a minute to put my finger on it but yes, there it was..... Achievement! Peppered with a the tiniest bit of self belief.

Day 2
Sunday morning is a change in venue as we decide to go for a nice flat stint by the river. Absolutely lovely, until that is, we turned around and the wind that had been coaxing us along nicely, hit us in the face. Nothing like brain freeze to take your mind of the fire in your thighs.

Day 3
By any standards this is a busy house. Tuesday nights crank it up a notch with TaeKwonDo lesson, PA meeting and a standing arrangement to meet a friend. So, when I find myself tying my runners at 9 30, I am surprised not only at the absence of that old feeling of stress and obligation around exercise, but at the fact that it has been replaced by something new (something kinda ooh!). I am straining at the bit! Despite the time and the shocking weather, we are off out together and in great form. Brilliant.

Week one down - seven more to go. I think I've got the mind bit sussed, here's hoping the legs follow!

I honestly don't know what has prompted me to change. I only know that something has already changed in me. Weight, and the gaining and losing of same, is a preoccupation I have had most of my adult life. I only ever wanted to be thin. For some as yet unidentified reason, I now want to be fit. 

For years, the upside of that physical state to me, would mean wearing size 10 clothes and looking hot. Even having been in that condition for quite a few years, I never wanted to exercise beyond the occasional ramble in the Comeragh Mountains with post - exertion respite in the form of a 5 star guest house with an equally stellar restaurant. 

I have made 'opting out' an art form. With 'not really my thing/working on my tan/reading my book/minding the baby' style excuses on holidays ensuring that I have missed out on quite a few experiences out of sheer bone idleness. The 'too tired/too busy/just not my thing' mantra's at home have enabled me to pile on the pounds and feel pretty crap.

It ends here. Or should I say, BEGINS. Build the ability to run 5k in 8 weeks is the challenge. 

And for the first time ever........I'm opting in