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not only at the absence of that old feeling of stress and obligation around exercise, but at the fact that it has been replaced by something new (something kinda ooh!).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 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!
Well Done!, I can't imagine that feeling of legs burning after a grueling run, especially as i spent my evenings alternating between tea and penguins and wine and pate. I'm gonna start this week, if for no other reason mother in law coming for three weeks, I'll need to get out !!
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