Ah, Thursday. It used to be just another cardio day, but now it falls under the shadow of “dreaded running day”. Alright, that’s a bit dramaic, but it’s sure what it felt like when I rolled out of bed today. I was still sore not only from Tuesday’s run, but from our killer ChaLEAN Extreme workout yesterday.
On a brighter note, I did a lot of research and have decided to follow a free program called Couch-to-5K. The premise is to take people from absolutely zero running experience to being able to complete a 5K, or 3.1 miles, in 2 months. I’ll have to modify it to last longer since the program calls for 3 sessions a week and we only do 2, but it really gives me hope. It starts out very reasonably with a 5 minute warm up, then 8 intervals of running for 60 seconds followed by 90 seconds of walking. Then there’s a 5 minute cool down. As trainers love to quip, “you can do anything for a minute!” which is what I yell at myself in my head when my energy begins to flag.
Now, my focus isn’t ideal to begin with, so the first thing I knew I needed was an app to tell me when to run and when to walk. There are quite a few in the Android market, but I settled on Couch to 5K by RunDouble. It’s very easy to use and free for the first month of sessions. After that, you can still use it, but if you want to progress further in the program, it costs a whopping $1.60. That not only unlocks the rest of the C25K program, but also 5 advanced programs. I don’t see ever needing those additional programs, but if I make it to the 1 month mark, I will gladly support the developer.
With program loaded and phone in hand, we set out to run. I really loved not having to look at my watch or do any math to determine when I needed to change my pace. I just let the robotic female voice (admittedly not very pleasant) tell me what to do. That was the end of the good news though. We did not realize just how cold it was when we set out in our shorts and t-shirts that morning. It became painfully apparant soon enough as the chill creapt over us. We would later learn that it was 22 degrees and we felt every bit of it. We’d literally lost feeling in our hands by the time we got home 30 minutes later. We vowed to get some proper running gear and layer up from now on. Lesson learned!
