I Think I Can't Move...(My First Week Of Training)

My first week of training is over.  I promised I would keep you up to date on the From Couch to 5K app and my training, so here goes.  My first day, I decided to run in Gassville Park.  It has a great course that slowly meanders up hill on the last half of the course.  When I turned on the running app, I had a problem with sound.  It would vibrate, but no matter what I did, no sound.  The app has this lovely progress circle that changes to green, letting you know you are almost done.  I watched the green like a person on a sinking ship watches the last raft.  Since I didn't have sound, I didn't know that you are supposed to briskly walk the first five minutes, so I ran the first five minutes.  After that you are supposed to run one minute and walk one and a half minutes for 10 cycles.  I did the opposite and ran a minute and a half and walked one minute.  It seemed like the app hated me because it would vibrate to run at the bottom of that meandering hill that soon seemed like Mt. Everest.  I huffed and puffed my way to completion.  I sounded like an Asthma patient needing an inhaler, but I made it.  It showed that I ran 4.54 K in 25 minutes.  No bad!  I bragged to my husband that I could totally handle a 5 K with no problem and something about him eating my smoke.  Well, you hear the pride coming before a fall thing, so you can guess what happened.  By Monday, I could hardly walk.  Every step felt like my shins were going to break apart.  I had to give myself bed rest whenever possible and whimpered and moaned much to my husband's amusement.  (That eat my smoke thing came back to bite me in the backside.)  After a couple of days off, I decided to get back on the proverbial horse and tried the app again at the same park.  This time, I ran the first five minutes, but somehow got back to the schedule of running one minute and walking one and a half minutes.  I still couldn't get the sound to work.  By the way, did I mention it was raining?  How dedicated was I?  I think it was a sign that nature was sad that I felt the need to run when something wasn't chasing me.  It went a little easier.  I got into the swing of things, but sadly only did 3.54 K in 28 minutes.  My shins, however, appreciated my slower pace.  My busy schedule kept me from running until Saturday.  It rained during the day, so I wasn't able to run until night.  My oldest son promised to go running with me so that I wouldn't be alone at 8 pm in the park.  My son is six foot six inches and runs cross country competitively, so you can imagine how this went.  I ran the first five minutes and miraculously, the sound came on.  This robotic woman's voice told me to run for one minute.  This is when I realized I had been following the app completely wrong.  Grrrrr!  During my run, I felt I was doing great until my son lapped me, not once or twice, but three times.  When he jogged up to me, he wasn't even breathing heavy.  He then proceeded to speed walk next to my legitimate run.  Was it wrong that I wanted to put my foot out and trip him?  He then showed mercy and jogged beside me.  When my app mentioned walking for a minute and a half, he would tell me to just run it.  It wouldn't be a big deal.  I informed him that I am old and out of shape and my app was showing more mercy than he was.  We had a great run with him doing tiny little speed steps to my exhausted jog in the end.  So I survived my first week.  I ended with a respectable 3.98 K run in 28 minutes.  I'm on the right track to doing this 5 K.  The app wasn't bad once I was able to use it correctly, but we'll see how it does when it sends me into week 2.  So as I trained this week, I thought about the difference with training on my own versus running with someone.  I was able to train okay on my own, but it was so much better when I had someone encouraging me, even if it was a snarky teenager.  God has placed believers together for a reason.  We could try to do things on our own, but when we have someone in our corner praying for us and telling us we can make it, how much sweeter will the prize be at the end? 

If you want to undertake training with me, drop me a comment, and we'll encourage each other as we strive to win the prize!  Have a great week high-heeled warriors!