It's been a long frickin' road, but my running has been struggling the past few months. I'm not gonna lie, since I don't have padded bike shorts and since my knee's been bothering me, I've really only worked out once or twice a month since living here in Arizona. I tried Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred for a few days when I knew I couldn't run and it was too hot to bike, but I didn't have the heart. I'm a runner and if I couldn't run, then what did I have left?
My eating habits went down the drain too. I've been eating junk and drinking a lot. Since I don't have a job, it's easier to get hungry during the day and grab a snack from the pantry. Bad snacks :) But this isn't aimed at being a downer post. This is a new day. The weather is cool and conducive to running so I figured it'd be nice to try the Couch 2 5K program. I downloaded the app and off I went (paced by a British woman's voice telling me when to run and when to walk).
I'm going to admit, I do feel pretty silly doing this program because I was averaging about seven miles per run this spring. And I set a PR at a 5K race in June as well. It was very frustrating for me to start on Week 1 Day 1, because it's basically alternating between jogging and walking every 90 seconds, plus a five-minute warm-up and cool-down for a total of 30 minutes. My frustrations were after building up a good jogging pace, I'd have to stop and walk immediately. But, seeing as how I pushed myself because I felt good earlier and wound up with a knee injury, it's going to be smart to ease into this. I did feel strong and my knee didn't bother me much. I just feel out of shape I guess :) my lungs need to get back in the groove of running too.
I did also have another reason for exercising again (other than feeling utter lazy): my TMJ has been soooooo painful I can't even get out of bed some days. TMJ is intense pain in the jaw joint that leads to crazy gnarly knots in my neck and face and head. I've been given PT exercises for when I'm home, but I've also been advised to exercise. So this was also a desperation attempt to keep the pain at bay. And you know what? I think it really helped!
In about 30 minutes, I walked and jogged just over two miles. Funny because on the first day I'm basically 2/3 of the way to a 5K ha. Maybe I'm jogging too fast? Either way, in summary, C25K = smart for me right now. Maybe this'll give me the kick in the pants I've been needing all summer :) I hope I can stick with it and my knee cooperates.
