C25K Week 1 Day 2
This morning I did Week 1, Day 2 of the Couch-to-5K program. Day 2 has the same goal as Day 1: five minute warmup walk, then 60 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking (repeated 8 times), and then 5 minutes of cooldown walking. It was the same goal, but my experience was totally different. It was so much easier this time! I have heard that the first day is the hardest, but I wasn't expecting such a dramatic difference. -Yes, part of it is probably that I'm already starting to get stronger. But also I think I'm learning about my body's capabilities. So I actually went a little slower today than Tuesday. I can't be sure, because I wasn't measuring, but my strides were a little slower. It felt very strange to be jogging at this pace-- it was hardly faster than a brisk walk. But if this is the path I need to take to get faster & develop endurance (and lose weight natch) then I don't mind. I finished the day's goal without cheating it even a little bit this time, so I'm satisfied.
Playlist
This time I took the advice of someone on Reddit, and I tried out the NHS C25K podcast.
Upsides: It tells you when to start and stop running, so I don't have to keep track-- it's pretty discouraging and distracting to be checking the stopwatch on my phone every twenty seconds. And the intermittent voice is helpful: "You are doing a great job." "Make sure to keep up a brisk walking pace." "You deserve a pat on the back."
Downsides: The music selection isn't my favorite; pretty generic electronica & British pop & rock, although everything's at just about the right tempo. Also, there's only one podcast episode per week of training-- I don't know if I want to listen to each of these three times. So I don't know if I'll go back to making my own playlists, or what.
I may need to get new running shoes before long. The ones I have were very cheap, and are getting pretty thin in the soles. But right now is not a good time for me to be spending money on shoes.
Not sure yet if I should be eating before I jog. So far I haven't been-- I do it first thing in the morning. But my energy needs might change as I get into the more intense runs.
Overall I feel very good about today. The exercise felt good, but more than that, it was heartening to know that it is not consistently as hard and as unpleasant as the first day was. Like, I know now there won't be 27 straight runs that were as tough to get through as Tuesday's was. Although I'm sure there will be more bad days. I am also starting to see this as a lifestyle change that could last.
Not to get ahead of myself. I jogged at a very slow pace today. I can be proud of that as a step on a path, but I have not achieved much yet. Don't want to be like the guy who goes on a first date and starts imagining a life with the girl.
Keep going, keep going.
-Justin
Playlist
This time I took the advice of someone on Reddit, and I tried out the NHS C25K podcast.
Upsides: It tells you when to start and stop running, so I don't have to keep track-- it's pretty discouraging and distracting to be checking the stopwatch on my phone every twenty seconds. And the intermittent voice is helpful: "You are doing a great job." "Make sure to keep up a brisk walking pace." "You deserve a pat on the back."
Downsides: The music selection isn't my favorite; pretty generic electronica & British pop & rock, although everything's at just about the right tempo. Also, there's only one podcast episode per week of training-- I don't know if I want to listen to each of these three times. So I don't know if I'll go back to making my own playlists, or what.
I may need to get new running shoes before long. The ones I have were very cheap, and are getting pretty thin in the soles. But right now is not a good time for me to be spending money on shoes.
Not sure yet if I should be eating before I jog. So far I haven't been-- I do it first thing in the morning. But my energy needs might change as I get into the more intense runs.
Overall I feel very good about today. The exercise felt good, but more than that, it was heartening to know that it is not consistently as hard and as unpleasant as the first day was. Like, I know now there won't be 27 straight runs that were as tough to get through as Tuesday's was. Although I'm sure there will be more bad days. I am also starting to see this as a lifestyle change that could last.
Not to get ahead of myself. I jogged at a very slow pace today. I can be proud of that as a step on a path, but I have not achieved much yet. Don't want to be like the guy who goes on a first date and starts imagining a life with the girl.
Keep going, keep going.
-Justin