Week 2, Day 3

(Saturday 6.30am)

Emotions (before): 

I knew I had to do today's run to keep up with the program. Nothing too interesting to report on that was different to previous days. Same old negative vs positive pre exercise thoughts.

I must stick to my schedule in the future because I enjoy exercising on Saturday mornings, but I would rather do it as an extra on the program rather than a necessity to keep up with it. I have seemed to slightly (only slightly - I am a girl after all!) forgotten about weight loss and am more concerned in achieving this exercise feat. I also have not a care in the world about what I look like to the people who pass me while I am doing the session.

It is very interesting, I may not have lost much or any weight, but I feel really good. I look at myself in a more positive light. Its a funny thing exercise.

The run: 

I struggled a bit to finish off my jogs - but I still completed them! I did it by setting mini distance goals - a tree, a road, whatever I thought I could realistically achieve in the time frame left. This also motivated me to keep up a pace in order to reach the destination before the time was up. This was especially helpful at the points I could of easily given up or slowed right down.

My muscles ache, but I will march on through :). They are only developing. It is a bit of a shock to the system this exercise! The feeling of happiness from achieving the task is far greater than any niggles. I have found myself clapping to rev myself up before each run..he he if someone saw me they would have a chuckle! Oh my goodness...3 minute runs on Monday..eek! But for now, another medal, I have finished Week 2!

Tips for next run:

• Set mini distance goals to achieve before the time finishes
• Focus on what you are achieving and doing well, rather than getting caught up in what you haven't done right (such as jogging too slow...you were jogging, woo hoo!!). 

Week 2, Day 2

(Thursday (!) 5:45am)

Emotions (before):

Ah I should take my own advice. Wednesday morning I was too tired to run. Grr! Well to be fair, I had stood up for 4 hours bopping about to the Foo Fighters in concert on the Monday night, but really that was well over a day before!

So I got up and jogged this Thursday morning. It is true, once you break your routine it is hard to get back into (yes, even one day!). I want this experience to be one I want to do, not one I am forcing myself to do. I have mixed feelings about missing the Wednesday schedule. Do I make myself go, even though I really really don't want to?

My partner told me, "Your body will put up a wall in your second week of exercise, you just have to break through it." It is then I realised I wasn't really tired, I was just arriving at the wall.

The run:

Once I started it was great. Ah that happy feeling again! I gave myself the opportunity to look around at the beautiful environment I was jogging through, rather than just focusing on getting through the seconds. This made the time go so much quicker.

I kept at a consistent pace, not too slow and not too fast. I didn't exert myself in the run, although I was still breathing heavily. I figured if I can achieve it, I will want to do it, rather than gasping for air and hating it. Oh the psychology!

Mind you, it did occur to me, I will be getting fitter, and the runs will be a bit easier, so I won't be sucking in the air as much as last week!

Yay, thank goodness I did it! Back into it! Missing one day can really make a difference.

Tips for next time:

• Take a moment to enjoy your environment during your run. You will then feel a bit more relaxed in your workout, rather than intensely counting down the seconds.
• Make sure you are enjoying it. You will not stick to it if you don't enjoy it.
• For your last run of the week, set yourself mini goals during the session. It may be to jog a little faster, walk a little brisker or get to a certain point. When you achieve your goals it will set you up with confidence in moving to the next level.
• Put on lip balm before your run. Dry lips when running feel awful. 

Week 2, Day 1

29 minutes of exercise: 5 minutes to warm-up, 5 to cool-down and 9 minutes running.

(6 x run 1 ½ minutes, walk 2 minutes)

(Monday 5:15am)

Emotions (before):

Well now that I am a runner (hehe) and have stuck to my routine and schedule, waking up this morning and going for a run was much easier. It is now just something I do on a Monday morning. I must say, I was nervous about the longer running period, but those thoughts were short-lived.

I actually was not at home this weekend and decided to stay one more night away. I am in such a routine now that I had preplanned to take my running gear (just in case) and ran around the area I was staying at. It was great to mix up the scenery. Even though I had to stretch, exercise, stretch again, rest, drive an hour home and get ready for work all before 8:00am, I felt no excuses on why I couldn't do the session.

The run:

The program is so thought out and understanding. It realises that running one and a half minutes is a new feat, so it divides the session into six runs with a two minute walk in between. You decide how fast and hard you can go.

Running the extra 30 seconds was also doable. It was a little bit of a shock when the 'trainer' first indicated there was "45 seconds left of this run". It sounded like a very lengthy half way mark (ha ha, to think the halfway mark is going to soon be 1 minute, 2 minutes...) and I had to count myself down the last 15 seconds to ensure I didn't stop prematurely.

One more thing, I giggled to myself when I ran past a Boot Camp exercise group (who did not look like they were having fun at all) and thought "Wow, I paid $2 for my personal trainer for 9 weeks, and I am still getting a good workout. If only they knew..."

Tips for next run:

• Don't slack off on the final cool down walk. Ensure you keep up a reasonable pace.
• Never break your schedule, you can run anywhere. Plan your time so you can still fit the run in wherever you are and take your gear with you. It is harder to get back into the rhythm than actually doing the run on the day you were going to skip.
• Further on that, if you stick to your exercise schedule, soon it will become a routine and something that you just automatically do at that time, rather than something you need to force yourself to do.
• You decide how fast and how hard you go.