I'm still here

I know it's been like...forever, since I posted here. Life is busy. And on top of that I've been trying to figure out what I need to do to overcome this intense pain in my calf muscles. I've been doing all kinds of reading on different possibilities on what is causing it and what to do about it. I took another two weeks off of jogging. I spent the time walking 5k and riding my bike for 10k. I found some stretches that are specific for runners and helping with the pain in my calves. Yesterday I jogged for the first time in two weeks....and it felt great. It was pain free!! So now I am feeling like this is possible. Which is a change from the past two weeks were I was kind of feeling defeated. That this goal of mine to run a 5K this summer was out of reach and maybe a little far fetched. But now I am feeling like I really will be able to do this. I'll be jogging again in the morning, and I am hoping that it will go as well as yesterdays jog did. Hopefully onward and upward from here.

The beiginning of the 5K running training program

Well hello all my faithful readers....oh wait...that's right,there aren't any :) It's just me and my thoughts out here. Well regardless I have to apologize for being away for so long. It's been one week short of a month since I last posted anything. After I ran/walked my first 5K, I took two weeks off of jogging. I was still trying to get some walking in. but I really wanted to let my shins and knees heal before continuing on in the quest for my 5K race. this past week I started jogging again to see where I was at. I was pleased to see that I hadn't slowed down any. I bought some new shoes, so we'll see if that helps in the sore knee department.
Unfortunately I am still sitting at the same weight that I was when I started this whole thing. That's right, I haven't lost a pound at all. It seems to me that I am doomed to remain 245lbs forever. I can not accept this. However, I can not be discouraged either. So today I have decided to get back into tracking everything that I am eating to see where I am going wrong. I have also decided that I will ride my bike on the days that I am not jogging AND that I WILL do some strength training everyday. The plan is to get up at 6am instead of 6:30am to fit in some strength training when I get back from my jog or bike ride...that didn't go so well today. I turned off my alarm and was just going to lay in bed for a few minutes, but I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6:30am when my baby boy started crying...a good thing too, because I would have just kept on sleeping.
So onward and upward. lets hope I start to see some results in the very near future.

5K-W5-D3, RACE DAY!!!

Today was race day. Today I finished my first virtual 5K(3.1mile) race. I made it! I completed the training and I am amazed at how far I have come in 5 weeks.

The first week's goal was to jog for 1 minute and then walk for 4 minutes(repeat 5 times). JOG FOR 1 MINUTE! That just about killed me. Sad, I know. Each week I would jog for 30 seconds more and walked less. Each week I thought I'd never make it to the next week. But at the beginning of each week I was surprised to see that I could indeed run for the required amount of time. Day 3 was always the toughest, and I was sure that I'd never be able to add 30 seconds for the next week. But I continued to surprise myself and now I can pretty easily jog for a full 3 minutes.

This past week the muscles in my calves and shins were so tight and sore. I was starting to think that I wasn't going to be able to race today. Wednesday I wasn't able to finish the last interval of running because the pain was so bad. Thursday I woke up with a wicked sinus cold. The fates seemed to be aligned against me. But I pushed forward. I wont lie. It was hard work this morning. My muscles in my calves hurt...a lot. But I was determined to do this. And do it I did! I wasn't fast. 41:30. But I did it. And I noticed that after I had jogged for 3 minutes, I still had more left in me and I could jog for even longer. This gives me great courage for when I start training to run the full 5K. I'm taking a week or two off of jogging to let my muscles heal. I'll keep up walking and riding my bike in place of my regular walk/jog in the mornings. Hopefully after a week or two my legs will feel better and I'll be ready to start in on the next level.

The only frustration I have in the whole thing is that over the past 5 weeks, I haven't lost a single pound. Not ONE! It makes me angry to think about it. So I try not to. I just keep focusing on the goal at hand, to run a full 5k, and I now know I can do it!

5K-W5-D1

Another fabulous morning. Today I was able to jog for 3 minutes!! This is really impressive. I can't believe that I have come as far as I have. This Friday is supposed to be race day, but I am feeling hesitant about doing it that day because day 3 of every week is always a killer. So I was thinking that I would do it on the Monday instead. However, I have learned a few tricks that might help me get through the sluggish Friday training, so we'll see what happens. Not much else to report today. I'm feeling good and ready for the week to come.

5K-W4-D2

OUCH! Holy guacamole! I hurt today. I spent the day on Monday doing some fairly heavy duty yard work and moving quite a few good sized rocks around my yard. I sure felt it yesterday and even more today as I slowly made my way around the track. I was very slow today, but I got it done and will be moving on.

5K-W4-D1

I SURVIVED! And not only did I survive, but it was absolutely amazing! What a feeling. I honestly didn't think that I would be able to complete today's training(walk for 2 minutes/jog for 2.5 minutes). Last week it was tough enough to finish 2 minutes of jogging...adding another 30 seconds seemed impossible. But I did it! And I didn't die! AND I look forward to doing it again! If it feels this amazing to accomplish this small feat, I can't wait for race day! It should be an incredible day!

I found a few articles on sparkpeople.com that should help with my achy knees. I was excited to find "11 exercises to decrease knee pain" and "6 stretches every runner should know". I've added these to my stretching and strength training routines. I also read an article about running technique, so today I was conscious about working on these techniques to improve my running experience. For more running info, sparkpeople has so much more here. I look forward to reading more and learning more. I feeling like I can really do this now that I am finding some answers and possible solutions.

5K-W3-D3

I was so going to die this morning. Today's training was to walk for 3 minute and jog for 2 minutes and repeat 6 times. OH. MY. WORD.  I can't tell you how hard that was.....and how incredibly slow I am. I have no idea how I am ever going to be able to accomplish next weeks training. Next week I am supposed to run more than I walk. Hahahaha....really? Oh boy. Monday I will attempt to walk for 2 minutes and jog for 2.5 minutes and repeat 5 times. Even if I do make it through, it will likely be at a snails pace. Better that than not at all I guess. But I would like to get faster...but that is likely to completely do me in at this point. I think I'll take a week or so in between this program and the jogging program to just repeat the last week of this program and work on getting faster. Does that make any sense??? Whatever, I think I know what I am talking about.
In other news, I got some superfeet insoles and I started strength training on Thursday. I really hope this helps prevent my achy knees and shins. I don't want something like that to be the cause of me not being able to reach my goal of running a 5K race this summer.