May Challenges

I just wanted to give a quick update since it’s been a while since my last post. I’ve chosen to partake in two challenges for May through Recharge, the Herbalife nutrition club I go to. The first is a 10 Day Fat Blast Challenge focusing on nutrition by way of using the Herbalife meal replacement shakes and limiting calorie intake. Today is the end of Day 2. I can’t say that I feel much better than the last few days before the challenge, but I don’t feel any worse either. I’ll post an update of pounds & body fat percentage lost and any increase in lean body mass at the end of the 10 days. The second challenge is also through Recharge. It’s a Fit Challenge that lasts through May 30th, and is fitness focused. Recharge will be running free full body workouts Monday, Wednesday, Friday and every other Saturday. In addition I’ll be doing cardio, strength training, and yoga on my own. The goal of this challenge is to lose body fat and gain lean body mass.

For the Fit Challenge, everyone participating took metrics last night. In addition to measurements and a body fat scan, we recorded how many pushups and situps we could do in a minute as well as how quickly we could run a mile. As you all know one of my goals is to run a 7 minute mile. I’m breaking that down for myself into smaller goals: 10 minutes, 9 minutes, 8 minutes, and ultimately 7 minutes. With trying to increase my endurance to help with my asthma and longer distances, I’ve been running about 15 minute miles. Yes, it’s slow, but it’s still running. Yesterday I surprised myself by running a 12:26 mile. As much as I’m proud of myself for that time, I’m also a bit bummed by realizing that I know my legs could go farther and faster, but my lungs aren’t allowing me to breathe properly to continue pushing my legs. It’s a little disheartening to know that something so out of your control like asthma is slowing your progress, but I’m sure that by the end of May when we redo metrics, I’m sure that I will be seeing some improvements.

Running Proud

This week I officially started Couch to 5K. For those of you not familiar with the C25K program, the first week’s routine is a simple 5 minute warm-up walk, followed by alternating between 60 sec running, 90 sec walking (repeated 8 times), and then a 5 minute cool-down walk. This first day was definitely a challenge for me, an admittedly out of shape, overweight, asthmatic ginger.  The second day proved easier, and by my third training day, Week 1’s routine provide rather easy. It was easy enough that I wanted to see just how long I could run at one time.

Now mind you, in athletics running is defined as a gait in which both feet are periodically off the ground at the same time. So by that definition, I don’t run fast, but I do run. Let’s take a quick jaunt back to high school days because who doesn’t love thinking about those Glory Days? Throughout school P.E. classes, I was always the kid who walked the mile and would have preferred to just opt out of it altogether. So while seeing how long I could run was going to be a physical challenge, it was more of a mental one, as is often the case with any physical feat. I weigh more than I did in high school by quite a bit, but I also know that I’m in better shape now than I was then, which is kind of sad considering just how out of shape I am currently. More to the point though, I knew I’d have to push through the mental barrier even harder than the physical one.

I did a 4 minute warm-up walk, mentally pep-talking myself the entire time, and once I saw 04:00 on the treadmill, I increased the speed and began my run. My legs were sore from the last few days of C25K combined with a few full-body workouts this past week. I knew I could make I had to make it to at least 2 minutes running or I’d have a difficult time with Week 2 of C25K. Getting to 2 minutes was easy enough, but I wanted to quit. I wanted to say, “You made it to your minimum goal, now have a rest.”

But I didn’t. I pushed through that mental block and made it to 3 minutes, then 4 minutes, and by 5 minutes my legs were really feeling the burn, and I thought I was physically done. I always hear runners say that they get to a point where everything in them is exhausted and feels like quitting, but somewhere deep down they find an extra burst of strength to push through that wall and keep going. Well today I must have found my inner runner because before I knew it, I had made it to 7 minutes straight of running. I ran a half mile in 7 minutes straight. I don’t think I’ve ever run a half mile in my life without stopping to walk. After a short walking break, I found it in me to run another 3 minutes and then walk some more. I’m tired. I’m sore. But I’m proud.