Couch to 5k Week 3 Wrap Up

Sorry for the delay in my little wrap up posts lately. My training weeks are officially off from the typical Sunday-Monday week and I'm now more Wednesday-Tuesday! The slight OCD in me can't really deal with that, so I already have a plan in place that will hopefully get me back on a normal week schedule.  Anyhow, week 3 went surprisingly well. The program calls for two sets of the following intervals:

90 seconds jogging

90 seconds walking

3 minutes jogging

3 minutes walking

Those 3 minute jogging intervals had been scaring me for quite some time, but they really did go well.  Every day I went out I thought to myself, "it's okay to stop running early if you have to" but I never actually listened to that advice.

Day One

I did this run at the gym on the treadmill. I'm always hesistant to say the run went well when I do this, because I know a treadmill in a warm gym is always easier than an empty road on a cold morning. However, I did feel pretty awesome. I didn't think I'd be able to do the 3 minute intervals, but I decided to go ahead and try since during the 5k, my longest run was almost 4 minutes. I was able to do it and it felt great!

Day Two

This run I decided to take advantage of some warm weather we had over the weekend as well as take the chance to break into my new running shoes. I went out on Sunday evening {after one of those days when I felt as if nothing had been accomplished} and I felt so wonderful during this run... I wish I could have bottled it up for the slower days.

Maybe it was the magic of new shoes, but I noticed that I wasn't check my watch as often {as in, not every 15 seconds} and I was able to push myself to run faster at times. My pace was still pretty slow, but I'm honestly not as worried about pace right now as I am about finishing. At the end of the run, I was still a little ways away from home, so I decided to run an extra minute interval. I pushed myself during that minute to run faster than normal too. Really felt great!

Day Three

So after two amazing runs, I was hoping this one would be just as awesome... right??? Not so much. It wasn't necessarily a bad one, but it wasn't fun. I did it yesterday {Tuesday} morning and honestly... I don't think running+me+morning is compatible. All I have to say, "too bad body because I'm doing it!" I can't find the time to run routinely at any other point during the day. I may drag my feet and take forever to get out of bed, but this really will have to just start working. I ran slower than I ever imagined possible {I think I was actually putting myself through more pain considering how slow I was going} and I even took a nap when I got home before getting ready for work. Yikes!

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All of that said, I'm moving on to Week 4! Wish me luck because it looks frightening (two 3 minute jogging intervals PLUS two 5 minute jogging intervals?! Commence freak out.) I'm hoping to get out tomorrow morning again - so hopefully this morning person thing kicks in soon!

Thanks for your support, and thanks for following!

PS - I often tweet my running woes. If you don't follow, you probably should. I can be entertaining sometimes. ;)