It's been a busy couple of weeks. We travelled out east, I spent a long weekend with friends in Indiana, and now we're redecorating the home office and bedroom. In all of the comotion, my Couch to 5k training got derailed a bit and I ended up missing about a week and a half of running. Â I'm happy to report, though, that I'm back on track and working my way through week 6! The Gahanna Fright Nite 5k is coming up quickly -- just over three weeks away -- and I've gotta get ready! To get you up to speed, here's a review of my Couch to 5k Week 5 training:
Week 5, Day 1: Achy
I hadn't realized how late the sun was rising. I still managed to get up, put on a long-sleeved shirt, and hit the sidewalks of Clintonville before work. The dark, colder weather always affects me psychologically, so I was feeling a bit achy and unsure of myself, but I still managed to complete the two, 5-minute intervals.
Week 5, Day 2: Exhausting
The cold, gloomy mornings finally got to me and I postponed this run to my lunch hour. I wasn't sure what to expect from running later in the day, but it turned out to be a good decision. The sun really started to come out midway through the run and while I was completely exhausted from running two 8-minute intervals, it felt really good to be able to do it.
Week 5, Day 3: A Milestone
This was the run I'd been dreading. 20 minutes of running. No breaks. I spent a lot of time getting the perfect running mix together for this one -- Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, Peter Bjorn and John's Nothing to Worry About, and Rage Against the Machine's Calm Like a Bomb really came through for me, and I managed to run the whole thing! I admit, I did take a 2-minute walking break at the halfway point, during a particularly long uphill part, but I'm counting it a victory.
I'm already one run into my week 6 training, and I'm still feeling good. Occasionally I'll stop short on an interval, but in-all I'm improving at a good rate. Week 6 includes two more interval runs, after which it's all 23+ minute, 2 mile runs.... 5k here I come!