Run Seven: Cool! But unexpected!

Not a best time or distance, but I'm still
pleased.

On Monday, I had a very unsatisfying run -- crampy and winded and just not-good. I did a little research and came to the conclusion that I was pushing myself too hard. My aerobic fitness is utterly in the tank and I haven't run for fun in decades, so the Couch-to-5K program is probably underestimating how well-cushioned my couch is, so to speak. I was actually okay with this and had started mapping out how to handle slowing down a bit.

Against all expectation, I ran all 90-seconds of all six running intervals. I had a little bit of cramping in my legs but ran right through it (I just slowed down a little). I didn't even think about how long or how far I ran -- just ran when the app said run and walked when it said walk.

Awesomely cool!! Entirely unexpected, but cool! It felt very good and sort of zen. And I totally rocked my goals for the run.

My running pace was pretty slow this evening, but I was consciously trying to go about as slow as I can. I even occasionally slowed down if I picked it up too much. I read somewhere that the idea with the C25K program is for the jogging to be at a "conversational pace"-- so one can carry on a conversation while running. There is no possible conversational pace for me when running (short of not running at all), so I'm just trying to take it as slowly as possible while I build aerobic fitness.

I'm probably going to spend my next running week (Saturday, Monday and next Wednesday) at the week two level because I think it'll give my body time to adapt to what I'm asking of it. Unless something changes my mind between now and Saturday. (Week three has three minute long runs, which I can't even imagine right now.)

Next run is scheduled for Saturday. My goal for my next run is to repeat the feat of running all 90 seconds of all the running intervals. If I can do it without (much) calf cramping, that would be wonderful. And I'll be overjoyed if I could get my distance back to my max distance so far: 1.69 miles (last Saturday). (If I do decide to level up to week three, I'll go for running all of one of the 3-minute intervals.)