I thought I was getting pretty good at running. I had a good stride, I could finally breathe normally until my heart rate neared 180, I wasn't ready to collapse after running for a few minutes. I made it all the way to 20 minutes without stopping. But, here's the catch....
That was on the treadmill.
In light of the gorgeous Fall weather that has started to appear in Northern VA (excluding the past 2 days and today when it's been 90 again... *grumble*), I said to myself "run outside! Get some sunshine! Feel the breeze!" So... I did. And.... WOW THAT'S HARD!
The first outside run around the lake next to my apartment (0.62 miles around, Thank you MapMyRun) I did one lap of the lake in about 7 minutes. And then I wanted to die. My heart rate was 189, I was in pain, I couldn't breathe... what's going on?? What happened to 20 minutes?!? I did another 3 laps and I'd manage to run for a minute to a few minutes and then I'd walk another 1/4 or 1/2 a lap. Burned a ton of calories though. I tried again this past Tuesday. Didn't eat or drink enough water in the afternoon so I didn't do well at all. I managed less than half a lap before I had to walk. And then I did pretty pitiful intervals after that of run about a minute and walk at least as long. Somehow, after an entire summer of working my way up on the treadmill, I was effectively back at Week 1 of C25K!
This is definitely an unfotunate setback, I thought I'd at least be able to go for 10 or 15 minutes. However, there are a few factors that I've considered. First off, the path is definitely a bit hilly, not extremely, but enough to require effort. Second, I think I was running entirely too fast. My pace definitely was faster than on the treadmill when my speed was set to 4.7mph (and I'm a shorty). I just wanted to bolt around that lake for some reason, need for speed!! Anyway, towards the end of my second attempt at running outside, I did the running parts at much more of a jog... and it wasn't as bad. I was still exhausted from the first 3 or 4 laps (I did 5 total for 5K miles), but it wasn't killing me.
So, despite all this, I'm sticking to it. It's a much better workout than I was getting at the gym, I liked being outside now that it's not hot and sticky every day. I'm thinking I just might start C25K alllll over again. It's proven to be the best way to work up to running 20 minutes, might as well go with it. Maybe it's what I need to get me to my goal, or at least push me in the right direction. I'm at 161 right now, and I want to lose another 21 pounds. But being as I'm nearing the healthy weight for my height (140), it's defintiely getting harder. I get a pound a week now, still respectable, but I miss 1.5-2 lbs a week. However, I DO NOT miss the fat version of myself, so I'll take it.
And I'm just gonna keep running... running.... running....
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