I cannot believe Couch 2 5K will be over in three weeks!
It seems like just yesterday I was rolling my eyes at having to run for one minute. And on the last day of Week 6, I ran for 22.
Twenty-two straight minutes.
Color me shocked.
Not only that, but I ran for almost two miles. My official distance was 1.96 miles. I mean, if I had done grand jetes in lieu of the last few steps, I totally would have hit two. I would have earned style points, too. Because those totally count.
And my pace was 11:13 per mile. Not too shabby, if I do say so, myself. I used my Garmin watch to set my pace for the run, and it alerted me when I was behind and when I was on track. It was pretty helpful for keeping me at a consistent pace. Not saying I didn’t start shooting it looks towards the end when I could feel my energy waning, but it was doing its job, alright.
When it was over, I felt good. I didn’t stop at all, although there was one part where I told myself it would be ok to just walk the distance between two fire hydrants (I resisted) and the last 90 seconds were a fight (I won). I think my problem was that I started checking my time. And then I got all distracted and hung up on the numbers and it screwed with my head.
Mr PugRunner tells me I need to empty my mind, not think and focus on the music. Of course, I explained to him that focusing on music takes up all of .2% of my brain function and I am naturally going to try to use the other 99.8%. Unfortunately, all that extra thinking ruins my game a little, so I do have to get that in check. Just something that should come with experience, I’m hoping.
I felt pretty good after it was all said and done. There were a few mild aches during the run, but I am chalking that up to not working out for three days prior.
And this is the start of no more walking intervals. For the rest of the program, we just build up the running minutes. We are almost at a whole 5K!
Almost there!! Yay!!
One thing that helps me is listening to podcasts instead of music, it gives me something to think about and focus on instead of stalking my garmin. I really like the Another Mother Runner ones.
Hmm. I wonder if that would help at all. I really like the idea of music because I can kind of run to the beat. I wonder if I put an entire musical on my iPod. Running my way through Rent or Les Mis might help me lose myself a little more. Thanks for the suggestion!