Day 51: Run Run Run

On Day 18 I posted about training to run my first 5k. Being a personal goal, I wanted to train and be able to run a good 5k by the end of the summer.

Since I started religiously seeing my chiropractor, I had to stop training. The running was only making my back and neck worse. He said once I improve on my posture, then I can start running again. Maintaining good posture will be the key to quality training. 

About three weeks ago he gave me the go ahead to start running again by incorporating it into the 10-15 blocks I was supposed to be walking each day. I told him my previous running was interval training, so he suggested doing the same thing just in a smaller dose. 

Because of packing, moving, and adjusting to my "new" life, I have put a hold on running even though my chiro said it was okay. After my post from this weekend, I wanted to do something for myself, to love on me, and do something that is beneficial. 

After my adjustment at my chiropractor yesterday evening, he asked me if I was going for a walk that night. I responded, "I was actually thinking about running."

"Will this be the first time?" he asked. 

So he encouraged me to do the interval training as we previously talked about. 

I walked home from the chiro, changed my clothes, and laced up my hot pink running shoes. 

But my running app wasn't working.....

This was the first problem. 

I use the C25k app, which stands for Couch to 5k. It trains you from doing little to no running, to being able to run a 5k by the end of 8 weeks. 

I kept trying to get into the app on my phone, but it wouldn't work. So I used another app which only records your time and progress. C25k actually tells you when to run and walk. It's based on time, not distance. 

So I started out, looking at the stop watch on this new app, trying to figure out when to run and when to walk. It was annoying....

I also ran south of my apt, which is a lot more sketch than I thought it would be. I think next time I will run west instead. 

Because of the annoyance of the app and the sketch neighborhood I ran in, I began to lose my posture somewhere between 15 and 18 min. So I made my way home. 

I was discouraged by all the factors causing trouble during my run: not being familiar with good running spots in my neighborhood, my faulty app, and losing my posture. 

But I do have one success: my running was effortless! It was much easier to get back into running than I thought it would be. It has been two months since I stopped running. 

Another success is that I kept a good pace. Earlier in the spring, my main issue with running was that I would start out too fast. This would cause me to have less energy toward the end of my workout, causing me to lose endurance to finish strongly. But I was able to keep the same pace the whole time even though I ran 10 minutes less than I was used to.

I missed running. I really did. 

Here's to hoping my next run will be better. :)