Have I said already that I hated to exercise? Well I do. I wish it was easy. I wish I could walk into a workout or hit the track and not feel the burning and pulling of muscles. But I guess something has to be hard!!! Putting on this weight was enjoyable so I guess exercise has to be the hard thing. Perhaps one day, not too far off, workouts will be more enjoyable.
"Putting on this weight was enjoyable so I guess exercise has to be the hard thing."
The thing that has been toughest so far has been this running program. I just finished week 2 of the program. The first week's workout took place over 3 days. It began with a 5 minute warm up, followed by 20 minutes of interval training (1 minute of jogging, 1 1/2 minutes of walking= total of 8 runs), and then a 5 minute cool down. Doesn't seem like much does it? Well when you are carrying as much weight on your frame as me, and it all comes crashing down on your feet with every step....jogging kills. Day 1 I was pretty sure I was going to quit. I have never felt a burn in my legs ever before like I did in that first run. Oh man. I stopped 20 seconds into the first run, paused the program, and once again came to that crossroads. You know...should I continue or should I quit? As you read in my previous post, I really want to run. I stopped in that second and said a prayer. It went something like this...."Dear God...You know my desire to run. You want me healthy. You gotta give me the strength to do this because my body wants to quit, but my mind is saying to go. I'm not quitting, so you gotta do something with my body right away." With that said, I did a bit of stretching...walked..then pressed play and continued. I finished all 8 runs that day. I finished all 8 runs for the next two workouts. They were not easy at all, my legs killed me, and I counted down the finals seconds before I could walk again.
"It never ceases to amaze me how the body responds
when you push it to its limit! "
when you push it to its limit! "
Fast forward to week two....Now my workout began with a 5 minute workout, interval training again but this time with 1 1/2 minutes of jogging with 2 minutes of walking. What?! Thirty more seconds?!?!? Ok I doubted myself so bad. I really believed that I was not going to be able to handle it. To top it off, I had to do this in front of my students who are running my next 5K with me. How embarrassing would it be to have to quit in front of my students?!?! So I began and guess what? It wasn't as bad as I thought! I completed all 1 1/2 minute runs!!!!! At my pace, that is like starting to run at the turn of a high school track to the next turn. That is A LOT for me! Yay me! It never ceases to amaze me how the body responds when you push it to its limit!
So now I have 2 days off. Wednesday starts my week 3 of this running program. I am incredibly nervous and once again am doubting myself. Why? I got from running 1 1/2 minute intervals to 3 minute intervals. My time is doubling. Holy. Crap. I really don't see myself being able to complete it...Not after how my run felt today. But alas, I know I need to change my thinking. I've been communicating with people on the Get Running app forum, and lots of people have said that they went through what I went through at the same stage and are now up to 30 minutes running. I know I have to take it on faith that this too shall pass, and I must believe that I will do it.
Thoughts for you: Your journey to get fit will not be super easy. It's work. Hard work. You'll constantly doubt yourself. You'll constantly be at that crossroad. But, quitting and starting over down the line will be a lot harder than pushing through now. Keep keeping on. WE can do this.
Today's post is great, but your last paragraph is EXCELLENT! Thanks so much for your constant motivation! And, as far as the switch to 3 minutes, it's tough, but completely possible! On the nice side, there's only 4 runs a day instead of 6 (and only 2 of them are for 3 minutes!) You can do this!
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