Tuesday, September 4, 2012

September Equals Running

And it is September. Holy Cow the time sure does fly. 
Even though it is September I am not jumping on the "end of summer" train. Yes the days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler, and the geese poop is everywhere...BUT I refuse to say "Oh summer is over"...hells no. That all being said, I love September, especially since I am no longer in School. The weather is perfect for outdoor exercise (minus the ragweed allergies kicking up), and most importantly September seems like a fresh start. 

To backtrack, just like June and July, August was full to the brim. I had my trip back to the Maritimes the first week, followed by a family get together for my Grandpa's 80th bday. Next was a big weekend with the friends that involved Canada's Wonderland, and actually going out in Toronto to a real life club. The weekend after that was a trip to Stratford to see 42nd street with my grandparents, and Mud run (more later). 

Since September is my "fresh start" I am trying to get back into exercising. I have a few specific fitness goals, and I feel really good about meeting them. I have also gotten back into running which is the main topic of this post. September to me still reminds me of high school soccer days, and it is my favourite time of year to jog. 

I got a head start by signing up for Mud Run on August 25th with two other girlies from work. Mud Run is a 6km obstacle race involving...mud. Lots of mud. This event was amazing and we finished in 1hr, not to bad! I was personally impressed with how I didn't feel as dead as I expected after the whole thing. 
So much mud, yet so much fun.
Having this run scheduled gave me motivation to get back into running. I pretty much stopped after my 5 km last year. So on the August long weekend I went for my first attempt at an outdoor jog. It was a horrible fail I ran maybe 3 minutes and felt like I couldn't breathe. But then something changed. 

For the longest time I was trying to run by distance "ok I will go to the next lamp post, the next sign" and that just doesn't work for me. So I decided to look up the Couch to 5km work out. I used that is inspiration to make my own one. For some reason I thought the first attempt should be Run 8 min, Walk 5, Run 2, Walk 3, then Run 1 alternate Walk 1 for 16 mins. 

And then I did it. 

For me, having the timer counting down makes it that much more bearable. It also helps me pace which I was really bad at. The next week I did 10 run, walk 5, run 5, walk 3, run 4, walk 2, run 3. So I suddenly went to running 2 minutes maybe to a total run time of 22 minutes!! The next week I went trail running and did run 12, walk 4, run 6, walk 4, run 6 and could have ran for longer!! Then it was the mud run, then I got sick, so running got put on hold. 

This weekend I went out on Sunday and did a 14 min run, and then walked for 20 mins (due to the stuffy nose), but then I went to the gym to do back and arms for the first time in a long time! Monday I went on a 16km roller-blade with my friend Brittany. Then today, in the rain, I did 14 min run, 3 walk, 10 run, 10 walk, with sore roller-bladey legs. 

My goal is to do the same run as last year, run for the cure, and run the whole thing without stopping. I still have a month to train, and I am in a much better running place than last year so I think this is a totally doable goal. And the best part of all this I actually like running now. Being outside, feet and pavement, it is getting as calming as yoga. I am much more red after running than yoga but you get the idea. 

The point in all this is sometimes you just have to figure out what works for you. Distance based goals didn't work for me, but "ok 2 minutes left out of 14, you can do it" works wonders. 

Anyone else have running methods? Anyone else a lobster after a run?



2 comments:

  1. Reading this, I'm in this kick-start sort of a mood too. Also, the big thing that jumps out to me is your lack of pacing control. This is something I remember well from the few times I could convince you to come run with me :D

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  2. Oh I am so much better now! You would be impressed pal :P

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