Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Back with a bang......or at least a slow jog....

I'm back....


A bit of normality is gradually being restored...  I  am making a come back from a month of assignments, end of year presentations, group projects, starting an internship, finishing up my in place of work for the last year...not to mention a few personal bits and pieces.

I decided to start back by documenting my second attempt at "From Couch to 5k".


6 weeks ago, I had never even heard of "From Couch to 5k". In fact the whole concept of 5 kilometres in itself was pretty foreign to me. Basically it is a programme which should take you from being an immobile, puffed out, stiff laydee, to someone who can jog for the distance of 5 kilometre. Do not underestimate the extent of this challenge!!!!!!

Moving faster than my usual brisk jaunting pace was something I had aspired to for weeks. An early attempt at this proved that I had no clue of even how to run, as ridiuclous as that may seem. I needed a plan.

After a wander through the world wide web, I came across this website http://runningintoshape.com/ which documents "Carli's" attempt to move from a couch potato to being able to run/jog 5km without stopping. This seemed like something I could do. I needed guidance and Carli provided that.  Success is achieved through building up gradually the length of time for which you jog/run; for example in week 1 you run for 60 seconds followed by a walk for 1 min 30 secs and so on. I think those in the sporting way call this interval training.





So off I jogged....or half walked/ran/hopped.

Disaster struck 2 weeks in.....as bizarre as this may seem, an arm injury interfered and I was forced to stop running. I know what you're thinking.....what a cop out...what has an arm injury got to do with one's legs. But it was medic's orders. Who was I to argue.

So a few weeks on and I'm now 'back' to week 2 again.

The world of "walk/running" as my friend affectionately calls this process of interval training is a whole new one to me.

Sports bra's, slimline running pants, 'running' runners, impact injury, shin pain.... who knew there was so much to exercise.

So far I'm going to highly recommend this website. It's podcasts are the single reason why I've kept going at this. The music is motivational and upbeat as well as current. And Carli literally talks you through your jog, telling you when to walk, when to cool down, when to jog.

Who knew that the world of jogging was directly correlated to the world of fashion.

I am currently the owner of a far prettier version of the Asics runners below.


GT-2160

I have learned NOT to run in my sorta ugly Reetones which look like these ones:


 
Word of wisdom: Leggingss. Leggings all the way. Make you look and feel skinnier than the massive fat man pants that only an amateur like me would start out in........


That leaves the god-damn bra. I have absolutely no experience in this field. What in the name of god is with the price of these things, how much padding exactly is necessary, and surely 1 bra is not enough when one will be running 3 times a week!!!! Oh the dilemma. All suggestions on this dilemma are welcomed!!!!

Week 3 here I come....

3 comments:

cornflakegirl said...

Brilliant post and I'm glad you're arm is healed enough for you to continue running.

I must say that I'm really impressed with the M&S range of sports bras. They have lots of different ones depending on the type of exercise you're planning on doing and I think they start at around €22/24 (I can't remember exactly).

This post is just the kick in behind I need to get me back into running (I haven't been out in weeks). I'm definetly gonna head out first thing in the morning so thanks.

cornflakegirl said...

that should be your arm not you're obviously, sorry for the awful grammar.

itsnevertoolatetolearn said...

I'm just going to have to move my ass and buy one haha...I HATE buying bras....why do the sizes have to vary so much from shop to shop!!!! :(