To give you some background, running wasn't just something that seemed out of the question to me when I weighed 352lbs, it even seemed out of the question to me a month ago. I guess I've just always had that image of a "runner" in my mind and thought that I could never be that- it seemed pointless to even dream about it. I remember when I first started this journey, I challenged myself to run 30 seconds on the treadmill and I thought I was going to die! Well, now that I've lost about 187lbs I figured that it was high time to prove to myself yet again that NOTHING is impossible through Christ who gives me strength (Phillipians 4:13) so 3 weeks ago I began the illustrious C25k (Couch to 5K) training plan. If you're not familiar with it, it's basically a 3 times a week running program that uses intervals of walking/running to eventually take you from being able to run only 1 min to being able to run for 30 minutes straight. I use an app on my iphone and it works amazingly! There are plenty of them out there and they will sync with your music and will tell you exactly when to walk and when to run- easy peazy! Here's me getting a run in at our hotel last week (I was in DC for work):
Well, I'm officially finished with the 3rd week of the program and I've got to say, I am quite impressed with how my endurance has improved. I started out huffing and puffing from running 1.5 minutes and yesterday ran for 3 minutes. Now, I know to some running 3 minutes straight may not seem like a big deal but for ME...it was a major moment of victory. I remember as I was getting ready to run yesterday thinking that I wasn't ready to move to the next level of running for 3 minutes but I put myself out there & took a chance and ran those 3 freaking minutes twice!
Now, I'd be lying to you if I said that I'm totally confident I can do tomorrow's run, or the next days or the next days because honestly, I've never ran that far before and by no means have the runs I've been doing been easy but you know what, I'm willing to TRY and give it my all and each time I've done that, I've never been disappointed.
One thing that has been a little disappointing is that my left ankle pretty much started giving me problems after just a week into the program. I went out and got some really good running shoes (thank you Brooks!), socks & an ankle brace that I believe has definitely helped although I still definitely can feel some pain. Here's my fancy shoes & not so fancy brace:
I've heard some mixed reviews when it comes to pain & running- some say that if you feel absolutely any pain that you should stop right away & see a doctor. Others say that pain in some form just comes along with running and as long as it's not debilitating or getting increasingly worse, to just keep keeping on. Honestly, that's the approach I'm going with.
I want to run a 5k. Ahemmm...I'm going to run a 5k. Later this month I will be signing up for this baby:
Questions:
- Are any of you working towards/training for something you once thought was impossible?
- Anyone have any advice/thoughts on encountering pain while running?