Week 3!

I did it! I did it and it was easier than I thought.

I just finished Week 3 of C25K.

It has always seemed like a huge step up from Week 2--and I still think it is--but after running the 5K on Saturday, I was pretty sure I could pull it off.

Here's the workout as listed on my app:

5-minute warmup, then do this twice: jog 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, jog 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes.

One thing I didn't count on today was my legs being dysfunctional. I'm guessing I wore them out more than I realized on Saturday or maybe flip-flops have exhausted some new muscles ... I dunno. Whatever did it, I was definitely running with baby steps today. No real pain or anything--they just didn't want to stretch out and go. Needless to say, I didn't gain much as far as distance goes with this next-level workout.

But, I'm happy with what I did. In fact, I think I realized something during today's workout.

I've been losing focus.

Once I started paying attention to the distance progress I was making ("OMG I completed 2 miles in less time today"), I kind of forgot my direction in running. In fact, I don't know if I ever determined a direction besides forward, but I'm going to determine it right now, darn it.

Beckey's direction: Lengthen running time, and as a side effect, lengthen distance.

What does that mean? Well, to me it means I'm going to focus on progressing through C25K by building up my endurance. I'm going to do these 3-minute intervals and I'm going to get better at them. As I get better at them, I'll take bigger and quicker strides. Those bigger, quicker strides will equate to further distance. The endurance will also help me do longer runs, like upcoming 5Ks and such.

So, that makes sense, right?

I wish I could say this was all my idea. Well, ultimately I had to have the realization and make the decision myself, but I had help. My buddy Jeff, who is leaps and bounds ahead of all of us in the C25K program and who is fabulously fit, has been telling me since I detoured into "I'll-just-see-how-I-do-without-the-app Land" that the app may take it slow, but it's helpful to see your progress and see how long you can run (long, not far). Yeah, I may have interpreted that differently than what he actually said, but it doesn't matter. What matters is I got something out of it.

It's funny that this topic (considering distance last) has come up now, seeing as how some of my coworkers are going through the same sort of challenge. My company is sponsoring/participating in a "Let's Get Moving" campaign this month and many of my teammates are wearing pedometers throughout the day. Their goal is to take 10,000 steps a day. Well, how far is that? Some people have longer legs than others, right? Right. In fact, my favorite story comes from an ongoing discussion between a very long-legged, tall woman and a "vertically challenged" woman on my team. Pauline (long legs) figured out that she gets one step for every two of Dana's, who--she admits--takes steps like a wiener dog. It doesn't matter though. Dana is getting the same workout Pauline is, regardless of the distance. They're both taking strides to their best capacity and using the body they have to do so.

So, I believe that circles around nicely to my situation. And I'm going to go ahead and encourage my readers to consider the same. Who cares if someone is faster or more advanced in their running or workouts? Are you working at your capacity? Are you meeting your goal time or goal steps? Then you're doing great! It's your job to judge what your body can do, not someone else's. Want to run a certain distance someday? That's great. But work on your endurance first. Get your body ready to take that challenge.

Sadly I must end this post now, though I'm sure I could ramble on. One, I'm tired. Two, my computer just decided to get a wonderfully awful virus and suddenly stopped functioning as normal. Worry not, my Avast is kicking it's butt right now, so hopefully I'll wake up in the morning to a solved or alleviated problem.

That being said, while my Internet Explorer, which I don't use, keeps opening up to ads for little blue pills, I'm wrapping this post up from a freshly downloaded blog app.

I love my phone. Have I mentioned that?

Anyway, I didn't get to go back through and add the plethora of boldex and italicizex words that make this blog worth reading, nor do I take responsibility for grossly misspelled words (touch screen and "plus sized" fingers a go-go).

Time for bed. Goodnight friends!