Couch to 5K Mini Update: The Penultimate Workout

I just returned home from my Week 9, Day 2 run and wanted to tell you about it, but first I wanted to say thank you so much to all of you who piped up with advice and encouragement when I hit the wall on Friday; you all really came through for me.

As you know, I’m swamped, but I wanted to respond to comments and I can save myself a few minutes by responding here, quickly.

Sarahndipitea: I did not even know that there was special Couch to 5K music out there! I checked it out after you left your comment and was amazed. I didn’t download any yet, but much of my music is very similar, so it inspired me to change up my playlist again!

Mrs4444: Yep, I’m positive on the hydration. Good thinking, though!

Colleen: Thank you! 🙂

Lisa: Thank you, too!

Jen: Pretty sure you’re right: mentally, I’ve go SO much going on that I can’t let enough of it go during the workouts. Today I tried to refocus on positive things I have going on to distract me, instead of my endless to-do list!

Liz: YES. One bad day doesn’t mean I’m doomed, for sure. Acceptance is key! (I can’t help you with following your own advice! haha)

Otter: Thanks; that’s my plan. I also am not fond of running!

Patty: I never get enough sleep, and I hadn’t taught a class the day before. I did extra stretching this morning.

Michelle: You may have been right. (You’re thinking, “Of course I was.”) But we’ll see. 🙂 I know, sleep is huge. Can’t help that at the moment though!

PJ: Coma to 5k challenge CRACKED ME UP. Thank you.

Heather: Thank you!

Sue: Thank you, too!

You all are tremendous. Thanks.

Now for the mini-update. I did my Week 9, Day 2 run today, but not before I went back into my playlist and cleaned house. I got rid of the slower songs altogether except for “Defying Gravity” which is a medium tempo and a permanent fixture. I will clue you in on the entire playlist when I do my final update on Tuesday (when I FINISH the program!). Instead of having a playlist full of a mixture of tempos and mostly shorter songs, I redid it with songs with BPMs that are better for my speed, and used mostly longer (six minutes, plus!) songs. I have nine songs on the playlist now for a total of 50 minutes (including a warm-up and cool-down song).

I took off today and, for the first time in weeks, went down my original path so I could see how far I’ve come since the days at the beginning when it was all I could do to run a minute at a time. Wow, what a difference a couple of months makes!

I still walked twice, but with a difference. On Friday when I slowed to a walk, I picked up to a run again as soon as I felt like I could. Today I theorized that maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough time to recover while walking and that’s why I was stopping and starting, stopping and starting, stopping and starting. Today, the first time I walked, I made myself walk for an extra minute (total of two minutes). By doing that, I was able to catch my breath a little bit and then run for a longer segment afterwards. I actually only did that one other time! In addition, I stayed out longer. Warm up was five minutes, and total running time was about thirty minutes, plus two 2-minute walking segments! (And then the cool down)

I don’t know about you, but I call that a success. Yay me!

Next run? WEEK 9, DAY 3: The final!!!

Happy Sunday, everybody!

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