C25K - Week 4 Run 1

It was a nice crisp evening. I decided to say the heck with the gym treadmill and go for my run outside. I do find it harder on my legs but so much nicer in all other ways. I did the run basically starting at my office building door which is downtown and in the middle of the uni campus. The biggest thing I had to contend with were all the intersections and traffic lights. It was really hard to get the timings all right when I was waiting for street lights. A few times I ended up taking extra long breaks by a half minute or so because I was waiting for a light. It was good that I didn’t use the podcast because this way I was able to adjust on the fly. I do find it a little difficult to judge the timings though and keep needing to check my iPod Nike + timer to see if it is time to start running yet. That is a bit of a pain. I wish there was an easier way to time out intervals. Does anyone have any suggestions for handling interval timing while running?

I was afraid of today’s run. I was worried about the 5 minutes and the shorter breaks to recover between runs. No doubt, the 5 minute run was tough, especially the last minute of it. That said, I think I handled it pretty well. The longer runs definitely make it easier to get into the flow of the run. I think my breathing improves once I get into that zone so as long as my legs hold out I’m eager for more of these longer running intervals.

I’m continuing to feel super great at the end of my runs and into the evening after I run. Tonight during my cool down walk, the crisp air was so refreshing. I had some Pink Floyd on my iPod and I just felt so amazing cruising through the city on my tired legs. With my run behind me I felt totally immune to the chip shops littering the street. I had no desire for burgers or fried chicken or any of those other dubious “treats” that people were lining up for all over the town. I was recharged and ready to eat something healthy. I felt like a runner and for a little while forgot about begin overweight and stopped caring I hadn’t lost any weight this week. It was awesome.