Weeks four and five of the C25K app

Well, after over a week of temperatures over 30 degrees (some days up to 40 degrees) every day, the temperatures here have finally gone back to normal. Trying to run in that heat is just mental!! I tried to go one Saturday morning and at 10 am it was already 35 degrees! It turned into just a fast walk as I actually thought I was going to pass out every time I started to run.

Last week the programme of running was jog three minutes, walk 90 seconds, jog five minutes, walk two and a half minutes, jog three minutes, walk 90 seconds, jog five minutes. The last three-minute run was worse than the very last five-minute run – a few weeks ago I could never have even imagined that I could run for more than one minute let alone five! I really struggled on the first and second go at this but on the last day of Week 4 I did it all quite easily. It was like a little ‘Rocky’ moment when he gets to the top of those stairs and jumps up and down. I wanted to jump up and down too and shout ‘I love you, Adrien!!'. I didn’t cos a) I was on my own and there was no one to see me cheering and b) Well I would have just looked like a complete nutter. Haha!

It’s getting harder to get up and go out now that the mornings are getting darker. When my alarm went off at 6am it was raining outside and I really just wanted to stay under the covers. Once more I had the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. The devil put up a good fight today and almost won, but before I knew what I was doing I had thrown the covers back and was making my way towards my running shoes.

I started Week Five, which was running five minutes and walking three minutes and repeat three times. That last five minutes was an out and out B****! But I kicked her ass into touch and pounded it into the pavement. The next two days of Week Five absolutely fill me with terror, as by Saturday I am supposed to run for 20 minutes straight without stopping. I am going home to the sunny shores of Sunderland tomorrow so I will let you know how it goes!

Normal Service Resumes…..

Well what a mad three/four weeks this has been. In Majorca for a week, at work three days, off to Poland for three days, back at work for two days then a week in Scotland. Needless to say my routine that I had started to get into has taken a bashing!

I was dreading putting my running shoes on again and had put it off for a few days but on Saturday morning I couldn’t put it off any longer – my fiancé had bought some new running shoes and wanted to test them out.  We decided to try another route and run around the Jardin des Plantes in the 5^th arrondissement.

It was a beautiful sunny morning and I had also bought myself some new running gear, so I was feeling good, positive and ready to tackle this run… for the first five minutes! In my mind I was soooo ready for it but my legs had other ideas.  If you can imagine trying to run in a bath of treacle, that was exactly how my legs felt and I could barely lift my knees or build any speed up. It was quite embarrassing as I have been telling my other half all about my running but he had never ran with me before, and so I looked about as fast as a 95-year-old on a zimmer-frame!  Meanwhile, he totally lapped me round the park (beginners luck). 

On Sunday we had a lovely afternoon in the Bois de Vincennes playing badminton and chilling out in the park. I've not played badminton since I was about 14 so, at first, we were lucky to hit it over the net but we managed to get a few rallys going eventually and I won! The highlight of the day was when the other half hit himself in the face with his racquet. Hahaha! That had me giggling for ages, and then the shuttlecock gonked me right on the top of the head – a good day was had by all!

So it’s now back to running at least three times a week for me – I reckon if I hadn’t have ran on Saturday I might have given up altogether. I put three pounds back on (of the seven that I had lost) when I was in Majorca and really thought I would have piled it all back on when I was in Scotland, having eaten breakfasts of butteries and dinners of battered haggis and chips, but I had actually lost a pound.  

Hopefully now that normal service has resumed I will shift those last couple of holiday pounds and get back on track to be fit and healthy in time for the event of the year next September!!