Couch to 5k: Week 4, Day 1 and April Goals

Thank you for all of your kind congratulations, and especially for your workout recommendations. I'll be tapping into those for next week... I'll let you know how it goes!

Today I did my first Week 4 run for C25k, and let me tell you, it was ROUGH. Rougher than I thought it would be, although I knew there'd be a big difference between running 3 minutes and running 5 minutes. The weather wasn't ideal, as it wasn't too cold but very windy, and I'm pretty sure I was running directly into the wind for 3 out of 4 intervals, which was... difficult. I got a little out of breath, but other than that, it was mostly okay. I only felt a little pain in my lower legs, and it faded shortly after I noticed it, which made me happy. I definitely can't say that I enjoyed today's run... although I guess maybe I sort of enjoyed it... once it was already over and I had a nice peaceful walk back to my house for twenty minutes. It's funny, right after I finished I was thinking "oh God, that sucked. I'm so out of shape. Week 5 will kill me." But by the time I got home I'd already attained a more rose-colored view of the experience. That'll probably help when I'm psyching myself up to do it again Wednesday.

Wednesday I intend to do a few extra intervals, because I know I need all the help I can get to be ready for Week 5. I know week 5 is a lot more intense, but I don't dare look at exactly how much more intense yet... Better to make it at least two-thirds of the way through week 4 first. This morning's weight training was exciting because I sucked it up and did squats for the first time. Actually, I tried to do them once, my first session, and I was so paranoid about not being able to do it properly that I quit. Plus, it was inordinately more difficult then that I found it today, for reasons unbeknownst to me. This morning I knocked three reps of 12 out, two with weights, and it felt good. I'd been doing lunges for the past two weeks, and while I definitely feel the burn with those, they feel a little too unsteady for me, whereas squats done right feel like the steadiest exercise in the world. Stumptuous convinced me they're the best workout ever. I love that website! I'm a little concerned that I didn't feel sore today. I'm hoping I'll wake up in at least a little pain tomorrow. If not, I'll up the weight on Wednesday. I'm too scared to use the barbell, which might be part of my problem... so I just use dumbbells, but I can't find any demonstration videos with dumbbells, so I'm improvising. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I don't think I mentioned this... but last Thursday I busted my ass playing basketball. Thankfully I didn't do more damage, but I skinned the hell out of my knee. We play on a thin layer of sand/dirt over concrete, so when one foot slipped, the other knee slid on the ground. It was caked with dirt at first, so I didn't really know the extent of the damage and I kept playing, but then about 5 minutes later one of the boys stopped dead and pointed at my knee, horrified. I was bleeding pretty good, including one lone drop that had slid all the way down to my ankle and dripped on my tennis shoe, which now looks like a lost Law and Order prop. I cleaned it up, and it hurts, like a skinned knee does, but I'm just really relieved I didn't bruise it up too bad that it would hurt to run. But it looks pretty gross tonight. I don't have any Neosporin, so I'm thinking about just going into the Korean pharmacy, pointing at my knee, and saying, "What?" We'll see.

Hmm... there was one more thing. Oh yeah... I'm in love with the Oprah magazine. A friend lent me a copy (from like, November 2006, I think) to read on the train back this weekend, and I fell in love with it. I don't watch Oprah's show, but I mostly like her in principle, and I think the mag's great. I've never really been a magazine reader, at all. I sort of shunned magazines, I think, because I felt like I should be reading a book... but then I discovered that what I can like about a good magazine is that it has a little bit of everything--fashion, beauty, books, current events, etc. I realize O is not Newsweek, but I never claimed to be a real intellectual, and I need some opportunities for light reading in my life as much as the next girl. Anyway, one of the articles in the November 2006 issue was by a social scientist who described how he sets 3 new goals every month (based on the age-old belief that you can form a habit in 30 days). Anyway, something about this really resonated with me, and since it's the very last day of March, I'm setting three goals for April. And unlike my March goals, these will be non-numerical, and not all about weight loss, because while I don't mind my life being consumed with healthiness (which in fact affects all areas of our lives), I don't want to just be obsessed with getting into a bikini. I think what most appeals to me about this is that I can do it every month for the rest of my life. I'm very much a work in progress, and pride myself on the fact that I'm always (at least) trying to improve myself... but this seems like a very systematic way to go about it, which I like.

So, my April goals:

1. Read 50 pages a day on weekdays, and 100 pages on weekends. One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2008 was to read 50 books this year, and so far, it's going... okay. But, I'd like to be more systematic about it. Plus, I think setting aside at least the 30 minutes to an hour I need to read these pages each day will be good de-stressing me time. And, it'll help keep me busy on calmer weeknights, when I often struggle with snacking.

2. Blog on a regular basis. When I don't blog, it's not because I don't want to, and usually not because I don't have anything to say... Mostly I just don't make time for it. Up until now, it's been relatively low-ranked in importance on my to-do list, but this month I'm bumping it up to see how it goes. I really enjoy being able to look back, and I think I'll particularly want to have this for when I leave Korea (in 3 months, eek!).

3. Eat at least three vegetables a day (ideally one at each meal) and one fruit. You'll note that this is my only nutrition-related goal, which is intentional. I think I need to give myself some time to adjust to the changes I made in March, so I'm not going to push myself too hard during April. Theoretically doing Couch to 5k three times a week is a habit I already formed last month, so I'll continue that, and continue focusing on eating the right foods in proper amounts, but that's as far as I'm going toward quantifying this month. My new clothes I just bought in January already don't fit, so it'd be okay if I slowed down until I can get back to America and actually buy new ones. :)

Time to read! I'm starting Tim Winton's Cloudstreet tonight. I hope you all feel as good as I do!

p.s. The music on Robert Ullrey's week 4 C25k podcast is really bad (for me)... almost bad enough for me to stop complaining and actually figure out how to make my own podcast.