"Good" Morning

So today was my first day of getting up early for my run. We didn't get up as early as we will have to next week because Mac was off today and so we slept in a little. The run went ok. I realized a few things that I think I will be doing differently now.

First of all, the dvd the other night was a mistake. My legs still have not fully recovered so running has been harder than it would normally be. I have gotten so frustrated with my weight loss plateau that I am doing stupid things instead of following what I have been planning. I want to one day do a high intensity workout program but I want to wait until after the Tink and Princess Half marathons next year. I can't afford to lose training time due to injury and if I try to do those workouts and run at this point, I will just end up hurting myself. I'm going to take the rest of the weekend off to hopefully let my legs fully recover before Monday's run.

Second, this isn't going to work the way it did the first time. When I started the running program in April, I was jogging very slowly. My goal then was just to jog. My pace was slower than some people's walking pace but I was using the mechanics of running and getting my body used to that and that was my goal. I did it. I did my 5K at a snail's pace but I ran it and that was all I wanted. Now that I am repeating the program, I am trying to increase my pace. If I look at my pace during the first time through and compare it to now, I am running at a pace that is 6 minutes faster than the first time. That's a big difference. Because it is such a big difference, I don't have the endurance required to sustain that pace yet. I am not going to be able to progress as quickly as I did the first time and finally, I am ok with that. My plan now is that instead of trying to stick with the running plan word for word, I am going to stay on a time interval until I master it and then move on. That is how it worked following it by the letter the first time but it was only because I was going so slowly. Now that I am trying to have a good pace, it is going to take my lungs and legs a little while to catch up. I know I could slow down, and I may slow down a little but my goal this time was to find my natural gait and pace and this is what feels natural, I just need to work at it a little longer this go round.

I'm still learning and figuring things out. I had a really bad day yesterday with motivation and discouragement thanks to a lack luster weigh-in. It is just so frustrating when you feel like you are working so hard and the number stays the same. I'm still hoping to add water aerobics and maybe a little lap swimming to my routine so that I can do something that doesn't give my joints a hard time. Plus I love the water and I want to get back into swimming and be as good at it as I once was. I'm thinking that my next goal after the half will be a sprint tri. The have one on post every year and I think it would be something good to work towards. But first things first, I need to complete the goal at hand.