Learn to run: Week 2 – Session 1

This week it’s running 2 mins, then walking 2 mins. Session 1 is doing that 11 times. (44 minutes total)

The short version: BRUTAL. Simply brutal.

The long version:
Running for one minute at a time was a stretch last week. (Stop laughing – yes, I know I need to get into better shape!) This week – two minutes at a time – wow. During the first lap, I looked at the timer about half way through the two min run and I just didn’t see how I was going to get through the whole 44 minutes of it all. During the running part, my heart rate got up to the high 160’s – and 170’s. During the 2 min walk, I was getting my heart rate back down to the 140’s. But towards the end, when my heart rate was still in the 160’s at the end of the two min walk – that’s when it REALLY hard.

To keep pushing myself to the end of  the two min run – I would focus on my breathing. Most of the time I’m panting – breathing all through my mouth. I just can’t help it. When I try to inhale through my nose, it doesn’t feel like I get enough air in. (Is that just me?) Either way, I tried to just take huge breaths in through my nose – exhale through my mouth – a few panting breaths – then big inhale through my nose again. Not sure if that’s the right way to do it – but it helped get me to the end. I also would try focusing on other muscles in my body – specifically my stomach muscles (which need help anyway). I would tighten them up and focus on that – trying to forget about how much I really just wanted to drop to my knees and gasp for air. LOL!

The other thing helping me through it – just repeating over and over in my head “You can do this. You can DO THIS.” I know it seems silly – but if you have an inner voice and it starts trying to convince you to quit – chances are you ARE going to quit. Make that inner voice your cheerleader and make it louder than any other negative energy. YOU CAN DO THIS!

So some lessons learned: Session 1 is always a push session. It’s the hardest session of the week. DO NOT EAT DINNER RIGHT BEFORE THIS SESSION. Probably can swing that on the other nights – but not this one.

So this asks the question – if I’m running at 7/8pm – I need to eat SOMETHING before I run – as eating dinner when I get back home at 9ish is just too late. I think on nights I exercise, I have to redefine what “dinner” is. I think the idea of a big meal at dinner time needs to go away – and save those for non-exercise nights. (Of which there may only be two or three at the most in a given week). And as healthy as I think eating a smaller – spaced out dinner is – it still presents other issues – specifically the kids. I have been a big believer in having dinner together. It’s the one meal we always have together – it may be the one time in the whole night that we’re all in the same room for a given period of time. So I still don’t have all the details worked out.