Having tried to do the Couch 2 5K app in the past, I never made it past week 1. Last fall, I attempted to do the app with my (now former) coworkers. I found that because I wasn't consistent with doing 3 days a week of training, I was never able to work up the endurance to get past week 1. In fact, I really think that I only got in one run/walk a week. I remember not being able to do all the runs in week 1 in the beginning. (If I didn't say before, week 1 is a 5 minute warmup, then jogging 45 seconds, walking 90 seconds, jogging 45 seconds, walking 60 seconds, repeat this cycle 5 times, then a 5 minute cooldown). I do think that I managed to complete one full run/walk without having to walk any of the runs last fall. Probably around that time, I gave up and stopped the training. I specifically remember that this was sometime around last October or early November because it was getting cold and getting dark earlier. Around this same time, I found out that I had gotten the scholarship and that Green Mountain was finally going to become a reality instead of a dream.
Today, as I completed week 2 day 1, I realized that even with my issues with inconsistency, I am in better shape now than I was last fall. After coming home from Green Mountain, I was disappointed that it was so easy to fall back into my old habits. It was actually much harder than I WANTED it to be to keep up the workouts and healthy eating. Obviously we were prepared by the staff at Green Mountain not to expect a sudden and miraculous transformation and to set small and attainable goals. Even though I came home repeating to myself, set small goals, be kind to myself, I still thought, in the very back of my mind, maybe I could have a miraculous transformation, that it would somehow be different for me. And as usual, I was unrealistic in my expectations, setting myself up for disappointment. This something that most of us women struggle with.
While I definitely have my challenges and days and even weeks where I don't work out and don't eat healthy, what I learned and what I gained at Green Mountain is still there.
So enough of all that mushy reflection.
Successes for this week: I did fit in one day of strength training this week and one day last week. Which is more strength training than I had done in a while. So next week, I hope to fit in 2 days of strength training. I was disappointed that my yoga class was cancelled last Tuesday because I really enjoy at least one day of yoga a week. I also successfully tracked my food on My Fitness Pal Monday through Thursday. Even though I wasn't trying to track my calorie intake, I seemed to get about 1700 calories on average every day. I packed my breakfast and lunch every day except today, took my coffee to work (because if I go to Starbucks to get coffee, it is physically impossible to not buy a blueberry scone. Seriously), and ate a salad with my dinner. I got a chance to play tennis with Allison (my Green Mountain DC friend) and we actually got a few good volleys going. I'm hoping that means my tennis game is improving , however, it could just be because we were using a foam practice tennis ball.
My GM BFF Beth and her sister have both started their 5K training. We also picked up an extra team member, a participant at Green Mountain that was there after I left but while Beth was still there. We are all registered for the 5K in Boston at the end of October. We have started an ongoing group text message between the 3 of us to motivate and share our successes. Thanks to unlimited text messages, it is, in fact, possible to train for a 5K together even though we live in 3 separate cities. We have also come to the conclusion that our lives would be much easier if we lived in the same city but I don't think we can agree on what city that would be (go DC!!). We are planning to wear costumes in the 5K (it does fall at the end of October so a lot of runners will be dressed up for Halloween). I'll keep the costumes we have settled on secret until the big 5K day.
Well friends, have a great weekend!
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