I was pleased with my running schedule last week. I took last Monday off, trained on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, took Friday off, then trained Saturday and today. I also did 2 days of strength training which is progress for me. I have been doing the Green Mountain Express which is one of the DVD's I bought at GM, it was designed for busy people. The GM Express is a full body strength training and is only one set of 15 for each exercise. I paused the DVD after each exercise and repeated so I could get in 2 sets.
Most days after work, I have found that the easiest place to run is the track across the street from my apartment. I don't mind the routine of running around the track. It's actually good for me to measure my progress. When I started week 1, I was only able to run around about 1/4 of the track. Now that I am on week 3, I've been running around about 3/4 of the track. I'm hoping that by next week, I will be able to run around the entire track once without stopping.
I picked up a really cool new water bottle today. The strap fits around your hand so that you don't have to hold the water bottle. It also has a little pouch on the front that fits a phone, keys, and ID. I have an armband for my phone that I really like but I liked that I could put my keys in the pouch. I totally copied Beth because she already has one but I don't think she'll mind :)
Today I went to run on a trail called the Mount Vernon trail. It is in Old Town Alexandria and runs along the Potomac River. The trail itself is 18 miles long. My favorite part of the trail is near George Washington's home Mount Vernon. There are lots of trees and usually a nice breeze off the river. The trail today was busy with runners and bikers. It was nice to get away from my usual track and the scenery was so nice during my run. I completed the 5K training program and then continued on for a total of 2.3 miles.
My favorite part of the run today was running over the bridge. I took a
scenery break on my way back to capture these shots.
I was aiming for a total of 3 miles today but I ran into a little problem. And in this problem, I learned my lesson for the day. After parking and walking over to the trail, I realized I needed to use the restroom. I was less than excited to use the provided bathroom facilities and decided that I would hold it. This was a bad idea. By the time I made it back to my car, I was in misery. The fact that I was drinking water during my run did not help. Had I put aside my bathroom standards, I probably could have finished the entire 3 miles. So, on race day, I need to suck it up and use porta potties if that's all there is. For some people, this may be no big deal. For me, this is a huge deal. I'm the girl who walked the entire St Jude Half Marathon without stopping to use a porta potty.
Next week I am starting on week 4. I am planning on running Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and possibly Friday. The program is actually only 3 days a week. Week 4 is a 5 minute warmup, running 3 minutes, walking 3 minutes, running 4 minutes, walking 3 minutes, running 5 minutes. It has not gone past my notice that, as of this week, the 5 minute cooldown is gone. I'm ok with that because I can always walk a cooldown on my own. I am also very nervous to see a 5 minute run and think that will definitely be a huge challenge for me.
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