training DAY 5

THIS is the power of a plan/goal: without one, there is no freakin' way i would've ran today. i had a ton of errands to run, and people were coming over for lunch and for dinner so i had to shop/prepare/cook for that. i basically only had a 1 hour window where i could go running--after i cleaned up the house a bit and before i'd start cooking for dinner. without the race looming over me, i would've settled for an hour of watching foodnetwork while snuggling up with sammie pants. but now that i've been running for almost 2 weeks, i feel it slowly becoming a part of my routine and i want to keep committed to it. this experience also makes me realize that when you want to do something, you will find time to it. i used the excuse "i didn't have time" so often for exercising, and i really meant it. today would've been one of those days where i would've used that excuse, and you know, it was a busy day. but i mean, i never have trouble finding time to eat dessert or watch foodnetwork or check hockey scores. it should be the same for running/exercising.

yesterday was rest or CT but i rested. i was exhausted after the few days in jersey helping out family with this and that.

DAY 5: 1.5 miles
total run time: 15:45 minutes (10.3 minute mile pace)
the training plan takes it a little easier on wednesdays, so today was just 1.5 miles. i ran at a slightly faster pace to try to push myself, and i think this is my first time breaking 16 minutes. but you know, sometimes i worry because i'm almost 1/4 of the way done with training (2 of 8 weeks) but running hasn't gotten all that much easier. i mean, today's 1.5 miles definitely was easier than last week's runs, so i guess that's progress. but i still get pretty tired by 1.25/1.3 miles...but that's like 1/3 of the length of the race! zort! 

the other thing is that this training plan is for a 5K, which is only 3.2 miles. somewhere along the way i'm going to have to up the mileage a little more to account for the fact that i'm running a 4 mile race, but i'm scared of jumping up .5 miles in one week. i guess i can try it and if it's too much scale back?

i've actually been pretty good about not eating too much dessert lately, and this is a surprise. i thought that since i'm working out consistently, i'd rationalize and let myself eat more dessert. but. it turns out that since i'm working out consistently, i don't want to sabotage my chances of getting in shape so i'm being more careful about what i eat. although...i did make molten chocolate cake for dinner tonight which was yummy. the recipe is here.

i'm seeing more and more the benefits of consistent physical exercise, and it's only been 2 weeks. makes me sort of regret all the time i've wasted not working out, but i know i can't dwell on that. i think what's hardest for me is that i still think about my high school days when i played hockey 4 times a week. getting in shape was not this difficult objective--it was a natural by-product of playing a sport that i absolutely loved playing. fast forward 10 years--hockey is prohibitively expensive and inconvenient in nyc. and even if i could play it, playing it once a week isn't enough exercise. so now, i have to deliberately do things just to get in shape--boring things, like being stuck in a smelly gym for an hour jumping from one machine to the next. this is extremely annoying, and this is why i've never worked out consistently in the past 10 years. my lofty dream at the end of all this is that i find some sort of joy in running. people talk about running being their haven, their getaway. i'd love for that to be true of me one day. but for now, let's just stick with finishing this race without passing out.