Day 1: The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown!

The hardest part of any good habit is getting started, and the second hardest part is not quitting. Today I officially started, so the worst part is over. Once I actually got to the gym, it wasn't that hard, but getting to the gym didn't happen on Monday or Tuesday, and then it almost didn't happen today. Apparently Sean is going to be my running buddy, and when I texted him at 6 this morning to tell him I needed to sleep more than I wanted to run, rather than just forgetting it, he asked me if I was going later.

So Sean gets the award for motivating me to get started... He's the perfect workout buddy (almost wrote makeout buddy there, close call!) in that he gets me to the gym and then he goes off and does his own thing, leaving me to do MY own thing. Last time I worked out with him was over the summer, and it's the longest time I've been able to stick to an exercise routine. In short, I am glad that Sean is in this with me.

I surprised myself because although it was somewhat challenging, it wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be, and nothing hurt at the end, at least not immediately. Several hours after the fact I'm noticing that my thighs of all things are slightly sore, but not too much. I kept it nice and easy, just 3 mph and 4 mph (nice, round numbers). In the past when I've tried programs like this I think I wanted to see results too badly and pushed myself too hard. I could have probably run faster than 4 mph, but at that speed it was difficult to speed-walk but easy to jog, and I may have a chance of increasing the proportion of time I spend jogging if it's a slower pace.

Next time I'm going to play with the treadmill to see if I can program it to do the intervals for me automatically, because the biggest pain of the couch-to-5K is always having to watch the clock. There was an interval of jogging that I way overshot because I was fooling around with my iPod. If I didn't have to watch the clock, I can see this being so much more enjoyable.

Day 1:

5 min warm-up walk (3mph)

60 seconds running (4 mph)

90 seconds walking (3 mph)

(35 min, 2% incline, Treadmill at Gold's Gym in Provo)