Grats jsgoddess!
I feel like I’m back into my groove. I did Week 5 Day 2 today and it felt too easy, so I mixed in some sprints. I think I may have this thing, dagnabbit! Hopefully I complete the program by the end of the year - just in time for my physical. And I’d like to feel confident enough to run a 5k.
And the dude already promised me a shopping spree at Phidippides Encino when I finish, so I’m definitely motivated. 
I did w5d3 today! I really didn’t think I could, and it was definitely tough there at the end, but I forced myself to go through with it. I can’t believe I actually ran for 20 minutes, that just sounds so amazing to me. I’ve never run that much before in my life.
Keep trying Zsofia! Maybe you could do some of the earlier weeks again if you’re not feeling up to the longer stretches? Hopefully you can shake the funk soon!
No run tonight. Didn’t get home from work till 10pm. Have to wash clothes and eat supper and cook oatmeal and my feet hurt, so no run tonight. Tomorrow when I’m not so dog tired I have a date with the dreadmill. 
Finished Week 4. I’m doing it by time, so I don’t know how far or fast I’m going. However, today I found an oval with a running track, so I’ll try a few measured runs next week.
I’ve also finished week 2 of the pushups. The running is easier…
I’ve found this to be absolutely true. Sometimes I’ll head out convinced my run will be a stinker and it’s fantastic, and of course the opposite also happens.
Again, lorene speaks the truth, well at least in my experience. I may have had a crappy night’s sleep or be stressed about something or feeling the effects of splitting a bottle of wine with my husband the night before–all those things affect my runs. And this summer I really struggled with the high humidity here in Boston so even though I had run the same distance many times before, I found I would have to stop or else puke. I hate humidity.
Well, I did my mom’s 20 minute run with her today, and we did awesome! See, I didn’t want to walk because she was there, and she didn’t want to walk because I was there… we did a really good job.
She’s been weird about it, though - usually she’s the one to be all “You can do it if you set your mind to it,” but throughout she’s been pulling this “Well, I ran week _ day _ today, but I don’t know how much more I’m going to do.” Not because she’s having any specific joint problems or anything, but just because “Well, you know I’m 67…” So I made her promise that if she did the 20 minute run she’d have to sign up for the 5K I’m signed up for. So she did, and I signed her up today.
The hilarious part is, I can’t find race results from this specific race last year (Cold Winter’s Day - gee, isn’t THAT inspiring) because the results I can see are just from 2008, but a similar race in town this past January didn’t have anybody at all in her age group. So if I’m reading this right and the same thing happens, my mom could run a 40 minute 5K and win a medal and $50 for it. Wouldn’t that just be a scream?
To all of you who have had a bad day: it happens. Sometimes you can trace a bad day to a specific cause and some times it just comes from out of the blue. If you can’t pin down a specific reason, put it behind you and don’t worry about it. Negative thoughts will do more to make another bad day than anything else.
No run for me today. I worked in the yard for 4 hours, winterizing the flower beds. I’m beat. We have snow flurries here today. Next run on Wednesday unless I get very ambitious tomorrow (have to be at work at 0530).
Week 6 is in the history books! 25 minutes and not too much trouble. I started with my usual 3.5 mph pace and about halfway through went down to 3.4 mph, and ran right through. I’m having a big fat steak tonight.
Yay!
jsgoddess, I broke down and ordered two. One green, one white. I hope they help with my workouts (both runs and capoeira). And with my back pain… and if they help with my as yet not 100% healed right arm, that would be awesome!
To all of those doing push ups. If y’all are doing them the “right way” (manly plank position)… I’m in awe. I’m still struggling doing 10 of them that way (I can do more if I drop my knees).
I had to look up capoeira. That looks awesome.
I do the dreaded w5d3 tonight. Well weather permitting. I was supposed to do it yesterday but the rain was heavy and constant throughout the day.
I’m starting, so I’m infinitely worse than what you see. I do wish a sports bras will help me, though. Support, freedom of movement, and maybe help with image issues. 
Didn’t do my weekend run yesterday, too much stuff to do and seminars to attend. I’ll do a run tonight. 
I just finished w2d1!! I had a lot of trouble with all of week one, so adding more running kind of worried me, but today seemed to be easier than last week. I know of at least two changes I’ve made that have probably helped. First, I think I finally found a good running speed, 5mph. I was putzing around last week with finding a speed that was challenging, but didn’t make me feel like dying. 5mph isn’t a walk in the park for me, but I feel more or less comfortable with it. FWIW, my walking speed is 3.6mph. The second thing, and what I think helped the most, is that I changed my arm position. I’m running on a treadmill and all last week, I had my hands on the handle bars for both running and walking. As a result, when I ran I leaned forward more than I would have otherwise. Today, I noticed this and started holding my arms as I would off of the treadmill and the running suddenly became easier. Who knew such a little thing could have such a big effect.
I also thought up a new inspiration for sticking with this plan. If I do, I’ll be on week eight when I visit my family over the holidays. I come from an amazingly out of shape (unless you’re one of those people who count eating as a sport) family. I am the only skinny person in my family and a lot of that is because I actually pay attention to what I eat and how much snacking I do. My sisters view my skinniness as a fluke and are pretty bitchy about it. If I stick with this running plan, I’ll get to see their faces when I go outside every other day to run. Yeah, its immature, but sibling rivalry is eternal in my family.
Tomorrow, I’m starting the push-up plan. Until then, I’m continuing to read through the other CP25k thread. I’m finding it inspirational. Thank you all for that!
MissMossie, somewhere a few weeks ago I found a really good blog by a nun - mostly it was about nun stuff but she casually talks about her triathlon training. Let me see if I can find it again. She has “Nunday” where she posts real pictures of real nuns, hoping that one day you may Google Image search “nun” and not get porn or Nunzilla. As a librarian, I understand her crusade.
ETA - it is you who’s in discernment at a convent, right? Because that post is gonna sound really dumb if that’s somebody else with a similar name.
Zsofia, is this it?
You got it! I forgot to look. It’s a good blog; I really like Sister Julie.
Yep, that’s me. Thanks for the link. There are actually a lot of pretty good nun blogs out there. My favorite is Monastics on a Journey by my community’s vocation director.
Living at the monastery is part of what has jump started my want to exercise. We eat a lot of really yummy food here. It’s a dangerous place to be.
In non-nun news (say that three times fast!), I’m still feeling really good about w2d1. I kind of wish tomorrow wasn’t a down day, but I think I’m going to use that feeling to start the push up challenge.
Week 8 day 1 - done.
I was intending to run 30 minutes today, just because when I’m already running for 28, what’s another 2 minutes? Well I don’t know if it was mental or physical or some combination thereof, but once I hit the 28 minute mark, I was DONE. Forget two minutes, there is no force on earth that could have made me keep going another two seconds. I’ll do my 30 minute run when the program says I have to, and not a moment sooner.
To those of you running outdoors, what do you wear? It’s about 50 degrees around here, and it seems like I’m stuck choosing between freezing at the beginning of the run or overheating at the end. Today I wound up stashing an outer layer in some bushes mid-run to come back to later, but I don’t want my stuff to get stolen.
Week 8 day 1. 30 minutes was not a fluke! But I think I might be getting slower rather than faster. Eek.