Lessons I Learned This Week

Hey there! Miss me? It has been a busy week, but I have still managed to get out and exercise and I'm hoping you have too. Even with the rain, I didn't let it keep me in. I happen to know the rain didn't stop of few of my friends from pushing themselves out the door to exercise, either!!

So, in honour of myself tonight I thought I would share a few important lessons I have learned so far about this 'learning to run' business. If you have also learned things about running, feel free to share any other lessons you have learned, so maybe I don't have to learn those ones the hard way.

THINGS I LEARNED TODAY:

1. No matter how busy you are, do NOT wait four days in between attempts at exercising. Reverse is a gear you don't want to use when trying to learn to run.

2. Even if it might seem like a good idea, going for a walk/run session two hours AFTER a massage is not a good idea. Apparently having your muscles all relaxed and stuff when you start exercising means many more aches and pains along the way.

After three weeks of exercising I haven't really had muscle pains or aches while out on the loop. Can't say that for tonight. Ouch.

3. Apparently experiencing swelling and aching of your fingers while running is quite normal. Even redness on your fingers and wrists is common. Other people are unable to make a fist while running. This doesn't mean you are going to take the big one while attempting to improve your health and fitness level out in the neighbourhood. It means you are normal, and even 'elite' runners experience this.

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED THIS WEEK:

4. Exercise makes you hungry! But you get hungry for healthier food for some reason. Instead of snacking on chips and Todd's amazing popcorn, I am snacking on blueberries and carrots.

5. Exercise actually does affect your weight, even when you are still partaking of 'not so good' choices from time to time. So after three weeks of this, I have lost 7 pounds. And the extra roll that was developing at my waist seems to be going away. Thank God.

6. Although initially exercise gives you a little more energy, when you push yourself to do more it can actually make you tired. Apparently this is not uncommon. It may mean you need to eat more to give your body more energy (and let's be clear, I never have a problem eating more).

7. It's hard to find a good music mix for this walking / running program. Remember I said in my first post that music is everything for me when it comes to exercise? I go to the beat and it can speed me up or it can slow me down.

What I am starting to find now is that this running of a couple of telephone poles and then walking is getting difficult to assess. The program that I have been loosely following is calling for more running and less walking and I am having a hard time assessing how much I am really doing. So...now that I am inching toward being ready to start a more formal program, I am jumping into the 'Couch to 5k' program. And after some research online, I have located a series of podcasts I think I can live with to get me through the rest of this training.

For those of you who don't know, a podcast is a big music file that has songs loaded on to it and indicators that tell you when to start to run and (maybe more importantly) when to stop running so that you are sure you are running for the amount of time you are supposed to, in order to get better at this running thing. You put the file on your ipod and away you go.

So after much searching, I have said a big NO to the techno podcasts and the hiphop podcast, and I have skipped past the Christian podcast (not that I don't like church music...anyone who knows me knows I actually enjoy hymns...but that's not my idea of running music). I have finally settled on Sue's hip-hop and 80's music mix Couch to 5k Podcasts.

http://www.kissmyblackass.org/podcasts/couch-to-5k/

That's the link for them, if you are also looking to try your luck at this training for a 5k routine. I can't wait for Michael Jackson week!!!

Next up I have to figure out where I am in this Couch to 5k program. I think I am past week one but I'm not sure if I am a solid week 3 yet. I am going to have to spend some time to figure that out, but I will let you know on the weekend what week I'm at.