Sixteen Minutes of Running! I bet you are just as amazed as me!!!

Hello there! Back after my Canada Day hiatus of camping at the trailer, taking in the Canada Day activities in Westville, visiting Melmerby Beach, and chilling at the trailer with friends.

My travel advice from this weekend: if you have never been to Melmerby Beach, take the time because it is worth the trip. we visit Melmerby almost every weekend from July 1st to Labour Day (except when we are camping at the OTHER beach, near Brule and this year the Gulf Shore as well.

http://www.nsls.ns.ca/melmerby-beach

So I finished week 3 of the C25k program on Sunday on the hilly roads of Lansdowne with Michelle running along near me finishing up week 2. It was a beautiful hot morning and even the black flies stayed out of the sun and left us alone.

I got home from the trailer this afternoon and decided I would do my first week 4 run tonight because I have to get my teeth cleaned early tomorrow morning and tomorrow night Todd and I are off to Halifax to see that great Aussie band INXS in concert, apparently with JD Fortune (although I'm not 100% sure of that). We are going with Barb and David and expect to have a great evening. 

So, off I went to start week 4.  I have to admit, this run was more than a little daunting because of the increased running time. After a 5 minute warm-up, it's a 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, 2 and a half minute walk, 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, 5 minute cool down walk.

To sum that up, that's 16 minutes of running in 21 and a half minutes. Two weeks ago running 90 seconds was a challenge. Boy did I have to put my mind aside for this one.

It went great! The first 3 minute run was fine because I had done that one last week. I barely had time to prepare and it was off for the 5 minute run. it went by pretty quickly and then I had a good walk to recover. The next 3 minute run was solid and then came the last 5 minute run. Naturally it was up that little hill between Alderney and the Magnolia. I passed some friends walking and tried to look impressive as I continued on. LOL! Anyway, I finished it up and did me walk home.

This really is a neat program. I have walked before for exercise and done aerobic routines but have never really felt like I was actually 'getting in shape'. Doing this I am noticing muscles in my legs that appear to be getting a little toned and my summer clothes are a little loose which is an added bonus.

I switched up from the NHS podcast today and used Sue's week 4 Michael Jackson podcast. So that was fun, to run to music I recognized. Once I'm done of the C25k and able to run 30 minutes, I will be switching back to my great 80's mix which will be fun.

If you are interested or participating in the program, here is another website I have stumbled across that has some interesting resources.
http://shrinkingjeans.net/2009/01/couch-to-5k/

And don't miss Ingi's blog link on the side here....she is a 40-something Mom in Australia who is doing the Couch to 5k program while raising her kids and blogging about it along the way.

Have a great week everyone, and be sure to get your exercise too!