3-Week Challenge of FUN!

Guess what? It’s August already! That’s right, 8 months have passed since I published the first post in this blog. And in that time, a lot has happened, both athletically and non-athletically. In May, I graduated from high school, and, a week later, ran in my second 5k! In June, I flew to Seattle and spent almost a month out west, seeing all there was to see! Finally, we’ve reached August, which means the start of college for me! I leave in exactly 2 weeks to the campus of Johnson University, where I will be studying this fall, but I didn’t want to leave home without first challenging myself to something fun. :D

(Trumpets are blaring) Welcome to the 3 Weeks of FUN Challenge! This challenge is meant to prepare not only the body, but also the spirit, so the more people who do it together, the better!

This challenge has 6 rules that are as follows:

1.    Spend at least 1 hour in scripture and prayer daily

2.    Go running every day

3.    Do Insanity every day

4.    Drink only water/water-mixed drinks

5.    No junk food

And the last one’s not a rule so much as a retractor:

6.    On Sundays, rules #2-5 do not apply. Rest.

And there you have it! At the beginning of this week, four of us chose to do this challenge together, and now, there are six of us. We’re growing!

In the next post, I will explain the running routine and the Insanity routine. But if you’re interested in doing this 3-week challenge, then go right on ahead! Just remember that every journey, no matter how large it may be, all SW1S!

Re-constructing!

After 3+ months of inactivity, I find myself playing catch-up here on SW1S. Here's the lowdown, Reader's Digest version:

• I conked out sometime in early May from the B210K program.
• I ran my 2nd 5k at the end of May in sweltering heat
• My runs gradually decreased their distance and times through June
• I took 1 month off of running (July) since starting last December
• Now it's time to get back in the swing of things!

So here we are! I've started Get Running all over again in hyperspeed (more on that later), and this time, I have a whole team that's helping me out! I hope to give you a detailed update tomorrow or sometime soon! In the meantime, you'll notice some aesthetic changes and updates throughout the blog. So get ready, because it all Starts With 1 Step... version 2.0!

Spandex, Scenery, and Sign-ups (#s 4, 5, and 6)

Spandex

A couple weeks ago, I decided to use the last of my Amazon credit to buy a pair of Under Armor shorts. Twenty-five bucks and five days later, they arrived! I gotta say, these things are an answered prayer! My running has gotten much smoother and less painful (if you know what I mean…)!

If you are just starting to run, buy a pair of Under Armor shorts. Trust me. It’s one of the wisest investments you can make in your career as a runner!

Now, on to…

Scenery

Since I’m making up for three runs that I’ve failed to log (talk about lazy! But I’ve really been busy and running, I promise!), I’ll take you back to my 2^nd run this week, when my older sister (home from spring break) decided to ride her bike along with me as I ran.

I made it through my first of three 15-minute runs and was about to turn around and restart the same loop, when Rachel said, “Why don’t we go down this gravel road instead?”

I said, “Sure! Let’s do it!” But I was really thinking, I hate gravel I hate gravel I hate gravel. But I wanted to show her that I am her dauntless and brave younger brother, so we headed down the (ugh) gravel road. The gravel road, as I’ve been told by my family, is .9 miles long. Yes, folks, that’s .9 miles of loud, foot-pounding, teeth-crunching gravel. Then I had to turn back around and do it again to get home!

You may be asking yourself, So, why did he post such a pretty picture if he’s only going to rant about how awful it is? Well, I may not have enjoyed the awfulness of all the rocks under my feet (for such a long time), but the scenery made it all worth it! I live in Illinois, and while there are no mountain ranges, beautiful streams, or illustrious landmarks, the rolling pasture can really take your breath away! Now that spring has sprung, it the world has turned beautiful, and my runs have become quite a bit more enjoyable!

And, finally…

Sign-ups!

The decision isn’t 100% final, but I’m about to send in my registration for my 2^nd ever 5k race! And, this one is also really close to home! I finished my last one in 32:47-ish, and I’m determined to bring it down to under 30 minutes. The date for this race is May 26^th, so, if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be done with Bridge by then, and still have a couple weeks to get my time down even lower!

Well, that’s it for this weekend! I hope you keep doing great things and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah starts with 1 step!

Bridge, Boredom, and Bugs (#3)

Since starting running in December, this week has been the week that I have hated the most. I’m not trying to be a Debby Downer, I was just extremely unprepared for how much time each workout would entail. But I guess I’ll get used to it! :D

Well, spring has sprung! And with it, so have all the bugs. The 1-minute “breaks” between runs turned out to be a chance for mosquitos, gnats, and flies to take over my face and show me their newly-metamorphosed bodies. I wasn’t that thrilled with them. That means I’m going to have to start lathering in vanilla before runs from now on! (Really, vanilla works better than any bug spray! Just put some on a cotton ball and cover your face, arms, and legs with a thin layer! As a bonus, you’ll smell really good while you wear it!)

The worst part of running for longer times isn’t the time, the distance, or the energy that I spend. In fact, I just get plain bored while on the route. I listen to music, but find that I get bored of hearing the same songs. Maybe I just need to come up with some stories to keep going in my head! Then I can write them and become a best-selling author and be rich! Yeah…

I can look forward to next week and see that each day consists of three 15-minute runs with breaks of 1 minute between each one. Maybe running three runs instead of four will be of some help to relieve the boredom!

So don’t be a Debby Downer! Instead, be a Positive Polly! After all, she’s much more fun to hang around; it’s because she knows that her journey, no matter how large it may be, all starts with 1 step!  

Bridge 2

They say that every hour you exercise, you extend your life by one hour. That means that, since I started running, I have extended my life by about… one day. Well, I can only hope that that day is jam-packed with incredible things! :D

During Monday’s run, I hadn’t yet worked with my B210k app, so I was music-less the entire time. Wow! A ten-minute run seems much longer when there’s no music! You can be sure that I was glad to have it back today!

Honestly, because of how long Monday’s run seemed, I was dreading today’s run. I didn’t want to do it, but I know that I’ll never get to 10k at a time without some discipline. So I put on my shorts, tied my shoes, and headed out. I walked to the park, ran 4 laps (I think) around it, and headed back for home. I spend the entire time singing along to my music and playing guitar in a pretend concert, so time passed much quicker than it did the other day! Four 10-minute runs and three 1-minute walks later, I was done!

It feels like I’m right at the beginning of Get Running, only this time, I’m running ten minutes at a time instead of one minute! Each run will only get me farther on my journey! I just gotta remember that it all starts with 1 step!

Bridge 1

After a month of the same workout, I was looking forward to today’s first run of the Bridge to 10k program! However, I seem to have forgotten how big of a task it is to extend a run by 10 minutes.

The last time I was in the habit of writing on this blog, the weather was still gloomy and ever-changing, as winter always seems to be around here. Since then, however, flowers have bloomed, the grass has turned green, and the weather has warmed about 30 degrees! Yep, spring is in full bloom! As an added bonus for my runs, the smells of flowers and freshly-mowed grass only encourage me to keep going!

As for today’s run, I quickly learned that my new coach isn’t as sweet as Claire. She’s a very “to-the-point” kind of coach, with single-word instructions such as “Run!,” Walk!,” and “Cool Down!” (not a single word, but you get my point). Until I come up with a name for her, as I always answer back to the iPod (strange, but fun!), I’m just gonna call her Claire.

The running part of my run consisted of 4 10-minute runs, with a 1-minute walk between runs. The runs were easy as far as running is concerned (and over the past month, more people frequent the park, so I get to greet them and smile!), but I could feel myself running slower during each run, as I apparently didn’t ration my energy well enough. But I have to remember that I’m back to the learning stage of things, so I’m going to have more difficulties than I’ve been facing while running my 5k route over and over.

By my next run, I’ll hopefully feel better and be more able to save my energy for the later runs. But until then, it’s time to rest and enjoy the wonderful weather with which God has blessed us! As for you, remember that your journey, no matter how large it may be, all starts with 1 step!

Part 2!

A month ago, I signed off from this blog, asking you to follow me on the next part of my journey. I am pleased to announce that it’s finally here! Welcome back to “Part 2” of my journey to become fit!

So, let me fill you in on what the last 4 weeks have involved… I’ve run at least 3 times each week, varying my workouts ever so slightly. The first week after Get Running,  I stuck with the workout for week 9, pushing myself to run just a little faster in those 30 minutes than I did the week before. The second week, I started pushing myself to run farther distances than the week before. I went slower but farther. These past two weeks, I have been working on combining the speed with the distance, working up to 3 miles (5k) in around 30 minutes!

Those past 4 weeks have worked up to today, which was a rather special day. This morning, I ran my first 5k race!

People are right when they tell you that nothing beats the excitement of running with so many others, and then screaming at the finish when they are cheering you on! It was such a refreshing experience! And I wouldn’t have done a step of it, had it not been for the past 13 weeks of training that all started by downloading an app on my iPod.

So, what now? I am ready to push myself harder, and I have a plan for it! Starting on Monday, I begin the first of 6 weeks of running the Bridge to 10k program. I downloaded it the same day I downloaded the Get Running app, and at that time, I wondered if I would even use it. But here I am, and I’m ready for this! I only hope that you’ll join me in my journey by trying something new!

Don’t get discouraged, and always remember that your journey, no matter how long it may be, all starts with 1 step…

On your mark, get set, GO!