Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Couch 2 5K

Since the weather is finally starting to get a little cooler, I am finally able to run outside again.  This is the perfect exercise for me because I can bring Cam.  After I have left him alone all day, the last thing I want to do is leave him to go to the gym.

So I decided to download the Couch 2 5K app on my iPhone and I am going to sign up to do the Jingle Bell Run again this year on December 4th.  I did this run 2 years ago so I could mark it off my list.  I did ok, but I still was a little disappointed with my performance.  I finished in 37:21 when I ran this race 2 years ago and this year I would like to finish in under 30 minutes.  But I would be happy with just running the whole thing without having to take a walking break.

I started last night.  My plan is to do the C25K runs on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and keep up my gym routine on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  As a reward to myself I am going to get one of the new i-Pod nanos if I finish the 9-week C25K program on time the week before Thanksgiving.  Maybe they will have a good Black Friday deal on one!!  In fact I am going to have mini-rewards at the 3 week mark (pedicure) and 6 week mark (suggestions?). 

I'm also tracking my calories with the Lose it app.  And hope to get my Nike + sensor working again so I can track my distance on my runs.

Hopefully all this will help with marking #1 off my list- get in the best shape of my life.

Just curious- How would you define "the best shape of your life"?  I'm still not sure about my definition.  It is hard not to measure it by weight, but I know weight isn't the right way to measure it.  But what is?  How will I know when I have arrived?  I thought about measuring it with running time, but that feels like it is missing something to.  So how would you define "best shape of your life"?

5 comments:

Jamie said...

My suggestion would be a piece of workout apparel that is cute.
I'm running my first half-marathon in 2 weeks and I am buying myself some running tights since I have legs worth showing off now!

Career Girl Network Marcy said...

Sweetheart - 7 minutes is a HUGE time difference. Please don't try to go from 37 to 30. Shaving even a minute or two off of your time when you haven't been running will be tough. Just make it a goal to feel good about it and finish with a PR!

Akirah said...

I;m not quite sure, but I do know that I currently weigh less than I did when I was in sixth grade. And it feels so good!

Sonja said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sonja said...

Great job on getting back to running! I am so jealous! I fractured my ankle (overtraining for a race actually) back in July and still can't run. Such a bummer. Anyway, if you can't get your Nike + working, look in to the RunKeeper app for your iPhone. It tracks pace, distance, etc and keeps all your runs on a website so you can see trends and stuff. I love the app and the full one is only $10. Far cheaper than Nike or a Garmin and it works great. Just doesn't have heart rate but I believe you can buy a monitor separately and there is some kind of integration with the app.