An Accidental Longer Run and a Run With My Sister

Last Monday I did day 3 of week 7 of my training program, three intervals of 7/3. I walked up to the lake and headed straight across the dam. Halfway across Little Red (garmin) notified me it was time to start running the first interval. I was feeling good, my breathing was really good and I managed to keep my mind on things other than the run.

Well, at a certain area around the lake I started thinking that Little Red (LR) should have notified me by now that it's time for the three minute walk or will be very soon. I'm starting to get a bit tired; my legs feel like they need a break and my breathing is getting a bit labored.

When I run, I don't like to look to see how much time I have left. It makes me feel like 'I still have so-and-so many minutes to go and I don't think I can make it'. It’s psychological, I know, but it makes it harder for me to motivate myself to keep going. I like feeling surprised when I hear the beeps telling me the running part is over and I can walk.

Anyway, I quickly glanced at LR and noticed 20 seconds. Yes! I can hang in there for 20 more seconds. But, no beeps come from LR. By now I'm at an area of the trail that I know for sure takes me longer than 7 minutes to run to so I take a good look at the time and saw 5:47! I stopped running and stopped the timer.

I didn't know what happened. Did the timer stop for a while and suddenly start again? Did I not hear the beeps telling me to walk then run again? Did I select one of the longer workouts by mistake? I was pretty tired by then and needed a walk break so I made a mental note of where I stopped, did a short walk further along the trail and back to the stopping point and started the timer again. At the end of the 5:47 time I heard LR beep indicating the 3 minute walk. Man, was I happy for that walk. I did the last interval without any glitches and went back home to upload the data into the Garmin Training Center.

After analyzing the data from that run I noticed that I had run for almost 13 minutes without stopping! That's huge for me. I felt amazed and pretty good about myself.

What I think happened is that I didn't hear the beeps because I wore a sweat band under the garmin. I had read on a blog that some people do that because it always gets so sweaty under the garmin and the moisture seeps into the holes on the bottom of the device and causes corrosion. So, until I find a thinner sweat band that won't muffle the beeping sounds, I won't be wearing anything under LR.

On Wednesday with the running group we began the 8/1 intervals. Unfortunately, the temperature was 98 degrees with a heat index around 112 at 6:00 P.M! It was decided that we wouldn't run, so we walked the 5k distance. It was so hot!

Yesterday, I got out to run at 10:00 A.M but the temp was already in the mid 80's. The first interval actually went pretty good. But, during the second interval I just didn't have it in me. I stopped within the first two minutes and walked for a minute then tried running again but just couldn't do it. I walked the rest of the time then just went back home.

Now to my sister. She's four years older than me and we're both 5 foot nothing. I weigh 114 lbs, but she has battled her weight for years and is dangerously overweight. She heard about me running and commented that she would like to learn to run.

So, this morning she and I began the training program starting with week one - run 1 minute/walk 4 minutes doing 6 intervals for a total of 30 minutes. Of course, the more intervals we did, the more difficult it felt for her but she did great. She did better than I did when I first started! I'm so excited to help her get physically active and improve her health. And I'm so proud of her for recognizing that she needs to do it and taking that first step on her own.
Something I noticed about myself during today’s run with my sister is that I barely broke a sweat! I probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been almost 70 degrees. It was a great confirmation that my fitness ability and lung capacity are indeed improving. And I've noticed a change in the definition of my calves and thighs as well.
This running stuff is hard work - but well worth the effort!