Week 7

Phew.  Well, I swore to myself that I would push it harder today and I did.  It was... interesting.  In cardio this morning with the DVD, I tried to follow Tony & Co.'s pace instead of mine, which was naturally faster.  I surprised myself by keeping up pretty well for a while until I got to a certain point where they were lifting their legs so quickly that I was like, "Are you freaking kidding me?"

I was actually mad, because I was pretty much pooped and they were blitzing away like the Rockettes.  I hit pause and took 5-10 minutes to drink some water, take deep breaths, and also stop being so ridiculous, haha.

After that, the day went pretty well and everything was on track for tonight's run.  I looked forward to it a bit, and told myself that pushing it would be fun and go great!

So... Week 7 is 25 minutes again, but instead of building up to it like last week, it's what's on the menu for all three sessions.  The website where I download my C25K MP3s describes it as "running for solid blocks of time, without the distraction of walking intervals".  Not the phrasing I would pick, which would be more along the lines of "the welcoming break" or "the kind embrace" of walking intervals, but okay.

Last week I started super slow and when I was still managing to go at the end, put a little speed into it.  This week I told myself I'd start fast and if I had to slow down to a very light jog, I could and would.  So that's what I did, and I sweated so hard that my nose was sweating.  Every time I passed the house I gave it a longing look because I honestly wanted to fling myself onto the grass and just pant for a while.

But I didn't.  It wasn't pretty at the end (the sweaty nose kind of confirms that), and when the girl on the MP3 said it was 60 seconds and gently suggested pushing it to show there was still gas left in the tank... there really wasn't.  I finished it out slowly, gulped down ridiculous amounts of water, and refueled with some good, healthy food.

Once I had gotten my breath back, I felt really, really good though.  The strange irony I've experienced is that the harder I push myself working out, the more energetic I feel later.  I was completely spent, but I feel good and almost a bit buoyant now, both mentally and physically.

Thank you ladies for the kind words on yesterday's post!  We're all in it together, I really believe that. : )

Exercise: Sweat 3/4 (cardio; 40 minutes); C25K Week 7, Day 1 (25-minute jog, 5-minute cooldown)
Eating: 1,197 calories; 6 quarts water (the most ever, but I was just really thirsty today)