The Plan - Week One (Also - This is NOT always easy.)

So, I feel like I owe it to you to let you in on a little secret. This plan of mine that I've been following. It's not always easy. There are days where it's physically hard for me to follow. There are days were it's mentally/emotionally hard for me to get out there and do it. This week - Thursday I tried to run outside while pushing Liam in a jogging stroller. Hard. Physically. So I stopped and told myself I'd go to the gym after work. And then I forgot to pack my sports bra and didn't go to the gym. I didn't follow the plan. And since I failed, getting myself ready for Saturday's 2 mile run was proving to be hard mentally. And well, since I went out Friday night for my birthday waking up and motivating myself to get to the gym to run two miles was hard. And, then, to top it off, I wanted to leave the boys at home because Liam has developed a tricky habit of pooping while in the child center so I need to go change his diaper - he manages to do this after I finish running a mile and it causes me to split my workout. And, well, Mike's been home with the boys a lot this week - Thursday night I had to work, Friday night I went out, and here I was Saturday morning leaving again. It's hard to leave them for something like this. I think to myself, "really? Shouldn't you be home with them? You're going to leave just to go run 2 miles?" (It's also hard for me to leave them and go out with friends, it is, but I still do it, because people swear that it's good for me to get out.) And then there's times I'm running and my legs are burning. Burning! But I have to keep going. I have to keep following it and I'm going to keep following it, but I want you all to know, it takes a lot of self-talk to get me there. To get me started. And to keep me going during my runs.

So anyway....

Yesterday I ran two miles! Actually, I ran 2.2 miles because of a good song and the guilt factor of not running 1.75 miles on Thursday. And today I took the boys to the gym, took a pilates class, changed a poopy diaper, and then ran one mile. The plan said I could pick - 2.25 or 1 mile - since I wanted to get some pilates in I choose a mile. (I feel so strong through the week when I do my Sunday pilates I knew it would be good for me to get some core strength work in.)

And so now I'm on Week One of Training for Your First 5K. WooHoo. The sad news - no more timed runs - it's all distance. And Tuesday's run is the last time I get to only run a mile. After that it's all 2 miles plus. But, you know, I'll do it.

Week 1
Monday - Rest. Rest is an important part of any training program. This program uses Monday as a rest day because Sunday is usually the longest run of the week. Adjust this to fit your specific schedule.
Tuesday - Run 1 mile easy. Run at an easy "conversational" pace. If you cannot talk clearly, you are running too hard.
Wednesday - Run 2 miles easy. Run at an easy pace.
Thursday - Rest or cross train Rest or engage in a non-running activity.
Friday - Run 2 miles easy.
Saturday - Run 2 miles easy. All of these easy runs are performed at the "conversational" pace.
Sunday - Run 2 miles easy.

And there you have it. It sort of makes me laugh that it says, "run 1 mile easy."