60 Second Intervals of Misery

Being that my "workout" shoes were in the trunk of my car...I really had no excuse not to do Week 1 Day 1 of the C25K Plan.

Thank goodness I keep a pair of knit pants and a tank in my bathroom at work because I would have started a fire with my thighs rubbing together in this skirt...decided not to even start today...

I discovered an android app on the c25k website and immediately downloaded it. I really did not want to have to carry around my piece of paper with the walk/run intervals on it. (and being the control freak that I am, you KNOW I would have... probably even laminated...) Now my phone does it all for me. Count-down clock, total workout clock, a voice (or bell) that says Walk!, Run!, etc., a "check-off" list of what week/day I am on... etc. LOVE IT! Plus it integrates with my own music, so I am all set!

I drove out to the cemetery where everyone in town goes to walk (not creepy at all, promise!). I parked my car. I sat there for a few minutes debating on actually getting out of the car and starting. I thought about who would see me. I thought about who would laugh at me. I thought about how miserable and sore I would be afterwards. I wished I had a c25k buddy to do this with. I thought about just hitting a drive-thru and going back to work. Then I made a huge decision.

I. Got. Out. Of. The. Car. And I started walking.

Thanks to my app, I knew I had 8 separate intervals of running to complete. Here is a run down of my experience (I remember most of it, though parts are fuzzy... I think I was close to either passing out or maybe I was trying to leave my body...)

5 minute Warm-Up:... fine... but I was breathing pretty hard through it.

First 60 second run: I jogged about 15 seconds, then walked 30, then staggered around for another 15 seconds

90 second walk: I worked on breathing in my nose and out of my mouth. I sounded like a puffing bull. I never did catch my breath before the voice said "Run!"

Second 60 second run: I jogged about 30 seconds of it, then did some sort of skip/walk/jog-every-other-step thing for the last 30 seconds

90 second walk: I just tried to breathe and finally during the last 5 seconds, I "caught" my breath

Third 60 second run: I don't really remember this one, but I made it through the whole minute, jogging, slowly.

90 second walk: Did. Not. Last. Long. Enough.

Fourth 60 second run: I made it through about 10 seconds, then I started walking, and got choked up. I cried a bit, but realized that was not helping my breathing. At. All.

90 second walk: Adam Lambert's song What Do You Want From Me? came on. Somehow that made me feel like I *had* to finish this session. I quit so many things and always feel like such a failure because of it. I just did not want to add this to the list. (pretty deep thoughts for a 90 second walk)

                       

                        "Just dont give up, I'm working it out"

                        "Please don't give in, I won't let you down"

                        "It messed me up, need a second to breathe"

                        "Just keep coming around..."

                       

Fifth 60 second run: I knew I was on the down-side of the runs now, I got through about 45 seconds of jogging.

90 second walk: I was ready to cuss the voice that would say "Run!" all too soon.

Sixth 60 second run: I just don't remember. I just know that I figured out by now, that I have to look up, and hold my shoulders back... slouching and staring at my feet/the ground is NOT good.

90 second walk: I was sweating really bad, my bangs were in my face, and I was crying. Again. I am pretty sure the man mowing the cemetery saw me. BUT I held my head up high.

Seventh 60 second run: By golly, I jogged the entire minute. I felt a wave of intense heat come over me though. I was kinda worried about this.

90 second walk: Thank goodness.

Eighth and FINAL 60 second run: I jogged about 50 seconds of the minute. I was still HOT. Very. I stared at my phone screen.

5 minute cool-down: I was too exhausted to be happy that it was over. My head was pounding. My feet felt heavy. My breathing was erratic and I still sounded like a puffing bull. Sweat everywhere. In fact, the only thing I *was* thinking about was how I am just not sure if I can do this two more times this week.



Hot-and-still-slightly-red-faced after 10 minutes of full car AC. Miserable.



I sat in my car for 10 minutes with the AC on full blast. I managed not to puke. I got back to my office and changed clothes, and got back to work. Now, here I am taking a quick afternoon break to tell you about all of that.

Three things:

1) I am going to have to search my soul and decide if I want to proceed with the C25K. Even if I have to do Week 1 over and over for a few weeks...

2) I *really* want a treadmill.

3) I am pretty sure that when the rest of the soreness from today sets in, I will not be able to get out of bed in the morning.