C25K Week 4 Completed!

The second round of week 4 is done. I'm realizing that this running business is getting harder and harder. It's that last bit of running that kills me. I'm trying, though. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous for week 5. It's a big week of change. Here's the breakdown:

Tuesday

• 5-minute warm-up walk
• Jog 5 minutes
• Walk 3 minutes
• Jog 5 minutes
• Walk 3 minutes
• Jog 5 minutes
• 5-minute cool-down

Thursday

• 5-minute warm-up walk
• Jog 8 minutes
• Walk 5 minutes
• Jog 8 minutes
• 5-minute cool-down

Saturday

• 5-minute warm-up walk
• Jog 20 minutes
• 5-minute cool-down

Doesn't that sound rough? I can handle Tuesday and Thursday, but I am almost sick to my stomach nervous about Saturday. So how am I feeling? Physically, my shins are starting to hurt, but I'm not in full-blown shin splints so I'm not going to worry about it. By Saturday, my legs usually feel like jelly because of the weight lifting I've done during the week. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I guess I'll just keep it up so I can continue to tone them up. Now that I've started to take my inhaler 15 minutes before running, I can breathe a little better. My chest still hurts when I get home, but maybe that's normal. Who knows? Keep pushing, I say.

I thought this might be a good time to talk about speed and breaks. This week, I've had a hard time with the cool-down walking in between each leg of the run. Sometimes, I have to take an extra 30-60 seconds to breathe before I can begin running again. I decided that it was better to do this than to just quit altogether. As far as running, I know I'm slow. Yes, I'm tall and have long legs, but I'm not a natural born runner. I think it's more important to get through the time than to worry about how much ground I'm covering. That's why I have decided to do my C25K based on time rather than distance. I can always work on speed afterward, but I would rather know that I can get through 30 minutes of running first. When I have to run at the gym, I begin walking around 3.5 to 4.0 mph. When I run, I set it to 5 mph, which most people consider slow. It's around a 12-minute mile. I don't care. I'm not in it for time. I'm in it just to prove I can do it. So in case anyone is reading this and is discouraged because they are a slow runner, don't be! Slow runners unite!