Completed W2D1 of my c25k this morning. Unfortunately, my phone has been having issues with it's GPS which I hope resolve very soon! I hate not knowing my exact distance and all that goes with that. I just focused on not quitting and got through all of the jog sections. I feel like I did at the beginning of W1 where it seems each 90s segment is finished right when I want to walk so I know at the end of this week it'll be a piece of cake just like the 60s segments were.

I've been eating a lot better lately. Including the delicious homemade pizza I made for dinner tonight. It was a thin crust w/ a homemade pesto base so my mom and I split it. I love being able to use their homegrown herbs.

Got a voicemail from Karen at the complex I am moving to. She wanted to verify that I am going to send her my vaccination info for the pets tomorrow and also said that they needed pictures. Pictures, really. Why? So if they see a dog in the complex they can sort through all of their pictures to see who it is? It just seems really silly.

New Territory

I will be moving to New Tampa in July. I have a few friends that live in the same complex and they all liked it. I toured and they had ONE apartment left that I wanted so I filled an application and they will be processing it this week. It's a 1/1 with a den. So, effectively a 2/1. I really liked the floorplan and it's almost TWICE the size of my place right now with heaps and heaps of storage. It is on the first floor (not ideal, but I live on the first floor now) and it faces a big pond (with lots of nice trees on the other side). So it's a huge upgrade from where I am living now.

Things I am apprehensive about are the following- location. That's it. It's more spendy but I can afford it no problem. I just don't know much out there. I do know there is a library off my main road and plenty of sidewalks for exercise and lots of really pretty views. It's twice as far from my family and one real good friend and just a few minutes further from most of my other friends. I am not real familiar with the ins and outs of the area but that's half the fun, right? I go out too much as it is and I'll have a better kitchen so I'll actually enjoy staying i9n more to cook. (I will miss having a good bar right across the street).

So, yes, I am nervous about moving to this 'new' territory but pretty damn excited for a change of scenery.

Another Couch to 5K entry

So, technically, I should be well done with week 1 of the program. But technically I am VERY out of shape. I decided to run local today (well, I left my running shoes at my parent's house) and did a course around Babe Zaharias golf course. This is a big step for me as I HATE exercising in front of a bunch of people, much less neighbors I've grown up with. I also always have a fear of someone insulting me for looking ridiculous. Really, though, there is nothing ridiculous about trying to get into shape so I put my music up loud as I safely can and truck along.

Now my last 3 workouts were today, Tuesday and the previous Fri. I didn't like that stretch of time so I will complete one more week 1 exercise before going forward.

I used a different podcast today and I LOVED it. Loved loved loved it. They can be found on The Chubby Jones Podcast page. She chimes in here and there and I know the encouragement will help as I continue on. Much better than the techno garbage that I tried to use at the begining of this journey- no wonder I wasn't doing well. Also hae been using Suz's podcasts which is more hip hop.

My L knee hasn't been bothering me at all which is to much relief. My right posterior calf cramps up pretty bad towards the end but I try to stretch it out as good as I can afterwards. I hope this doesn't become a problem on longer segments.

I used today's podcast for the first time and kept waiting for her to say we were halfway done (the previous one I used had this cue) but it never came- what did come was the last run segments announcement. I was kinda shocked. I was prepared to do 2-3 more runs. Also, I think running in a neighborhood made me run faster bc of the slight embarassment element. I shaved 13s off my avg mile from last week. And last week was 12s improvement over the previous week. Hooray slow but steady improvement.

Not excited about going into work later. I think I left my badge at home so thankfully it's evening shift when that's not as big of a deal. I also forgot my new library book House of Leaves. It's a big one and supposed to be extremely creepy/scary. I am anxious to get it started and hope it lives up to expectations.

Good Afternoon

Hillsborough River State Park

Today I ventured forth in search of more trails for my jogging adventures.

Initially, I was headed to Hole-in-the-Fence trailhead in the Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve (or plain old Wilderness Park as locals refer to it) on a recommendation from my friend Jon. However, as I rode out towards Thonotosassa I started thinking about the rain we've been getting recently. The whole Wilderness Parks System is situated around the Hillsborough river (about of 1/4 of it's total length in the multiple parks) and whole sections of trail can become quite sloughy when it rains. For those that don't know, a slough is basically a swampy area. I have done some of the parks in the system but have never heard of the Hole-in-the-Fence trail so I'm eager to check it out sometime soon. As with most of the trails in the system they are multi use trails so I can probably expect to share the trail with many bikes but hopefully not get mowed down by one!

So, considering the rains I head out to Hillsborough River SP which I haven't been to in probably a year or better. I was hoping to avoid mud on the Florida Trail because I remembered it having some elevation above the river (if you can believe that). I more or less did! Luckily I started the trail going clockwise (it's a loop) as suggested by the markers as the first 1/2-2/3s of the trail where my couch to 5k program took place was bone dry. My cool down walk encountered lots of stretches of gunky mud and (worse) mosquitoes but I could take my time clomping through so as not to bust on my butt.

Did I mention I face planted? Heh. Not a true face plant but about halfway through my program I was jogging up an elevation and my R foot clipped an exposed root hidden by some grass. I stumbled forward and planted on my knees and hands with enough grace to lightly toss my Nexus One onto the dirt instead of crushing it. I really need to get an arm strap because I will cry if I kill that phone (electronics love *sigh*). I got to thinking how horrible it would have been if I had like flipped down the embankment into the river and got eaten by a gator...or something. The rest of the program was spent studiously avoiding roots and slowing down on the plank bridges.

I have been using Softrace on my phone (w/ the c25k podcast in the background- have I mentioned how I love that my android multitasks??) to get stats and I am loving it. It's the second app I've tried and I don't need to look anymore. It maps your run (for interest, and backtracking if you get lost) shows altitude changes, distance run, min/mile, top/avg speed and some other stats and also scores against your past logged runs. There is also a challenge mode which I haven't checked out. I also just discovered the diary aspect of it where it has your race stored by date- who doesn't love that?

So, how'd I do? My time today was about 30s/mi slower. However, this includes the fall and multiple freak outs from running face first into spiderwebs (I was the first one on the trail today, clearly). Also, everything else I have to compare it to was not only flat terrain but wide paths with no roots. So I am pleased. I like jogging REAL trails. I feel like I am connecting with where I am from. Even the elevation changes and roots were enjoyable as they made the segments appear to go by faster. I don't think I've mentioned that I restarted (yes, completely restarted) my c25k program at week 1. My workouts weren't close enough together to feel any progress. But the prep runs and this being the new w1d2 I didn't feel near as tired as I had in the past. Granted, I didn't drink last night, got plenty of rest, ate right this morning, and was running in the shade...aka the perfect scenario. I'm optimistic :)

                                                         

p.s. Somehow although I packed up the bug spray I failed to put it on! Mosquitoes annoy me but for some reason I don't suffer from them like a lot of people I know. When I evaluated myself for ticks in the bathroom before heading home I only saw about 5 welts (none that have sustained) but I did have a trickle of blood from a particularly evil stalker horsefly that had me running portions of trail long after my c25k program ended. Those bites hurt!

training, again :)

Finally got back on track with my c25k training! I love that I can say that and I only just completed w1d1. I worked a bunch, my one day off was super busy and then I had bad knee pain. I'm having some mild throbbing now but I really think the hour of geocaching on trails I did afterwards kept me nice and loose. Of course, working is fine to be an excuse for me as I am on my feet running for 12 hrs anyway. The thought of coming home and jogging is laughable! I have also been swimming on almost all of my off days :)

I am trying to get a feel for what programs/apps to use for this c25k. I prefer the chimes that alert you to start/run/walk/stop on the app I have but I like having the music from the podcasts. I don't like the way they talk to you during but I suppose once I build up to longer segments it will be nice to have halfway updates during the jog/runs. I tried using a jogging buddy app today that measures distance gone. I do not think it was accurate bc I can walk faster than what i logged for my distance for that time. The trail I was on was a segment (they were doing road work at lettuce lake park) so I kept having to backtrack. I am going to go to lake park next time and travel in a linear path and see if it's more accurate. That park is much closer to my apartment, anyway.