Hello exercise!

Those who know me well will be shocked to hear that I've started jogging.  Moving to Portland has resulted in a different amount of exercise and food, and my waistline has increased while my stamina has decreased.  Yoga is great but I felt I needed to start doing some aerobic exercise to help with the waistline and stamina issues.

So last week I started the Couch to 5K program, which takes you from being a non-runner to a 5K runner in about 9 weeks.  As an asthmatic, this slow increase is really good to build up my body's response to exercise, and I will probably increase the program length to about 12-15 weeks so that I can adjust to the longer runs a little more slowly than in the plan.  For example, Week 5 has you going from 5 minutes of running with walking breaks on day 1, to 20 minutes of running with no breaks on day 3.  That's not going to happen.  But if I take 3 weeks to do week 5, then I can break up the increases a bit more.

This morning I did day 1 of Week 2, and while I am jogging pretty slowly for now, I really love it! I don't see myself joining any marathons any time soon, but I like the feeling of moving, and of seeing how much longer I'm able to go in the same time this week compared to last week.  I like how about halfway through, I start to feel like I can't do any more, and then once I push past that for another minute or two, I feel like I can keep going even once the program is done.

I'm using a weekly Podcast called PodRunner, which breaks up the sections of the run by music with different BPMs and gives a tone when it's time to switch between jogging and walking.  The music isn't my favorite but it is way easier than having to look at a watch every 90 seconds.

I am trying to do my runs in the morning before 11, when the temperature starts to rise.  I eat a light breakfast (toast with almond butter and jam), bring a big bottle of water, and then have a smoothie when I get back to fill up and cool down.

Today's smoothie looks awful but was really tasty.

• frozen blueberries and strawberries (picked with my friend Kim)
• Soy yogurt
• almond milk
• kale from my garden
• hemp powder for some extra protein

With the berries, you don't taste the kale at all, and with such tender leaves fresh picked, there's no texture issue either.  The hemp powder is a little bit gritty but I like the omega fatty acids in it, and there's already enough soy in the smoothie from the yogurt.

Comments

[Nicola]

Interesting that you should post about this, two of my sons and I started the same program today. I requested and received a stopwatch for my birthday for timing our runs. We left it a little late and it was hot - I really wish my middle son had dragged himself out of bed earlier!

[Kala]

My husband and I are doing the same program, we just finished Day 1 of Week 4 today!

[jessica]

I did the program too, and spread it waaay out. But, I start the run 10, walk 1, 2x and run 8 today and I can't believe I can run 28 minutes now! It has been great.

[Veganknitting]

Hi Jessica,

That's great! I stopped doing it when I got sick but am about to start again.  The only problem is that Portland is such a rainy place and I need to get a rain jacket with vents because when I ran with my current rain jacket, it was like running in a sauna!

Emily

Interested in veganism and/or knitting?  Visit my blog at www.veganknitting.typepad.com

[SallyT]

I just found your blog. I was asstounded to see your comments on Couch to 5K just a few hours after talking with a friend about the same thing. Is this the universe telling me to get off my backside?

I add hempseed to my smoothies. They aren't gritty but maybe not as much protein as the powder.

Keep up the good work!