Couch-to-5K: Week 1

Week 1
5 minute warm up, 20 minutes of intervals (run 1 minute, walk 1.5 minutes), 5 minute cool down

Day 1 - March 7th, evening
I was expecting this to be a lot harder.  It had been a long time since I had run (or done any exercise), but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  I started with the same speeds (walking 3 mph, running 4 mph) that I had done when I did the Couch-to-5K program the first time (summer 2009), and I found that I could do them quite easily.  And I wasn't even sore the next day.  I think next time I'll try a little faster.  It was nice to have a half hour to myself, as Carey stayed with the kids upstairs, but I don't think that this will become my regular exercising time.  Usually by the time supper is cleaned up and Emmett's had his bottle, there isn't much time before Annika needs her bath and then it's bedtime.  As that's the only "family time" we have on weekdays, I don't think it's fair of me to always spend it on the treadmill.  Also, by the end of the day I'm usually pretty beat!

Day 2 - March 9th, mid-morning
Emmett went down for a mid-morning nap around 9:30, so I took advantage of that time to go downstairs for a run.  It worked not too bad - Annika played with her toys in the basement while I was on the treadmill.  The only problem is that my monitor is not very reliable and the battery went dead before I was done.  I'm not crazy about the time (in terms of finding a new "regular" time to exercise) because I usually shower first thing in the morning, so it seems a little silly to take a shower and then work out.  Today I didn't break much of a sweat, so I could just put on a little more deodorant and I was good to go, however I know as I get further along in the program, I'll be a lot more sweaty.  And Emmett was waking up as I was finishing up, so I wouldn't have had time for a shower anyways.  I think, for now, I'm not likely to find a perfect, regular time for exercising (since my days are still a lot more unpredictable than they used to be), so I'm just going to have to take what I can get and be happy with that.
I bumped up the speed on my running intervals today - 4.2 mph.  I could feel it in my legs by the end that I was working a bit harder.

Day 3 - March 11th, evening
I went about half an hour after supper, and I was a little worried that it was a little too close to eating (I was still feeling pretty full), but once I got going, it wasn't a problem.  I did 3 mph walking and 4.2 mph running again.  It's still a bit hard to motivate myself to actually work out, but once I get on the treadmill, I feel good.  I'm ready to start doing a bit more running in Week 2.

For more information about the Couch-to-5k running program, check out this website.