Running - Week 1

Welcome to my month of running. Let me start out by describing my running plan. First of all, my husband has decided he will run with me, so I'll have a running buddy :) He is not allowed to let me hold him back though, so if he wants to go faster or, on the off chance that I'm feeling very ambitious, I want to go faster, we don't have to stay together while running, but it's nice to have that motivator to get started. Secondly, this is the website that I will be using to map my routes: Running Routes. It's a pretty cool site, you should check it out. It allows you to plot your course on a map and it shows the elevation changes along the route . . .neat stuff. For this first week, I will be running one mile a day, and then add one mile each subsequent week (so week two will be two miles a day, week three will be three miles a day, etc.). Finally, each run will be timed and my heart rate after the run will also be recorded (as I'm more interested in getting my heart healthy than becoming a sprinter), and being the nerdy scientist that I am, I'll plot these values on a graph when I'm all done . . .sounds like fun right? :)

So, now that you know "the plan", here is my summary of how each day of week one turned out:

Day 1 - My arms felt a little like jelly today, my calves got sore from a big uphill run right in the beginning, and my throat is sore from running so hard. But the good news is that I finished my first mile in under 10 minutes, so I met my goal for today :)

Day 2 - Today we ran the same route as yesterday, just in the reverse direction. I think we will switch off every day just so we don't get bored with the same route after a week. This direction had a more difficult beginning, but I found the second half easier (it began with a long gradual incline and ended with the steep slope that we ran up yesterday). My throat is still sore, my legs are a little sore, but not too bad. 

Day 3 - This original direction seems much easier than the reverse route. Also, today I found a way to exhale (making my cheeks a little puffy) that is a bit easier on my throat . . .yay :)

Day 4 - Today was a tough run . . .I am not looking forward to doubling, etc. the distance! My legs are not as sore today though, and I felt better after the run, and I'm not so tired . . .hooray. 

Day 5 - Not much groundbreaking today, I just noted that this route is getting much easier in the cardio aspect. I still breathe heavily, but it doesn't hurt so badly anymore. 

Day 6 - Ugh, back to the harder direction again. I didn't have much to eat today so I didn't feel like I had the "fuel" in me to go anywhere. I took it a little "easier" today, meaning I didn't push myself as much, but of course I still find it hard since I don't like running, but my time is okay :) 

Day 7 - Sadness, this is our last day of one mile week :( I didn't get under the 9 minute mark like I wanted to, but there was a stiff headwind on the last half of the run, so that didn't help. 

Here are my times and heart rates for this week, just so you can see how out of shape I was, at least in terms of cardio exercise:

(Note: My Day 1 heart rate was taken after about 1 minute because I almost forgot . . .oops)

So, readers, are any of you avid runners? Any tips or comments for what I should or should not be doing? Are you ready for week 2?

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