Week 4 Day 2 (Sept 27, 2009)

The foot continues to heal. I've been wearing my good hiking shoes to work for the last week, and that seems to help. The last two times (including tonight) that I've run, the foot was no worse off and overall seems to be improving. I'm very thankful for that.

Today we did the second day of week 4. I typically modify the routine somewhat - the warmup walk is about 15 minutes (to get up the first, largest, and most evil of the hills), and the cool down ends up being a bit longer than that because I usually like to get a little more than halfway through the routine before turning around (since the hard uphill part is easy going downhill on the way home). Once again, Matt stayed right with me, encouraging me the whole time during our run segments.

One difference from Friday was that on the third run segment (the 3 minute one) we tackled one of the larger hills (last time we just ran back and forth on the flatter stretch before the hill). I thought I was going to D-I-E. I did ok until about 2/3 up it, then I permitted myself 10 walking steps and started jogging again. But near the top, I walked another 10 steps. I did resume running at the top (flat section at the top) and kept it up at a VERY slow pace for the rest of the required time. Trouble is, after the 3 min segment, it's only a 90 second recovery walk. I stretched that to two minutes.

We turned around for the last 5 minute segment (heading home now), starting off on flat ground, and about a minute into that, a dang bug flew straight into my mouth, hitting (and sticking to) the back of my throat. Now, I typically don't carry water on my run if my hubby goes with me. I don't like carrying it, and if I have it, I'll drink too much and cramp up. Matt usually carries some, and I make sure to drink enough water during the day in preparation for a run). I stopped, spat and spat, and coughed. I never tried so hard to cough up anything in my life. I was about to stick my finger in my throat to see if I could vomit and clear the darn thing. And it was a pretty small bug. Thankfully, Matt allowed me a mouthful of his water, and I was able to swoosh around and get the thing out. Completely gross. And it messed up my running segment, darn it!

The whole incident probably cost me less than 30 seconds. I went right back to jogging, which by now was easier since it started off downhill and was flat for the rest of the time. We did run for about 6 minutes though (I didn't stop the clock for the bug incident!) to make up for the pit stop.

Although it's still by no means easy, I can tell that the first 3 minute segment is easier. Last week I struggled with the 3-min segments, now they're not too bad. I guess that's the point of the design though - what is hard one week becomes easier by the next week (and something harder) is introduced. I'm still having a hard time believing I'll be up to 8 minutes next week. Five was such a personal victory/milestone for me.

Assuming I stay with the schedule, by early November I will be running a full 30 minutes (yikes! might take longer if I don't walk those hills). Either way, I'll be more fit and healthier, and that's the important part.