Couch to 5K: Week 1, Workout 1

Today I started Couch to 5K. I was going to start on Monday because I'm very big on starting things on Monday, but since you're supposed to work out three times a week, that would put me at a Mon-Wed-Fri sort of schedule. I watch my youngest niece on Wednesdays, so I decided to go ahead and start today and work out on Tuesday, Thursday and whichever weekend day I find time for it. I've decided to use the treadmill for the whole thing and save outside running for after I've completed it. I'm hoping to do the nine week program in nine weeks, but it says if you can't progress that quickly to repeat weeks.

So here's my first Couch to 5K update!

Workout: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

Weight: 175
Walking speed: 3 mph
Jogging speed: 5 mph
Distance: 1.5 miles
Calories burned (according to the treadmill): 154

Aside: I was going to jog in the afternoon, but couldn't find either of my sports bras. Got very frustrated and cranky and finally gave up. I bought a new running bra when we went to Target and when I went into the closet to pick a shirt to wear, there was my blue sports bra, hanging like it had been there the whole time. Then I went into the dryer to get some socks and there was my gray sports bra. It's like they planned it. Bastards.

Foot progress

I am thrilled. I finally figured out the secret to keeping my stupid plantar fasciitis boot on all night. Usually I can't get to sleep and end up kicking it off in the middle of the night. I looked at reviews and many of them said that the boots run large and that's what made them uncomfortable.

So Monday night I bulked it up by putting my fuzzy slipper on first. SUCCESS! Haha, I made it all night Monday night and last night I woke up about two hours before my alarm and went to the bathroom and didn't put it back on. But still, my foot didn't hurt this morning, which is so awesome. It still starts to hurt after a little while at work, but being able to sleep with this thing on will make a huge difference.

Awesome thing number two: Jason found my gate card which also gets me into the apartment gym. Even before my foot got really bad I didn't use it because Jason's card had fallen in the crack of his dashboard and apparently he has to take the entire car apart to get it and my card had fallen off the face of the earth. Which apparently leads to Jason's car. Huh. Anyway, Jason found it so as soon as my foot is better I'm doing Couch to 5K.

Triple threat awesomeness: When I'm ready to start Couch to 5K I want to have some really good shoes for it, 'cause my shoes now are old and crappy. And I was worried about how long it would take me to save up the money for them, but then I remembered that I will get a fat tax refund in February.

So that's the plan

• Fix foot


• Buy shoes


• Couch to 5K

I did it!

Yesterday was a good day. Not a great day, but I'll settle for good these days.

I only had one soda. When dinner rolled around there was nothing cold to drink except soda, tea (caffeinated) and water. I wanted a soda, badly, but I stuck to my guns and went with water.

I still had trouble falling asleep, but eventually I did and went all night with the plantar fasciitis boot on. Yay! My foot still hurts but not nearly as bad as it usually does in the mornings. I'm going to try to keep up with my other foot thingies - doing stretches before work and rolling it on a frozen bottle of water after work.

The bad news is I gained four pounds over the holidays and since I haven't lost a single pound since I started O:GHD I am up to 179. Boo! So now I have to work just to get back to square one.

y hallo thar new year

It's a new year, so let's forget all that 2008 suckiness and start fresh.

My exercise has been put on hold due to my plantar fasciitis. I bought a night splint for it but I'm having a really hard time keeping it on all night. I have a hard time falling asleep with it on, but then, I have a hard time falling asleep period. I've been tossing and turning all night for a couple of months. Then I have a hard time getting out of bed and I don't want to do anything all day. So the next steps in O:GHD! are getting better sleep and fixing my foot. To that end I need to give up the caffiene. I was at two or three sodas a day and even though my last one was about seven hours before I went to bed, I still had trouble sleeping. So I'm going to be drinking one soda with my first meal of the day and no more until I run out of soda (about six more days) and then... no more!

So starting now, PROJECT: Sleep Well and PROJECT: Fix That Foot.