Couch to 5K - Week 1 Day 3

Yesterday I went into town and had my gait analysed at the local sports fitness store. The computer said I need support shoes (I have collapsed arches in my feet) so I went ahead and bought a pair while I was there.

Today's run was done this evening instead of this morning as I went on a day trip to St Helen's with a friend as soon as Paul left for school. I wore my new shoes while I was out to help "break them in".

The run went well, though the pace was slower than the previous two runs. I think it was due partly to having new shoes and not being used to running in them and partly because I changed the time I ran. Normally, I run around 10am. Today I started at about 6:30pm. The good part is that during the run, my ankles didn't hurt at all and at the moment, they seem to be in good shape. Hopefully this means that the shoes are doing their job properly.

I'm resting the entire weekend from running, although I'll probably get some walking and weight training/resistance bands in at some point.

Week 2 starts Monday!

Couch to 5K - Week 1 Day 2

My run today went rather well. Once again, I managed to run for the allotted eight minutes and walk the rest without too much difficulty. Although, I did have to mentally spur myself on for the second to last run. Again, I did three miles in about 40 minutes.

After I had rested for a while though, I noticed that my feet have developed blisters! There are two blisters on my left foot (one on my third toe and a big one on the outside of my heel) and a popped one on the fourth toe of my right foot. Also, my ankles are really bothering me.

Problems with my ankles isn't really that surprising, as I've had weak ankles for the last 20 years, but I wasn't expecting them to hurt this much! I've put plasters on the blisters, slathered my feet in lotion and put some Voltarol spray on my ankles. That will have to do for now. When I go into town tomorrow, I will buy some ankle supports, more painkiller spray, and whatever else looks like it might help (perhaps some cooling plasters, if I can find them).

I'm not giving up though.

Couch to 5K - Week 1 Day 1

Today I started the "Couch to 5K" fitness plan as detailed on NHS Choices. Each workout takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. You do the workout three days a week. The first week entails five minutes of a warm up walk, followed by eight stints of running for sixty seconds and walking for ninety seconds, then finally a cool down walk lasting another five minutes.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would last the entire 30 minutes the first time through. I haven't done any serious running since high school - nearly 20 years ago. But I managed to finish it and even walked longer than the five minute cool down. In total, I walked and ran nearly three miles today - that's three laps around the housing estate in which I live - in about 40 minutes.

This first time wasn't super difficult, but neither was it a walk in the park. By the time I got back home, I was panting, covered in sweat and my calves and ankles were aching. My next workout day is Wednesday, so I'll be changing the scenery a bit and doing the workout on my way to the Fresh Start class. Here's to Wednesday!