Throughout the month of December, I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days. December is the perfect time to reflect on 2013 and start to create intentions for 2014.
Day 17: Creatures of Habit
30 days | They say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit. What did you start? What did you quit?
Recently I started C25K, and walking/running is becoming a habit that I really like. I love feeling the progress that each new session brings. After trying C25K two other times, it’ really gratifying that this time I’m seeing success. I also love that I’m not feeling any sort of pain in my feet, ankles, or knees.
Today (I’m catching up on my #reverb13 posts, so I’m actually writing this on 12/23) I started Week 4, Day 1:
5:00 warm up walk (3.5 mph)
3:00 run (4.3 mph)
1:30 walk (3.5 mph)
5:00 run (4.3 mph)
2:30 walk (3.5 mph)
3:00 run (4.3 mph)
1:30 walk (3.5 mph)
5:00 run (4.3 mph)
5:00 cool down walk (3.0 mph)
This totals running half the 5K – 1.5 miles! 16 minutes of running!!
I have to admit that I was slightly worried before I began, but with the other success that I’ve had thus far with C25K, I believed in myself that I could do it. And sure enough, I did! It took a bit of mental prompting at the 4-minute mark, but I made it through. No, actually, I rocked it!! So much so that I decided to treat myself with a new workout tee from Blogilates (who has the best inspiration workout gear):
I love the saying: “Run with your heart when your legs get tired.”
So after 4 weeks of this C25K program, I’m halfway to being able to run a 5K (or most of one). I’d say that’s a great new habit I’ve started.
As far as a bad habit I’ve given up, I guess I’d say I’ve given up making excuses. I hold myself accountable for every action, and make better choices that yield better results. It’s freeing to DO instead of SAY. No more excuses!
I’m behind on doing these posts and my rule was that I wouldn’t read any others on the topic until I’d written mine on that topic. Well, I’m hung up on “feast” right now (waiting to have time to add photos), but I wrote this one to post after I finish feast, so I read yours. I’m not sure if you’ve already considered this, but my initial thought looking at your paces is that you might want to consider speeding up and slowing down. That is to say, slow down your walks to allow a full recovery and see if that will help you speed up on your run intervals. Doing 4 mins w/u at 3.5, then 1 min at 3.0, maybe you can do your first run at 4.6, then walk at 3.0 (or even 2.5, it won’t matter, the point is to recover fully) and then run at 4.5 for the longer one, then do 3.0/4.6 again. Obviously everyone as different, but that’s my free coaching advice for you to consider and maybe give a shot!