C25k: W6D2 (try#2)

Went out to tackle day 2 of week 6 today. I made it 1.5 miles total. The first mile was cake and I ran it on average faster than I ever averaged a mile before- 5mph. (I’ve run faster than that plenty of times but not sustained for a full mile). I felt great during that mile, spring in my step and very happy. I could do anything! The second mile was harder, and I only made it halfway before I needed to stop. My abs were screaming at me a lot during the second run b/c they are sore from swimming yesterday (I did 10 single laps x 25meter pool=250meters). Here’s the conversations I had with the two me’s:

critical me: Wow you are pathetic. People are out there running marathons everyday and you can’t even do two miles with a 3 min break in between. You are never going to be able to run a 5k! Loser!

caring me: Hey you know what Jenni, you are now following distance instead of time, which explains why it seems so much harder. Instead of just running 20 minutes total (which would be about 1.6 miles for you and you nearly did that today), you are going to have to run at least 25 minutes total to make the 2 miles. That’s a big step over 20 minutes and you’ve got to give yourself time and encouragement to get there. And remember, the point of c25k is to get you moving, get you doing aerobic exercise and YOU ARE DOING IT. And you were not just active today- you swam yesterday, you ran a mile the day before, you ran the day before that. You are doing great!

Sometimes I wish I could send the ‘critical me’ voice on a permanent vacation. ugh. At least I'm able to recognize the negativity as hurtful and counter it, but it would be nice if I reached the point where I didn't have this 'critical me' voice inside trying to bring me down all the time.

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