WEEK 2 RETURN TO TRAINING: No Woman, No Walk

Monday's run: today I scheduled myself a rest day, but in keeping with the spirit of listening to my body, I decided to get a run in since I felt pretty amazing and slept like a champ for extra hours. It was my first day of a 1.5 distance, and it went really well. Started out really, really slow again - walking just to the gate and keeping my pace at around 11 most of the way with a little 8-9 towards the end. I have to tell you, it is really hard to do, but I know if I start out reeeeeallly slow, I never have to walk. Not walking is easy - it's not coming out of the gate hot that is hard. 10:56 min/mile pace maintained. Not fast, but respectable.

Tuesday: off day. As you might have already read, I drank too much wine on Monday night and had to suffer it off on Tuesday. Since I scheduled myself an off day Monday and didn't take it, and since I am (again) trying to listen better to my body, I actually listened, crawling in bed to read around 8 and didn't get up until 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday (today): Came out really strong today - really, really strong - in fact, too hot out of the literal and proverbial gate. Also made the mistake of really pushing it for the last 400 meters. 400 meters is NOT as short a distance as you'd imagine. In fact, blow your energy wad at 400m and you're likely to go limp as a spent weiner at about 100 or even 200. That's what happened to me. What should have been a good, solid 10:40 or 10:50 broke down to a little over 11.

So, there you have it - two more successful runs. How am I measuring my success? Well, first and foremost, I'm getting out there and running. Second, I'm not walking - NOT ONE STEP! Even prior to my illnesses, I Gallowayed it a LOT. Third, I've built up to 1.5 miles (and haven't pushed myself to 2, although I felt good enough to do it). Fourth, I'm not cramping like I was when I first started having the health issues, and I'm staying at a respectable speed for my condition. I couldn't be happier with my progress. If I get to 2 miles in under 22 minutes by the end of next week and then hold onto that until I find out about New York, I'll be very satisfied.
I plan on doing my first race in a long time on July 4 - the Watermelon Run 5k. I'd like to be able to do it in about 30 minutes. So far, my fastest 5k time is about 33 minutes. I'd like to get 30 or under and I'll be happy.

And that's it for training week 2 so far!