5k along the way... Before the Beginning

Getting through my 5k

Before the beginning…..

You browse websites, like pinterest, youtube, and google etc., for motivational inspiration to help get you out the door…. You see signs with a fit women on them saying, “ the hardest step for a runner is the first one out the door.” Yes, this is true. But these signs also leave out how hard step dedication is. Dedication is one of the hardest things mentally a person has to overcome. As you finally make that first step out the door you have officially started. You’ve made movement. You’ve dedicated your time to running. How will you use this time? Will you progress? Will you make excuses, I’m sore, it’s cold etc. Or will you push yourself and use your dedicated time to the MAX!

While you are at it since you’ve already made the effort to dedicate your time why don’t we start eating healthier and do our best to not over consume calories with fatty foods. Let’s energize our body so it will provide us with the BEST results. Our bodies appreciate us cherishing them. With a healthy body comes a healthy mind.

When did I become curious about running a 5K?

The summer of camping!!! ~ August 2012

Around the beginning of August I decided that I would like to participate in a 5K Run.

I had done a bit of research on the race/ half marathon and came to the conclusion that I wanted to give it a go.

That month I began to run the treadmill 3 times a week around the 3 mile mark to start to get ready for a marathon possibly as early as November and as late as January 1^st , new years day. With maybe the possibility of another after the first has been completed.

As you know, life gets busy. I try to remember what Sacristies says, “Beware the bareness of a busy life.” But life does go by and you get busy. So I have finally got a hold of this chaotic ness and put it to use. I am going to focus my attention back onto the 5K. Commitment day.

Commitment day. This is the day your dedication shines through!

By focusing on commitment day and preparing for the 5K I will be able to train my body into a healthier lifestyle. I will be able to be who I want to be and be able to accomplish something. This sounds very intense and somewhat scary but I feel confident I have the support I need to accomplish my goals in life. I also feel confident that we will be able to work together on mutual goals to promote one another in life. I have the best teammate in the entire world. And an awesome support system that is very positive in life. Surrounding yourself around positive people uplifts your spirit and leads you to a healthier lifestyle. Your spouse is your biggest influence, then your best friends, family, and so on. I am lucky to have a wonderful man I love and have been with for six yearS, who supports and motivates me in life. I also have an awesome best friend since high school that is also looking for a positive healthy lifestyle, which she refers to as hipcycled life, http://hipcycled.blogspot.com/.

When did I finally start running 5 days a week?

The fall of camping!! ~ November 3

How far am I into training for my upcoming 5K run?

This will be Week 4

I’ve been reading further on the subject of 5K running.

When I started 3 weeks ago. I did it for me. I was running hard and breathing in the fresh air relaxing on brisk walks. I started to notice a pattern. I ran in intervals naturally. You never see signs that say, “good for your ocd!” I live with a light case of ocd, as well as add. I have a lot of energy. Always. Working out hard is the only way I can tire myself out. Especially because once I do begin to workout I create more energy for myself to handle. Therefore, I need something to do. I keep myself very busy. I move around a lot and create projects to be done to improve our living conditions/ and storage. As well as play with our animals.

Now that I have decided to register to a 5 K since it is coming up and I have been getting back into shape. I feel I am right on track with registering for a Commitment Day run. Since we move around a lot it’s hard for me to take the next step and make it REAL.

I am trying to push the negative thoughts of what if this or that out of my head and am thinking instead of the course and it’s obstacles. I am also thinking of ways to train for this course with my own personal training program instead of copying a chart from the Internet. I believe everyone is different. Therefore, we all have our own individual method that would work for us better than others. I am going to enter as soon as I have enough money to spare to do so. Currently I feel nervous. But very anxious to continue to run and train tomorrow beginning my week 4. This is the beginning to completing a whole month of working out 5 days a week! I currently feel very proud of myself and am feeling very excited to run again tomorrow in my new clothes with my confidently positive attitude for I am beautiful!

As of week 4 I will begin to track every work out I do. I will keep record to look upon later. I will be able to see where my results are coming from. I will also use a body chart and measure myself as well as take before pictures for myself to see my own progress for before and after of my first 5k.

After reading more today I have decided to record by time and then calculating mileage by the route I ran in that period of time to determine the pace ran. I have also decided to add longer run days into the mix this week. For the past 3 weeks I have only been going a total of 2 miles each time. And then body workouts after at home. I will mix it up by running to the end and double backing before finishing out the run as normal with a hard sprint/ jog as usual. This weekend I will measure the miles of the route properly and document them accordingly as to describing inclines/ declines where necessary.

I have also decided that a 5 minute warm up/ cool down walk is necessary for the body so I will be adding 5 minutes before and after to help my body recover from the stress I will be putting it under. I also have decided that I would like to jog/ run the 5k path at my current fitness level to see what I am putting myself up against and to also see how well my body will do on the course of the race. I will record and document my time accordingly and also be able to set proper goals on what I would like my race time to be. A couple days before the race I would like to run the course again to compare my time to see improvement. This will also let me push myself harder on race day giving me more confidence to run faster. 

Thank you for reading my very first post in my training blog for my 5k along the way!

Spread the Running Joy!

~Maddie J.