Review of Couch to 5K C25K Round 2 Week 5 Day 1

The best part of Week 5 Day 1 is that there were three running intervals! That's because each one was 5 minutes long! I wasn't sure how it was going to go with three 5 minute jogging intervals so we walked to the track. I grew to regret that decision. We get back soooooooo much faster if we ride. It just makes the running harder for me though.

I wanted to avoid the pain that I had in the previous couple workouts, so I didn't really push the runs too hard. I barely made it into the 12ish minute per mile pace in the last run. I didn't care though. Walking home was so hard. I was just exhausted. I think it was at that point that I realized the perfect way to fix my issue with being on the wrong days. I want to get back on a Monday through Friday schedule with day 1 of the week on Monday and day 3 on Friday. This day 1 being a Wednesday and Day 3 being a Monday is messing with my head. I had been thinking of doing a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday deal one week to make up the missing day, but instead I decided to skip going on Friday and then skip going one day the following week which should put me back on track! (no pun intended there) I'm just not sure which day I'll skip. I think I'll end up waiting on my next skip until July 4th weekend. That would be a good day to skip. I want to skip a day this week though! LOL.

Not much to say about the workout. The five minute intervals weren't too bad going at my slightly slower pace. No pain.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I'm not sure what happened with my heart rate monitor. It's looking a bit ragged. Oh well. 

Review of Couch to 5K C25K Round 2 Week 4 Day 3 - The halfway point!

I made it through the halfway point of the program! Hubby came with me again and we rode the bikes again. I'm starting to think the bike thing isn't such a good idea. It gets us there faster and home faster, but OMG my legs were not really all that into this running thing after riding to the track. This was the same workout as the previous two where it was a five minute warm up followed by 3 minutes of jogging, then 90 seconds walking, 5 minutes jogging, 2-1/2 minutes walking, 3 minutes jogging, 90 seconds walking and 5 minutes of jogging. I had a hard time getting into the 12 minute mile pace on this workout. I ended up getting there for each run, but it was a fight each time. My fastest pace was a little off too. Oh well. I got through half of the program which means, I only have half to go! Although, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to do 10K trainer after I finish C25K which means, I'm not really done with my running in four weeks. :) Don't tell my legs that though.

I had that horrible pain again in my right side during the last couple runs. I was trying to push myself to keep a decent pace. Apparently my body just doesn't like that pace. My legs didn't hurt though. I didn't make any comments about the side pain in my post last year for Week 4 Day 3 of C25K though so it bothers me that it's happening. Oh well. Maybe I'll do better in round 3!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots from the workout. I had to edit this to include the correct pictures. I originally included the following workout. Oopsy. 

Review of C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 4 Day 2

Here's another post from my marathon of getting caught up on Couch two 5K. I hate getting behind! Last weekend I spent so much time working, so I ran out of time to post about my workouts! Ugh! Week 4 Day 2 was the same as Week 4 Day 1. I did a five minute warm up followed by 3 minutes of running, 90 seconds of walking, 5 minutes of running, 2-1/2 minutes of walking, 3 minutes of running and 5 minutes if walking. Then there was the five minute cool down.

Hubby didn't come with me so I went down to the high school and then around to the middle school to finish off on the downhill straight section. I did the same route earlier when I was still on week three. It turns out that I finish up right near my street so I can just walk home! Or so I thought! There was more running involved in this one, so I had to go a little further to make sure that I didn't get home too soon, so instead of turning left onto my street, I kept going straight and turned up by the street for Bi-mart. Turns out, the stretch of that road between my street and the street for Bi-mart is UPHILL! It's not a steep uphill, but I was pretty tired already and was so not interested in going uphill again. My breathing was pretty horrible and I was pretty tired. I was so ready to be done with the running thing. Technically speaking, I'm not really sure that was actually running at this point though! I was going sooooooo slow up that last little stretch. I just wanted to be done! My legs didn't hurt though, but my breathing was sooooooo heavy and I was coughing a bit. I still did better going on the street for this one than I did for the same workout last year on the track. Feel free to read my workout for C25K Week 4 Day 2 from last year. If you're struggling to get through C25K, it might make you feel better. My first round was pretty much torture.

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

Here are the screen shots from the workout. I didn't get a running index score this time. I wonder why. Oh well. I was surprised to see that I got up to 12:05 minutes per mile. That must have been on the downhill right after the first uphill. 

Review of Couch to 5K C25K Round 2 Week 4 Day 1

My second post from my marathon of catching up again on my progress. So week 4 Day 1 was a day that I was dreading because we bumped up from 3 minutes of jogging to five minutes of jogging! It was a five minute warm up, 3 minutes of jogging, 90 seconds of walking, 5 minutes of jogging, 2-1/2 minutes of walking, jog for 3 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, jog for 5 minutes. That added up to a lot of jogging! Knowing that I had gotten through it last year made it easier to get through it this year. Reading all of my previous posts from the previous round really made me feel way better about this round. My Week 4 Day 1 post made it sound like I was about to die! My entire body hurt, bu this time around my breathing has been more of an issue than any pain. I haven't had any soreness since my first workout and that was all in my abs and chest really. I haven't had any soreness in my legs this time around. I have noticed that my legs aren't at full capacity during our hikes on Saturdays, but it hasn't been painful. I just feel like a wimp on the hikes.

Enough rambling! Hubby decided that we should ride the bikes to the track. I think this was the first time that we did this, but maybe we did it the previous week too. It made things a little challenging for me from a logistical standpoint. I wasn't sure when to start my apps. I wasn't sure if the ride to the track should count as my warm up. I wasn't sure what to do with my headphones on the trip over. I forgot to turn off my app before we left the track so my minute per mile is all jacked up. I think I got some speed record because I was riding my bike downhill during the workout on the Polar app. Oopsy.

So the run itself was a bit challenging. It's tough to say if it was because of the five minute jogging intervals or because we road to the track. The track is a little uphill from the house. most people wouldn't notice the include, but I'm a wimp on the bike so I really notice it. My hamstrings were feeling it when we got to the track. I tried to keep myself in the 12 minute per mile range, but it was quite challenging to do that. I started out at a good pace for each run, but then fell off the pace, but I got through it and wasn't in pain. I was ready to stop running because I couldn't breathe, but I could have kept going it I had needed to do so.

I ended up having some severe pain in my right side after the final running segment. It went from my hip to my shoulder. It was sharp and horrible. I walked it off in a couple minutes, but it was horrible while it lasted. It seriously felt like someone was stabbing me.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots. I just noticed that it gave me a running score. I'm not sure what that's all about. Check out how fast I was on the end of that workout? That was me going downhill on my bike because I forgot to shut the app off. UGH!

Review of Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 3 Day 3

I'm behind on these posts again so I'm going to go through a marathon posting spree. I hate getting behind. When I do round three of C25K, I'd really like to go back and re-read these like I re-read the ones from my round one while doing round 2. I just get so busy with editing and work so the blog ends up suffering. I need to make time for it though because I enjoy doing this and I love being able to look back at my workouts.

Okay so Week 3 day 3 was on a Monday instead of a Friday because I'm still screwed up from missed workout on the holiday. I have a plan to fix that though.

Week 3 Day 3 was the same as the previous two workouts. After five minute warm up, I jogged for 90 seconds, walked for 90 seconds, jogged for three minutes, walked for three minutes and then repeated from the 90 seconds of jogging. Then I did a five minute cool down. Hubby didn't feel like going with me so I ran on the street. I went down the high school and around to the middle school. Not that most of you know where I'm talking about, but I know. I picked this route because it would have me end up a downhill/flat section. The run wasn't that bad. I was definitely ready to turn left and start the downhill! It's not much of a downhill, but it's enough to make a huge difference in my speed and my breathing! I don't have much to say about this run. I have to admit that I don't remember much about it and in fact had to edit this post because I including stuff in it from the wrong workout.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots from the workout. My screen shots from last year, are MPH, but this year they are Minutes Per Mile which complicates things when I'm trying to compare last year to this year. I think I was faster this time during my runs. I kind of want to switch back to MPH so I can compare last year to this year better, but if I switch, it will make comparing my progress on this round more difficult. I'll just leave it alone for now I suppose. 

Easy Hike to Blue Pool on the McKenzie Pass

Blue Pool

We couldn't decide where to go for a hike, so we went back to Blue Pool. We did this hike back in 2014. We really liked it. I was bummed because we didn't see a waterfall then. The book shows a picture of a waterfall, but apparently there's a dam that makes it so there's no more waterfall. 

The hike itself is pretty easy, but the terrain is a bit rocky. I kept tripping over rocks. We decided not to bring our poles since we both remembered it being a fairly easy hike, but I was kind of regretting not having my poles because I almost went face first a few times. I never did actually fall, but there was at least one time that I thought I was going to end up landing on my hand and that was going to hurt. I might need to start wearing gloves when I hike. My skin is so sensitive and I'm such a wimp when it comes to bruises. 

The parking lot isn't that big for this hike, but there's a lot of space that people turn into parking spaces on the road. This is a very popular hike. Bikes can also go down this path. I don't think they can go up it though. I'm not really sure of the whys on that, but I think those are the rules We had to pull over a lot to let bikes pass and several times to let people pass since the path isn't really wide enough for groups of people to pass each other. We got a late start on the hike too so a lot of people were coming down as we were going up. 

There are two bridges on this trail. They can be a bit slick so be careful. I'm not sure how many feet in elevation this hike has because both of my apps differ and they different from the book as well. I do remember going up this thing thinking that I shouldn't have found this hike to be Easy back in 2014. It wasn't hard, and I had no problems with it this time, but two years ago, I feel like I would have found considered it Easyish which means easy for fit people and a little challenging for those of us who are 100 pounds over weight. This time around, we didn't stop to take a breather going up. We stopped for pictures, but we never stopped because we just couldn't continue anymore. I guess that should be considered easy.

The terrain made it a bit tiring though. Way too many rocks to trip over. There was also a big tree that had fallen over the path. People had made their own path around the tree, but going over the tree wasn't really an option for us. The path around the tree was easy enough on the way up, but on the way down hubby had to help me a little bit. So the giant tree fell over the main path, but there was also a small tree or a branch off the big tree I'm not sure which that you had to climb over to get back out. On the way up, it's just a giant step down. Down is a lot easier than a giant step up since gravity helps you go down and it doesn't hep you go up. I took too long trying to decide if I could do it so hubby just stuck his hand on my butt and pushed. I kinda wanted to see if I could do it on my own, but that's what I get for taking too long. 

Overall, this is a great hike. I wouldn't go wearing flip flops and I wouldn't take toddlers unless you've got them in some sort of carrying device, but it's an awesome hike. There were people jumping into the pool while we were there which created some extra entertainment. If you want pictures without people in them, you might want to get there super early. We've been twice though and both times people were on the ground by the pool. If you want to get down there, you either have to jump in, or you can keep going past the pool and then follow a trail around the pool and then down to the pool level. We didn't do that. We'll probably do that the next time we are there. 

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I forgot my heart rate monitor at home, so it's just the GPS stuff this time. I'm pretty sure the elevation is a bit screwed up on this since I know we didn't go 840 feet up. 

I'm not really sure why this looks like it does. That spike at the halfway point shouldn't be there and the beginning part should look more like the end part or the end like the beginning since it was an out and back. This is what drives me crazy about all of these devises! 

Gaia GPS 

Here are the screen shots from Gaia GPS. The elevation looks a little bit more realistic on this one. However, it still shows that I went up higher than I came down, but it was an out and back. I walked up and then I walked down. It should be the same up and down. The max speed of 8.1 is not accurate either. I can't even run that fast. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 3 Day 2

Day 2 of Week 3 didn't go as well as Day 1 of Week 3. It was pretty windy out and hubby went with me, so we went to the track. It's usually a bit windy on the way to the track, but it was exceptionally windy when I went out for the run. Going uphill on the first two runs is hard enough, but to run into the wind and go uphill is torture! I couldn't keep my 12ish minute mile pace. I didn't really try all that hard though admittedly. I just ran with my normal effort, but the pace was way off. I don't think I hit 12ish minute mile pace at all during the first two runs. This was just like Day 1 of Week 2. I had 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking. Three minutes running and 20 minutes walking. Then I repeated the whole thing. I got through the runs fine. I wasn't in pain during them, but my breathing was horrible. I was coughing a lot. I wasn't sore the next day and the coughing cleared up once I was back home. I managed a little better with the two runs on the track, but I still wasn't breaking any land speed records. Hubby suggested we ride our bikes to the track to get there faster so I don't have to run on he street. We might try that tomorrow for week 3 day 3. It's going to lengthen the overall time of the workout though since I won't be starting the app as soon as we leave the house. We'll see how it goes.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I like the heart rate chart a lot better from this workout over the last one. That was pretty weird on the last one. Not sure what happened there. This one makes sense though. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 3 Day 1

I wasn't really looking forward to this day because it meant doubling my running time in a couple spots. It also meant doubling my walking time though so I had that to look forward to. Week 3 Day 1 is 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking, 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking and then you repeat that. Hubby went with me so we walked to the track. I started my running intervals on the way to the track though so save some time and then he caught up with me on the track. It works out pretty good doing that. Although, it means my first two running intervals are uphill. UGH!

I wasn't really sure what to expect during this workout since it was my first time this round doubling my running time from the previous workout. It went pretty well though. I ended up in the 12 minute mile pace for most of the running segments. I was happy with that. I slowed down a bit at the end of my last running interval, but I'm okay with that. I was hoping to get a nice little sprint on at the end, but it was just not going to happen. I made it through the workout though and I wasn't sure the next day. I was definitely ready for those 3 minute intervals to be over, but I could have kept going if I had to. I might have gone slower though if I needed to run longer. My maximum speed for C25K week 3 day 1 the first time I did it was 4.8 mph according to the Motion X app. I didn't urn that app this time though so there could be differences in the app vs. the Polar watch. Reading that post was interesting though. I definitely wasn't happy when I was done with that run, but this time was no big deal.

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

I'm not sure what's up with the weirdo heart rate readings in this workout, but the speed one looks pretty normal at least. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 2 Day 3

I'm playing catch up on these blog posts. I've been doing too much editing lately. Plus, we had inventory at work last week. UGH! I used to love inventory, but not anymore! I'll try not to ramble too much. I'm still doing my second round of C25K. I haven't bailed on it yet. I feel like I'm further along than week two, but the holiday messed things up. I should get caught up on it one of these days and get it back so Day 1 is Monday!

Week 2 Day 3 was running for 90 seconds and walking for two minutes again. I was bound and determined to get under a 10 minute mile pace even if it was only for a few seconds. I tried last week, but failed. Hubby didn't go with me, so I ran on the street. I went up the block to the high school and then around towards the middle school. This made it so I would be going downhill or flat for my last couple runs. It did the trick because I made it to 9:34! I'm not sure how long I held that pace, but that does't matter. I made it under a 10 minute mile pace and that's all I was going for! As times goes on, maybe I can maintain that for a whole mile, but for now, I just needed to get there just to prove that I could get there. I'll work on duration later.

I've been fairly surprised with this round of C25K. I've been reading through old posts about my first round and it sounded like it was pretty much torture. I'm not actually sure why I continued to run since it didn't sound like I had much fun doing it and I wanted to die after doing it. Why did I continue? This time around, I've been ready for the running segments to be over because I hate being all out of breath and I hate coughing, but my body hasn't been sore. My abs hurt a little after the first day of this round, but that's it. Nothing sore in my legs, back or chest. The coughing hasn't been too bad. I think one day in my first week was pretty bad for a couple hours after the run, but nothing longer than that. I'm quite happy with the results so far. I'm not really looking forward to the 20 minute run coming up in week 5, but I got through it the first time around so I'll get through it this time around!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Moderately Challenging Hike to Lower Soda Falls in Cascadia, Oregon on Hwy 20

Lower Soda Falls

We've done this hike twice before, but we needed a short hike that we could do on the way to Albany. We like to redo hikes periodically to see how much improvement we've had. The first two times we did this hike were quite challenging for us. It's only 3/4 of a mile, but according to my map, it's more than 400 feet in elevation over that 3/4 of a mile. My GPS watch actually showed it as just over a half mile too so that's a shorter distance to cover that same elevation which means.........this thing is pretty steep at times.

The trailhead for this hike is in the Cascade Park in Cascadia, Oregon. There's a vault toilet here and a campground. 

The hike starts off level for a minutes and then you climb uphill. It gets steep in parts, but is flattish in parts. If you're in shape, you could probably get up there without stopping to catch your breath. We're overweight, so we stopped a few times, but not nearly as many times as we did the last time we went up. We went pretty early and it was a bit cool. It was still humid beyond believe, but that's the valley so that's what happens. 

We did this one without our poles. We had intended to bring them, but we left them in hubby's car by accident. No worries though. I was sort of glad to go up without them just to compare this trip to the last time we went up. We got up there in about 25 minutes, which was faster than before and we got down in 17 minutes which was about the same as before I think. I wore the backpack this time. I don't remember if I did last time. We didn't end up using anything from it though which was a bit annoying. The more annoying part was that I discovered the camera battery was dead once we got to the trailhead sign and I tried to take a picture. My options were to run back to the car and put us at risk for getting to Albany late or just carry the weight around. I carried the weight around. It's good practice right? 

There wasn't a whole lot to look at during the trip up. It was green mossy trees. There were a couple flowers, but it was a pretty bland walk this time. The trail was soft in spots, slippery in spots and muddy in spots. There was one tree across the path that we had to step over and there was one tree that we had to go under. It's hard going under the trees with my backpack on. 

We got through it. We felt good about it and we'll probably try this hike again next year and see how things go.

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

There's a weird dip in my heart rate before the last big push to go up that hill. Not sure what happened there, but I'm pretty sure my heart rate didn't magically go that low. You can see the times we stopped by checking out either chart. 

Couch to 5k C25K Round 2 Week 2 Day 2

Hubby actually decided to go out with me for Week 2 Day 2. I was pretty surprised. He went with m three days this week! Let's see if he picks it back up on Monday. I had planned on doing this entire round of C25K on the street/sidewalk/walking path, but it's just a bit weird to go out with hubby and then not be with him, so we walked to the track. I did my first and second running segments before we made it to the track, so I ended up there before he got there, but then we just both went around the track. He walked and I ran. At the end of my last running interval, I found him and we walked home. It was hard to find him since it was so dark!

I was determined to hit the under 10 minute mile pace for just a couple seconds today. Once again, I saved it until the end and once again, it didn't happen. The closest I got was 11:06. It's driving me nuts that I can't even get into the 10 minute mile pace since I did it in my first week! I'm seriously contemplating trying it during my first running interval instead of my last since I'm just not getting close. I fear that I won't be able to catch my breath enough to continue though. I'm so torn. It's a goal I really want to make, but I don't want to make it at the sacrifice of the rest of the workout. Decisions decisions. 

This run was on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday since the holiday threw off my schedule. I tossed around the idea of running on Saturday to make up the missed workout. I also tossed around the idea of running two days in a row. I opted to just skip the extra run day and make it up on Monday since we had a hike planned for Saturday. I wouldn't have time to do a run before going to Albany, and there was no way I was going to run in the heat! I didn't want to run two days in a row because I knew the hike was going to be a bit of a challenge for me since it has been the two previous times we did the same hike! 

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

Here are the screen shots from the workout. 

C25K Couch to 5k Round 2 Week 2 Day 1

It was Memorial Day last weekend so I had the day off and so did hubby! We bought a new car instead of going for a run. I skipped my Monday run, but did it on Tuesday. The first week was only 60 seconds of running, but the second week is 90 seconds of running and two minutes of walking. I got through it before, so I knew I could get through it again. I just wasn't sure how it was going to go this time around. It wasn't so pleasant the first time around. It wasn't too bad this time. It's interesting to re-read the blog posts from the same day in the program when I did it the first time. I didn't have my Polar M400 the first time around, but I did play around with a Jawbone Up3 last year. I wasn't impressed.

I tried to keep my running pace in the 12 minute mile pace and I think I was successful for the most part doing that. I felt pretty good during this run. My legs didn't hurt. I was ready for the running intervals to be done, but that was more about my breathing than it was about my legs. I haven't been sore after my run days except after the first day and that was my abs more than anything. I ran on the path to town and then on the sidewalk through town and back again. I wanted to get under a 10 minute mile pace just once and it didn't work out last week. I tried again this week, but it didn't work out so well for me. I've been trying it at the end of my runs because I didn't want to tire myself out from the effort. My final run this time was uphill. It's not a big hill at all. It's not even really a hill. It's more of a gentle incline. I tried to hit the sub 10 minute mile pace, but I knew it wasn't going to happen while going uphill. I decided to try going downhill. I turned around and gave it all I got, but I didn't make it. I was just too beat. Another failed attempt at the sub 10 minute mile pace. I decided to try again for Day 2 of Week 2 and told myself that I would go around the block down to the high school so my final run would be going downhill.

I'm bummed that I didn't hit my goal, but I feel great after reading how torturous this was the first time around. I've made some great improvements. I can't lose weight, but I'm a better runner than I was a year ago. Eventually, the weight has to fall off if I continue to do stuff like hiking and running right? I know you can't out exercise a bad diet, but my diet isn't that bad. I know I need to cut out the bread and french fries on the weekends, but I'm doing great during the week!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

It pains me to see that the fastest pace was an 11:30 minute mile! I got faster than that last week, but I was trying to pace myself a bit since I had the longer running segments.