Couch to 5k Week 4 Update

I've been doing pretty well sticking to the Couch to 5k running plan I'm doing, with the exception of one week off when I was sick. So far I really like it, it was a great way to ease back into running! The first two weeks you're actually only running about 8-9 minutes out of your 20 minute workout. That doesn't sound like much but when you're out of shape it's plenty! The 2nd week I tried to treat the workouts more like a HIIT workout and run fast during the run intervals. Fast is a relative term, a fast pace for me is a 10 minute mile :) but it's better than nothing. I set a goal this year to run a 5k in under 30 minutes, which would be just below a 10 minute mile pace. Now that I've completed week 4, I'm feeling pretty confident that I can do that.

Ty told me to "look fast" :P

Week 4 of the program and really ramped up the running intervals, I ran 16 minutes out of the full 21 minute workout! The first 5 minutes of most of my runs are really uncomfortable. My body takes a long time to warm up I think? Once I get past that my workouts have felt really good, but also really challenging at the end. And I feel like I'm going pretty fast even though I have no idea what my pace is. Based on my own calculations, I think I averaged about a 10:30 pace the other day and that included walking intervals!

Yesterday I got a little crazy and actually did the workout twice for a total of 42 minutes. I had planned to run up to the beach, which takes about 20 minutes run/walking, run on the boardwalk a little and then walk home. Instead, I just kept on going! I ended up doing a 4 mile loop around PB that took about an hour with a pretty good warm up and cool down in there.

You want to know one of the best things about running in San Diego, besides the obvious near-perfect weather?

If you run on sidewalks, you probably can tell what that is. If you've ever face planted in the middle of a run because the sidewalk jumped up and tripped you, you definitely know what that is. They city of San Diego takes the time to shave down the edges of the sidewalks when they stick up!! Revolutionary. City of Richmond, are you seeing this? I've only tripped on the sidewalk a handful of times in my life (almost all on Monument Ave. or in the Fan in Richmond) and somehow managed to catch myself before I actually fell, but I really appreciate this small gesture when I'm out running here.

I started week 5's workouts this week and I can tell they're going to be tough for me, but I feel like I'm getting back into the routine of working out. I'm also having a little bit of hip pain, "diagnosed" by a friend on Twitter as most likely a hip flexor issue, so I took it easy yesterday and today in the hopes that it will feel better tomorrow.

Good night!