Because I have a daughter with a mental illness, I have developed a survival strategy to not look too far ahead. I deal with the issues on my plate and don't worry about what is next. It's not a great life strategy but it has become a very useful survival strategy for me.
Well, I am working on the c25k program and I started week 5 on Tuesday. I am super proud and happy that I have made it to week 5. I have always wanted to be a runner but have never had a training plan or have ever had any success with becoming a runner. For the c25k training, the weeks have been 3 days of the same thing. I have panic attacks and so I will look just at what the next week has the day I get ready to go run to prevent getting all worked up. That is my survival strategy. This week, day 1 was run 5, walk 3, run 5, walk 3, run 5. For the first time ever I thought "cool." And it was cool. I pretty much breezed right through that training. Tonight, I thought based on the previous 4 weeks that the workout would be the same. I did my 5 minute warm-up, the iPhone told me to run and I started in on my 5 minute run. After running for a bit, I looked to see how much time was left. My phone said 6:12. Immediately panic set in. Did I forward to the next week? No, it said Week 5 Day 2. I used my breathing and my practice to focus and I ran until my phone told me to walk. At that point, I looked to see what the plan was for this day. Run 8, walk 5, run 8. The second 8 seemed a little easier because I knew I could do it and I knew what was coming. As long as I get into a rhythm of breathing out on every other foot down so that I am not exhaling always on the same foot I seem to do ok. Less than a minute to go, I started thinking "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this" and while that may work for the little engine, it messed up my rhythm and I was almost hyperventilating. I did it though. I ran two 8 minute intervals.
I looked at the next run and it is 20 minutes running. Panic! But, I will do that. I will. I have to. My right knee is hurting. No bad enough to stop but it takes a few paces before it feels strong enough for me to put all of my weight on it. I bought a brace but it is so restrictive that I haven't worn it yet. I will if I have too. I am also going to wait until Sunday night to do this run so that I will have 2 good rest days and give my knee some time to recover. I did realize that I would, at some point, have to start running without breaks but I just didn't think it would be this soon.
In addition to knee discomfort, I am having a little bit of breathing trouble after I complete my run. My lungs hurt occasionally while running but what is happening is that after I get back from running, about 30 minutes or so, I start the coughing and the wheezing. I have a Pro-Air inhaler from last year but I really don't want to use it unless I have too. Hard headed and stupid probably. I will research that inhaler tonight and the pros and cons. I might be better off to use it than not.
