Midpoint Update!

I've been meaning to update for WEEKS, but life (a.k.a. end of the grad school semester and end of the school year) has kind of gotten in the way. Everything's been so busy, but I've been making it a priority to give myself one rest night a week and for the other days, I've been forcing myself to take an hour to myself and run, go to Zumba, do yoga, etc.

I finally found a Zumba class that I really love. The ladies are great and the instructor has SO much energy. I went to another one a few months ago and the instructor was great, but the class was on carpeting and my knees were shot after an hour. I've considered going back to be trained again and taking on my own local classes, but I'm truly enjoying running right now and like being able to focus on that instead of Zumba. At any rate, it feels good to be back.

I've also been forcing myself to do yoga once a week. I'm feeling much stronger while I'm doing it. I'm also hoping to start hitting a few classes once school lets out for the summer. While I'm still not the most flexible person in the world, I finally got my nose to my knee. ;)

In running news... I'm over halfway through 10K training! Today will wrap up my 6th week, leaving me four to go. The most important things I've learned?

If I walk up a hill, it doesn't make my run any less of a run or any less of a workout.
The most gorgeous days, the days SCREAMING for a run, are the days that my legs don't agree.
The days I'm miserable and dreading my run are the days that I kill it.
My best runs are at 10 AM.

Seriously. Over Easter break, I ran every day at 10 AM and I nailed it every day. My 4 PM runs are miserable, and I think it's just because I'm dragging the day with me. I'm making sure that nutrition and hydration are spot on the day before and day of a run workout and it's definitely helping. I'm hitting just under 4 miles each workout and I'm hoping that next week, I'll start passing that goal.

To recap so far...

Week 1:
Day 1: 2.03 miles (14:15/mi)
Day 2: 2.15 miles (13:31/mi)
Day 3: 2.01 miles (14:24/mi)

Week 2:
Day 1: 2.48 miles (13:42/mi)
Day 2: 2.47 miles (13:46/mi)
Day 3: 2.43 miles (14:00/mi)

Week 3:
Day 1: 2.81 miles (13:56/mi)
Day 2: 2.80 miles (13:54/mi)
Day 3: 2.89 miles (13:30/mi)

Week 4:
Day 1: Where did you go, Day 1? Whoops...
Day 2: 3.23 miles (13:56/mi)
Day 3: 3.34 miles (13:29/mi)

Week 5:
Day 1: 3.63 miles (13:31/mi)
Day 2: 3.59 miles (13:38/mi)
Day 3: 3.71 miles (13:10/mi)

Week 6: - So far...
Day 1: 3.87 miles (13:42/mi)
Day 2: 3.82 miles (13:52/mi)

I have to keep telling myself that my pace is fine. I'm not a fast runner, but I can push through distances when I'm training. I also walk the first five and last five minutes of each workout which adds to the time. I'm just glad to see my distances gradually growing. :)

And, the final exciting thing, throughout all of this, the last four months of running, I am down 21.9 pounds! As of this morning, I am officially smaller than I was at my birthday last year and I am 2.6 pounds from being in the 180s. I haven't seen those numbers since March last year when we were doing the biggest loser. I know that with my distance increasing and workout lengths increasing, I'll get there in no time.

Here's to forward progress!

Finally!