Learning to Run to 1 minute

After quitting the 'Learn to Run' class that was far beyond me, I kept going with the program. Moving inside to a gym treadmill I started on an easy pace. Week 1 was 3 days out. Each day was the same:
5 minute walk
1 minute run
1 minute walk
1 minute run
1 minute walk
1 minute run
10 minute walk

Important things I learned. The value of a good quality pad (I use Tena pads now). Going slow enough to not often need the pad. Going slow enough to still be able to talk, but hard enough that I wouldn't be able to sing.

It become clear pretty early that I needed to do my 3 walk/run days with a day off in between. But I was able to do a strength class on my days off. Or a circuit at the local women's gym. The strength training class as a Mum & Baby class. The circuit was something like what you'd find at Curves.

Because the class was Mum & Baby for those recently post partum it was heavily focused on ab and back strengthening. The warm ups were pretty easy. Usually a short march. Used thera-bands for a little upper body/arm strengthening. Many many many lunges (and more and more each week). Every week there was an ever increasing number of sit-ups and variations. Some of the easiest to get started were a standard sit-up with legs supported on an exercise ball (or chair).

At this point I was at the gym 5 days a week. I ran 3 days. Took my class on the other 2. But time wasn't much of an issue since it was usually a 30-minute trip (including dropping the kids at the daycare) for my run days. The Mum & Baby classes were a bit more time consuming. Maybe 45 minutes? Plus I'd often have to stay a bit late and find a quiet spot to nurse the newest who was just a couple months old.

For the record: Today was my pre-natal check-in. It was bad, as expected. I 'clocked' in at 247lbs. Still not doing anything.

The first run

It was the beginning of April. Warmer than you might expect for my climate (5C). I joined a sister and her friend for my very first running class. It'd been three months since I birthed my second child. My exercise was modest. But I was back at Weight Watchers and down to 221.4lbs. (Down from ~240lb pre-baby).

The class was intimidating. There were all shapes and and sizes, but I was by far the fattest. The largest. The least impressive looking.

Our first night was going to be running down a major highway in my small community. I was embarrassed I'd be seen. Afraid I couldn't do it.

They were reasonable fears. All true in the end. I was seen. I couldn't keep up. We covered 3.4km. The whole thing as 1 minute runs and 1 minute walks. Or some people did. Not me. We were rained on. All in all, it was an ordeal that I never wanted to repeat.

I made many mistakes on that first run. It was too fast. It was too far. I tried to keep up. I was over dressed. By far the most embarrassing part was that I leaked. As in urinary incontinence. Cold, wet, covered in hives and dragged myself home and into the shower and swore to never return. (A quick shower, of course, the baby was waiting to be fed!)

There were three positive things that came out of that class.
1. I stuck with the running, not the class, but the running.
2. I got a training schedule that got me started.
3. I got a sheet of stretches that became my bible.

Maybe the larger thing is that I learned that this had to be about me, about my program and not about what a 140lb 5'10" man thought would be easy for anyone.

For the record: I'm frightened to weigh myself. I'm coming up on 28 weeks pregnant and I was over 245lbs last time I checked. Gained 5 lbs in a week. My prenatal workout class has ended and I haven't been on the treadmill in over a week.