Workout #2.......and 3/4?

Well, workout #3 did not go as well as I had planned. Oddly enough, I was excited about it and thought of it most of the day. After tonight, I can't say that working out is boring by any means, as each workout has presented something new for me to ponder. Tonight featured something I had hoped I would not encounter for several more weeks: another person working out at the same time.

Now, if I'd had my choice, I would have chosen some hot young muscle mimbo to bench press while I was doing my treadmill run. Instead, I had the luxury of doing my 60 second jog, 90 second walk routine next to some skinny dude training for a marathon who enjoys watching soccer. Bear in mind, there are two treadmills in the gym, and they are literally 14 inches apart.

This did not help with my "am I running right?" complex. In fact, I was so intimidated, I decided I had better step it up a notch and increased the speed of both my walking and jogging speeds. The stupidity of this action would be evident very soon. About twelve minutes into the workout, my legs felt like wood and I knew something was not quite right. I decided to walk through two minutes of the jogging because the pain in my feet was darn near unbearable. There is "just-push-through-it" pain, and then there's "just-push-me-off-a-cliff" pain. Mine was the latter.

Of course I was very frustrated with this workout, and I'm contemplating repeating workout #3 on Wednesday, utilizing some of the lessons learned from this experience: 1) S-T-R-E-T-C-H. I am pretty much jumping on the treadmill cold, and I no longer think that is a good idea. 2)Make sure the shoes are right. I tried using new inserts with my sneakers to see if I would notice a difference, but I'm thinking I probably need the originals back. 3) Get in a zone of my own. I can't let other people distract me...a hunny's gotta do what a hunny's gotta do.

Tonight was a night that I had some discouragement. At one point I thought "Running is stupid. I'm not chasing anything. I'm not being chased. Why am I doing this?" It is thoughts like those that make me blog. I knew when I started the program I would have days like this - and there will be more - but the important thing is to find a way past it and to share it so if my fellow gals are having the same experiences...we can all enjoy the misery together.