Training is No Piece of Cake!

I try to stay positive about my training. In all honesty, that might be harder than the actual training and weight loss work most days. It's so easy to become defeated over one mistake in meal choice or a bad run. Well, last Thursday was a double wammy. I gained half a pound after seriously exerting myself during work-outs. Then, I hit the pavement for week 5, day 2 of training. It had been a while since I trained outdoors, since I'd been on travel for work, and let me tell ya, my body felt the difference. For the first time, I couldn't follow the training program to the second and was fighting the hills against pretty strong winds. It was a down day. Rather than quickly bouncing back, I threw myself a pity party. After talking about the bad day with a couple of friends and my husband, I remembered that we all have bad days. If training was so easy, it wouldn't have been the challenge and goal I set for myself. I had enough desserts before starting this venture to know that getting fit wasn't going to be a piece of cake. But this was truly my first big stumbling block, other than illness, and I only had 2.5 weeks before the 5k! So, I needed to center myself and find some motivation. It helped to have a busy, active weekend planned with my family. The days that followed were joyful and got my mind off my let-down of a Thursday. Come Monday and my next outdoor training day, the weather was too bad to run. Again, I was bummed, but decided I would keep to my schedule. I'd just have to run on my treadmill after I got Lillian off to bed. That evening, I saw a FaceBook status update from my friend Randi, stating that she had just completed her first-ever 5K on the treadmill at her gym. In my excitement for her, a lightbulb went off in my head. Why not skip the Couch 2 5K program for the night and see how far I could run? Bam! I had my motivation. Thanks again, Randi (and congrats)!!! At my slowest, I did a fast paced walk/slow jog at 3.8 and at my fastest, a full on run (for me) at 5.5. My average was more of a 4.2 pace, but I surprised myself. I did it! 3.1 miles in 43:30, burning 440 calories. I was so stinkin' proud of myself. Now, I have the belief again that I am a runner, that I can meet the challenge I set for myself, and when the weather is nice again, I will be out on road running to success!!! I'll see you on the bright side!