I Guess I’m a Runner Now

Thanks, I hate it.

lol. I hate running and swore it off a couple of decades ago. Over the last few months I’ve picked it back up and I’m amazed at the progress I’ve made in such a short time. My first run I ran a 15 minute mile, two days I ago I ran a 9m30s mile. It’s become something I look forward to doing and since I’ve finally admitted that to myself I’ve been looking at ways to improve my run even more. I’m going to start training for a 5k to start out. I’d like to run under 3o minutes. I ran an impromptu 5k a couple of weeks ago and ran non-stop and ended up at 35 minutes. Looking at training plans for this and I’m getting the mileage in per week, ~18-20 miles but to improve my time more I need to add in some speed work as well as some longer runs. Right now I don’t do more than 3.5 miles per day and I need to bump that up to get my overall endurance up. The issue I’m working through right now is my legs feel tired and heavy unless I have a super carby meal the night before. While I’m technically no longer a type 2 diabetic I’m leary of upping my carb intake. I’ve found that I have more joint pain and body aches immediately after eating something carb heavy. My nose also starts running  and it feels like a mile allergic reaction like when I cut grass the few times of the season. I’ve emailed my nutritionist to get their advice and guidance on eating for running. Obviously my training volume is going to increase and I absolutely hate that heavy leg feeling and since I can’t really muster more than an 11:30 min mile on those days that’s not the ideal path to get me to my goal of a sub 30 min 5k.

I’m excited about having a goal again. I definitely do better with goals but the issue has been over the years I don’t stick with getting to those goals. I’ve been running consistently now for almost 5 months and on the days I don’t feel like running I’m able to push myself to do it anyway, which feels good. The cooler temps in the morning have really helped me to look forward to my morning run as well. I struggled over the summer to get a run or even a walk in some days due to the heat/humidity.

I’ve never considered myself a runner and really still don’t. But the more I do it the more natural it feels and the better I feel during and after the run. Today is a rest day and it also happens to be the coolest morning of the year so far. I find myself wanting to run but I know my body needs the rest so I’ll just make it a walk today.