Slow and steady or something...

So this past Tuesday I went to the gym, did my strength training (which is awesome-I love lifting weights) and decided to do a short run on the treadmill.

Let me define my version of running. It's called shuffling. And that could be generous. Basically I get from point A to point B walking with kind of a bounce. At least it gets my heart rate up higher than an actual walk, and that means more calories burned, which makes My Fitness Pal happy. 

I've been using the Couch to 10K app, which I highly recommend using (or using something similar). It takes you from straight walking, to jogging intervals, to straight jogging. I love it. It talks to you over your music, or in my case on the treadmill over my "House of Cards", so I don't have to keep looking at my watch. For some reason when the voice tells me to "start jogging" I will, and I'll keep going until he tells me to stop. If I was making up my own intervals I'd give up as soon as I felt the initial burn in my butt cheeks. 

Usually after strength training I'll swim or do a class but getting on the treadmill when my legs are burned out tends to be a whole new miserable experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I will start out with a bang and 2 minutes later I'm dying, the negative self-talk starts, and I quit, feeling like a total gym failure. 

Knowing that training for my Half needs to be stepped up I vowed to get my butt on the treadmill and do my running app. I'm on Week 3 Day 2. I've never made it this far before. I'm feeling very good about myself. I decided this time to not let my pride get in the way, and to keep my speed slow and steady so that I can finish the workout feeling good and feeling like I have accomplished something. 

And guess what? I actually did it! I shuffled at a whopping 3.7mph. I walked at the fast pace of 3.5mph. That's barely even a difference in pace but my legs felt it. I didn't care that I only got in 1.5 miles in almost half an hour. What I cared about is that I made it through and I didn't quit. I didn't have any negative voices in my head telling me I looked like an idiot. I just got on, got it done, and went home feeling super accomplished. 

It was a good lesson to me to keep the pace that's good for me at this time. I will get faster, but I have to crawl, (shuffle) before I can walk (or run).