I was packing on too much weight in my stationary job and was tired of huffing and puffing every time I walked up the stairs. I stumbled onto this site while looking for fitness goals and plans and was immediately psyched by the idea of training for a triathalon--to me a far more attainable goal than just saying "loose weight" or "get into shape." My family thought I was crazy to even try it because I do not come from an athletic background at all and I have never really stuck to any fitness goal that I had previously set.
The training plan that I chose spends 4 months on running...which was perfect for me because I hated running and with a plan I would be forced to stick to the program and not overdue it. Stick to the program I did. First week walking-- no problem. Slowly adding in the running, perfect. As the running minutes gradually went up I could feel myself beginning to struggle. The weight started coming off, lost the love handles and a few inches-- I was feeling fab about my new fitness goals. But for some reason I just could not go beyond 18 minutes of running without a huge struggle or a break in between
(yes I know walking breaks are acceptable but I seemed to need a few too many
). Despite wanting to give up during every workout, I somehow found the entergy to press through-- but never with feeling like I had really accomplished anything. Well the last two weeks have been amazing-- I finally broke down that brick wall and I am proud to say for the first time in my life I actually like running and look forward to the run. So what happened? Well , it was my first day to run 25 minutes. I decided I was going to run the 25 minutes straight through, no breaking. So I stuck in a DVD, climbed on the treadmill and started my workout. As I strated to run, I used the DVD cover to block the treadmill face plate so I couldn't see how long or far I had gone-- I increased the speed and incline based on how I felt. I felt great, hardly tired at all...of course I eventually wore out and that is when I took a peak at the time...I had run for 28 minutes! I was sooo excited. I felt like I had just run a marathon-- my own personal marathon but still. I felt so pumped I was yelling and hollering. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that I would be able to run as much as I do now
(or that I would actually stick to a fitness plan this long
). It is so amazing to me to see the improvement in my entire self.
After this Friday I will have officially completed the running stage of the counch to sprint program and will begin adding in bike and swimming to my training. I can't wait to see what new heights I will achieve
(and am excited to start biking and swimming
). I will forever be grateful for the day I found BT --
If anyone is doubting that they can do this-- well you can. If I can do it, you definitely can. In fact, my 55 year old mother who has never done more than walking and a bit of light aerobics for exercise bought a treadmill and asked me to print out the trianing program for her too. She called me yesterday to triumphantly report that she ran 5 minutes for the first time in her adult life. Who knows, perhaps we'll register for our first sprint triathalon together...how amazing would that be!!
Thanks for letting me shamlessly boast.