... One giant leap for Loukind!

I know, I know - it's been a couple of weeks since I last updated you all on my Couch to 5k progress. It's been a bit crazy at Lou towers in the past couple of weeks - funerals, hen weekends, masters’ music recitals, cake baking and general running around means that I have basically only managed to fit in another couple of half-hearted repeats of week two's programme.
Feeling a little disappointed in myself this morning - with the knowledge of only seven weeks until I have to don my slightly too clingy bridesmaid dress, I was spurred on by the beautiful sunshine that was streaming through my blinds to go out and get back on the couch to 5k wagon.

I've been a bit disconnected and stressed out recently; the recurring cold-sores are making that patently obvious to everyone no matter how hard I try to hide it. It's been a difficult and hectic couple of weeks in so many ways and after attempting to leave the house three times before actually closing the front door and running through the mental checklist of door locking, key in sock storage and earphones for podcast, it took me a few seconds to notice that I was listening to the instructions for week three, not week two.
Whilst this technically should not have been a problem, my intention for the morning had been to get back on week two again, as I had been off the programme briefly - but as the phrase "run for three minutes, walk for three minutes" finally entered my consciousness, I thought - 'sod it, what's the worst that can happen, I’ll do week three!' And off I went.

Week three begins as usual with the 5 min warm up and then you run for 90 secs, walk for 90 secs, run for 3 mins, walk for 3 mins and repeat this pattern one more time, leaving you running for a total of 9 mins all in all.
After the initial fear of hitting the 3 minute milestone, I found it went surprisingly well. Granted, there were times when I was basically running slower than some of the people that were walking around me (well, at least it felt that way) but at least I know that I achieved that three minute goal, no matter how slowly I was doing it, and I feel pretty proud of myself for doing it too. The guiding voice of 'Laura' advises you to keep the bounce in your run to a minimum to conserve energy - and presumably to make sure you don't go too fast. This was a good tip and thinking about it whilst running is one of the things that I think helped me achieve a steady consistent 3 mins run.

Although it might be peanuts to many, running solidly for three minutes really is a big achievement for me, something I wasn't sure I would actually be able to do. Previous running attempts had me flagging before even reaching 60 seconds - now I am starting to feel like five, even ten minutes is within reach and that really is very exciting!

I felt so energised when I got back home that I went straight into the garden, mowed the lawn and de-weeded as far as I could. How's about that for an hours work?! I am actually looking forward to the next one, but in the meantime - I am off to create some cakes!