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So. It’s been awhile. And I’m not saying I’m back for the long haul, but here I am for the meantime. I was inspired by my sister’s Couch to 5k aspirations (and the intermediate goal of the Mile) to pick up my running shoes again as well. You may recall that I started running a couple summers ago, and did a 5k with some friends, but that knee pain was my downfall. I’m hoping that by following the Couch to 5k program that I’ll be lessening the chance of knee pain. It’s designed to not add too much, too quickly, but we’ll see how things hold up.
I also had decided that I would try to do this inhaler-free. My last attempts, I used my inhaler before every run, and it certainly made the breathing easier – perhaps also leading to me pushing myself too hard for my knees. I was told I had exercise-induced asthma back in high school, so I thought it was a good idea. Sometimes I wonder, however, if I really do have asthma or if I’m just out of shape and it’s normal. I thought that by starting out without my inhaler, I might actually push my lungs a bit too, and perhaps they’d improve with the rest of me.
Today, after my last day of week 3, my body decided to tell me that, no – it really is asthma. I’ve been running in the mornings generally, but I got home a little early from work today, it was perfect running weather, so I decided to go for it today instead of getting up tomorrow morning. I’d been a little disappointed that my distances haven’t really been getting any longer than week 1, even though the running time has increased, so I was motivated, and tried to push myself a little bit more today to try and easily push past the 2 mile marker during the workout. (I did make just over 2 miles, but still not more than week 1 distances. To be fair, week three is a couple minutes shorter in length, but still.) At any rate, I started off too strong, and my outgoing path was downhill. Coming home was rough, and by the end of the last three minute run, I was gasping like a fish out of water. Not cool. It got better after the cool down walk, but I was still coughing for an hour or so before Logan encouraged me to actually take my inhaler.
So yeah. Rough end to week 3, but I made it this far. I guess we’ll see how it goes, and maybe I’ll try using my inhaler preemptively again. Any of you out there (if there is anybody out there) have exercise asthma stories?
ETA: Some useful C25k tools:
- Google Maps Pedometer to see how far you went.
- C25K podcasts with cues telling you when to run and walk
- Another set of podcasts with cues, this one with a more pop sound
