In preparation for the next week being my final week of training, I went all out for week nine. I started the week by running until I got tired and then walking until most of my energy had returned, but by the end of the week, I challenged myself to run until I was out of breath and then only walk for 15 seconds. This was challenging for me because I am always blocked by what my mind thinks I can do, so I wanted to push past that mental block and see how far I could go.
I found that when I pushed myself past what I thought I could do, I could actually do a lot more than I previously thought. I found that I was able to run for over a minute at a time and only needed minimal time to recover, which was the opposite of what I originally believed about my abilities. By the end of the week, I was running far longer than I was resting, and I felt confident in my progress. I knew I was ready for my final week.
For my seventh week of training, I decided to increase the difficulty of my runs to encourage growth in my speed and endurance. At the beginning of the week, I stuck with my old routine, but I transitioned into running for 55 seconds and walking for 3 minutes, which is a slow increase but perfect for me. I found that at the end of the week, I was less tired and more energized after my run, and was able to complete assignments once I returned home, when I usually would simply take a shower and nap.
This new routine went very well for the whole week, and I found that I wanted to go out for runs, even on days that I wasn’t technically scheduled to. As well as this, I found the burst of energy I got after my training sessions was great for completing assignments and catching up on posts for this very class, which was perfect for me as I normally lack motivation for school. I found that with the changing weather, my motivation was improving, and this gave me the extra boost I needed to go on a rampage of completing projects. Overall it was an excellent week for me!
My sixth week of training was very similar to the previous, I maintained my new routine of running for 45 seconds and walking for 4 minutes for the first half of the week. By the end of the week I started to feel more confident with my progression and changed my training a bit more, decreasing my walking time to 3 minutes, as I didn’t need as long to catch my breath anymore.
I found this week that I was more willing to run, and often found myself running for longer than my allotted 45 seconds, which for some people would be a good thing, but my biggest fear for this inquiry is permanently wreaking my foot, so I stopped myself from running too much to preserve my foot’s health. This ended up paying off tremendously, as in our EPHE class we had a class that had us running and jumping for the majority of the time, and I know I would have found myself struggling to put pressure on my foot if I hadn’t stuck to the routine on my runs.
The weather this week as well as the last was amazing, and I was outside as much as I could, even if I wasn’t training for my inquiry, and it definitely made me a lot more motivated to train.
Overall this was a great week for my training and mental health, and I was very grateful to have the opportunity to get outside and into nature after classes.
In my fifth week of training, I started to work a bit more on my running stamina, and improve on how far I could run without slowing too much. I started the week with my usual pattern of walking for 5 minutes and running for 30 seconds, but halfway through the week I upped my running time to 45 seconds and lowered my walking time to 4 minutes, and it went well. It may not seem like too big of a jump but I consider any improvement good, and I didn’t want to over exert myself trying to rush through training.
I found myself having an easier time running compared to the first week, and I found that with only a slight increase in time spent running, my foot didn’t bother me too much and I was able to stick to my new routine for the rest of week 5. By the end of the week I was able to breath through the running portion and didn’t find myself watching the clock quite as closely as before.
The weather this week was also very favourable and made it a lot easier to get out of the house and onto the trail, and I often slowed to take videos of the sun and the nature around me, so that I could attach them to my blog posts. Overall week 5 was a very successful training week.
In my fourth week of training (really the fifth but I will go over that) I was frustrated with myself. I felt like I wasn’t improving and that I was set back by my past injuries. I was unable to train in the previous week as I had pushed myself too far and I had to rest my foot.
I am not sure the extent of how badly my foot was broken years ago, as I was 14 at the time and I struggle to recall memories from then (six years ago) but what I do know is that because I didn’t go to the emergency room right away, my foot had started to heal on its own and it wasn’t healing bad enough for the doctor to preform a surgery to fix it, which would have been the only solution at the time. I was sent home with instructions to use crutches and avoid pressure on my foot to prevent further harm, but being a moody 14 year old that was embarrassed by breathing in public, I avoided the use of my crutches after the second day. If I could go back in time I would knock some sense into myself, but all I can do now is adapt my activities to better suit my self and hope I don’t over exert myself. Unfortunately for me it seemed like walking on the treadmill was the exact opposite thing that my foot needed, and I was unable to put a ton of pressure on my foot for a week as a result.
This week I was feeling a lot better, and decided to go back to my original pattern of 5 minutes walking and 30 seconds running, and see how my foot fared with the old routine. It seemed to go over well, I haven’t noticed any unusual pain and I think my stamina is recovering. I also was relieved to see the snow was mostly gone, and I was able to comfortably go on my usual trail where the ground is a bit softer and easier for my foot to handle.
I decided to act like a running influencer on Tik Tok and film myself for my running portions, but I had to mute the audio so you can’t hear my breathing, and because I cannot find a song I wanted to add.
Overall my fourth week went quite well, especially since I had to take a pause for the previous week, I felt like I got back on track right away. I am happy with the progress I made to help me get back to where I was, even if it was more of a step to the side rather than forward.
For my third week of training there was a bit of a snow storm, so I wasn’t able to go out as often as I would have liked, but I made up for my lack of running by making sure to exercise indoors by using the treadmills at CARSA, which I wasn’t confident enough to run on without fear of falling so I did go a bit backwards in my training. I am very fortunate that indoor treadmills are accessible to me, as I would have had to get quite creative without them, and I am not sure I am prepared for that. Because I was unable to run while on the treadmill, I focused more on building endurance and challenged myself to walk further than 5km. I was able to do 6km before I had to get off, and I felt very proud that I was able to stay moving for an extra kilometer, when previously I struggled with 5.
Since I am not super comfortable taking pictures of myself in public when I am alone, I only have one photo from before the snow and an old photo of me on a treadmill to attach, but combine them together and you will get a recent photo of me on a treadmill. (I have permission to share the photo with my friend in it)
Overall I think my third week went quite well, I was able to still train even though it was cold and icy outside, and I saw some improvement in my stamina and endurance which felt nice. In the future I would definitely prefer to stay outside for my training, but when I have no other choice, treadmills work great.
For my second week of training to run a 5k, I still took it slow. I didn’t want to rush myself and ruin the idea of running for myself, so I did the first two days as a faster paced walk. I noticed as the days went by I found it easier to walk for longer distances without feeling out of breath or having to slow down, so I decided to increase my difficulty for the last day of my second week. I started this last day like usual, with a fast paced walk on my usual trail, but after around 5 minutes of walking, I ran for 30 seconds. It may not sound like a lot but I don’t run often, and because I had to keep the health of my foot in mind, I had to start very slow. I continued the pattern of walking for 5 minutes and running for 30 seconds until I returned back to my starting position, and by the end of my day I felt good. I had successfully shaved 5 minutes off my time without hurting myself, and I was able to stay with the pattern without getting discouraged.
I found that by the end of the week I not only found that my stamina had improved, but that I also saw an improvement with my mental health which is super important this time of year. I also found myself running more often than just my scheduled days, even if just across the parking lot to my car at the end of the day. Overall I think my second week was super successful!
For my inquiry project, I am working towards running a 5k. I have no running experience so come with me on my journey to learn how to run long distance.
One thing I have to keep in mind when I am doing this inquiry project is my health. I previously broke my foot in a jumping mishap, and didn’t go to the hospital right away, causing lasting damage to a small part of my foot. Because of this I sometimes struggle with being on my feet too long, especially when running, which is part of the reason I have to take this slow. So far I have not felt terrible pain when on my walks, but I know to balance how much I am pushing myself with how much I can handle. The first week went really well because I know myself and that jumping straight into running would do more harm than good.
For my first week, I started off walking the trail I would be taking to map it out for myself and get a feeling of how I would be going about this. I wanted to make sure I don’t rush myself and loose interest in learning to run distances, so starting at a walk was perfect for me. I didn’t realize until I got home that I only went 4.25 kilometers, but the second day I went out I made sure to go for 5 kilometers. I was able to track my first day with my Apple Watch, but for the rest of the week I had left it behind to charge and was unable to track my walk as well. I went out on three days in the first week, Saturday, Wednesday, and Sunday, as those are the only days that I have time before work to do anything outside of my house. The first day was spent as a slow walk, the second day I took longer strides to raise my heart rate, and the third day I was closer to speed walking than regular walking. I am working slowly towards my goal, as to not rush and make mistakes.
Overall my first week went great, I spent lots of good time outdoors and felt good about the progress I was making in my journey. Here is the walk I took on the first day mapped out.
