Week two and running outside

This week I went on a little vacation to my home town. My parent's house is halfway up a small mountain, and so we have great hiking trails just outside our doorstep. I brought the shred and planned to do a few sessions with it, but ended up skipping it in favor of long walks. Having great hiking trails right outside my house is something I miss, so I had to take advantage of it when I could! :)

One thing I didn't want to postpone, though, was my C25K. Now, my parents don't have a treadmill, but luckily there is a stadium with running tracks not too far away, so that's where I headed. And that's how I learned that running outdoors is SO different from running on a treadmill.

I hadn't really thought about the difference. I knew it would be harder to motivate myself to run when the weather was bad. But other than that, I didn't much think about the differences. However, once I tried it, I found out that for me, at least, it is harder to run outside than on a treadmill. Turns out the treadmill babies and shelters me.

First of all, when you're used to a treadmill showing your speed, it is challenging to know what pace to keep. I started out running way to fast and got tired and had to slow down. It did get better once I learned to start slower, so it just takes some getting used to. I still miss knowing how fast I run, I think it is too easy to slow down when you don't know your speed.

The other thing I hadn't given much thought to before I tried outside running, was that there would be other people around. Fit people. That brought out all my insecurities about being out of shape and being a failure. I feel like I SHOULD be able to run faster and longer (or even just run at all for that matter, right now I'm just jogging). Seeing all those fit people made me feel like a fraud and I felt totally out of place. I know this is something I have to work on, but for now I'm looking forward to running in my basement again.

Though running outside wasn't my cup of tea, I couldn't let that stop me from doing C25K. I've finished week 2 now, and it went pretty well. I have to say I'm a little bit (okay, more like a lot) worried about next week. I'm supposed to go from running for 1,5 minute to running 3 minutes straight. It feels like I've reached my limit now, and I have no idea whatsoever how I'm going to double my running time. My comfort is that others have made it, and so I can, too. Wish me luck! :)