Month of Movement: Week 2 Wrap Up

I can’t believe that February is halfway over!  My body has been a-movin-and-a-groovin this past week.  Here’s a summary…

1. Housework.
2. Housework.
3. Ran on the track at the gym.
4. ZUMBA! Plus danced in my living room. :)
5. Ran on the track at the gym.
6. Ran mile outside to get ready for my 5k race then ZUMBA!
7. Danced in my living room!

Week 2 consisted of 424 minutes of movement (a little more than an hour per day), and I burned 3558 calories (over 500 calories per day).

Today was the start of Week 3, and it was also my 5k race.  The race was very appropriately named “The Ice Cube” as it was a maximum of 5 degrees during the race.  My fingers and toes were numb as I started the race, but as I kept going they warmed up rather quickly.

I didn’t go into this race today thinking I was going to do well.  I have had mixed training runs the last few weeks, and even though I felt like I had gone faster on the track at the gym than I had been on the treadmill, I even doubted whether the distance was accurate… like is 9 laps REALLY a mile?  Well today’s race definitely proved that yes, I have gotten faster, and that yes, going to Zumba twice a week is improving my endurance and not hurting my running like I thought it might be.

The race wasn’t easy.  Like I said… it was COLD.  And I really haven’t run a whole lot this year.  I haven’t run an actual 5k since July 20, 2013.  So I started off easy, or at least what felt like easy.  I was rocking to some tunes on my iPod, but two songs in it died.  I don’t think the battery was really low since I had just charged it the night before, but I think it was just too darn cold for the poor thing.  So I ran the rest of the race without music, just listening to my breathing and the breathing of everyone around me, the pounding of shoes on pavement and crunching of snow and ice beneath our feet.  I heard my Endomondo app chime in when I hit the mile marker: 1 mile in 11 minutes… something something… and thought okay, I’m going faster than I thought.  I decided to take a walking break after that and probably walked for about 2 minutes or so, then picked it back up.  The second mile was tougher.  I kept telling myself just keep going until you hit that second mile marker… and I almost made it, but took another break just before my phone announced I’d hit 2 miles, lap pace less than 12:00.  The final 1.1 miles I ran/walked, trying to count out 90 seconds running and 60 seconds walking.  I never heard my phone go off again to tell me when I hit the 3 mile mark, but when I crossed the finish line and checked my app I had logged 3.2 miles in 38:35.

So it isn’t official because I don’t have my chip time yet, but according to my Endomondo app I ran a 5k in 37:01 – my best 5k time since 2008!

Here’s a summary of my 5k races, just for fun…

• Miles for Medals 5k in 2008 – 36:20, 11:45 pace
• East Lansing Pumpkin Trot 5k in 2008 – 37:45, 12:09 pace
• Race 4 a Reason 5k in 2008 – 35:22, 11:23 pace
• MOM Race 5k in 2012 – 41:40, 13:26 pace
• Chip River Run 5k in 2013 – 38:33, 12:24 pace
• MOM Race 5k in 2013 – 40:23, 13:02 pace
• Midland River Days 5k in 2013 – 41:37, 13:24 pace
• Ice Cube 5k in 2014 – 37:01 (unofficial), 11:55 pace

Even though I didn’t run the entire 5k, I am so proud of myself that I am almost back at my original running pace when I first started doing this.  I know that I am capable of running an entire 5k distance, which makes me so excited that I will PR this year!  And that a 10k really isn’t so far off from being reality… :)