Sporting Life 10K!

Guess who is a crazy person and signed up for a 10K race on a whim today?
*points at self*
THIS GUY!

Yup. Today at work I came across some website talking about the Sporting Life 10K Run for Kids with Cancer and somehow I was so inspired I signed up! I have never run a 10K before, but I have done two 5Ks, so I think with training I can manage to run an extra 5K.

Did I also mention that the race is on my birthday? Normally I wouldn't want to torture myself on my birthday, but for the past few weeks I have really been working to find a balance with food and exercise in my life and I don't think there is any better start to my 27th year than doing this run.

I thought I would share the training program I am going to use. I tried to find a good Ipad app but I really couldn't find the right one for me (and I didn't want to pay for an app without seeing it if worked for me). I didn't want to do a Couch to 10K program because I can already run 30 minutes without stopping, on a good day. I did find this one online for free called "Bridge to 10K". It is great because it is only 6 weeks long (I have 10 weeks to whip my butt into shape), it is designed for people that can run 5K (I can!), and is only 3 days a week!

The Program:

Each workout includes a 5 minute warmup walk and 5 minute cooldown walk
Week 1	Duration: 53 min. Run 10 min/walk 1 min Repeat x 4.
Week 2	Duration: 57 min. Run 15 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.
Week 3	Duration: 63 min. Run 17 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.
Week 4	Duration: 66 min. Run 18 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 3.
Week 5	Day 1: Duration: 55 min. Run 22 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.Day 2: Duration: 61 min. Run 25 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.Day 3: Duration: 71 min. Run 30 min/walk 1 min. Repeat x 2.
Week 6	Duration: 70 min. Run 60 min.

Today I did my first workout and it was HARD. I wasn't in the mood to work out and it was 10 minutes longer than I would normally run for on a treadmill. But I stuck with it and in the end I had gone 6.4km!! I work much better with set goals and I like working in times rather than distances because it is easier for me to track.

I plan to do my run 3 days a week and add in weight training 2-3 days a week to build up my strength.

My goal is to do the 10K in under 1 hour because the registration made me say how long I would take to run it so I said under 1 hour because I had NO idea how long it takes me to run 10K. haha. So 1 hour is my goal! However being able to finish the run is the most important thing to me right now, even if I am not that fast.

Right now I am working on the treadmill because I don't like running in the cold or the dark (#canadianproblems). But hopefully once it warms up I will be able to hit the pavement for some "real" running. Maybe when my 6 weeks of this program are up!

Wish me luck!