Couch to 5k: Injury & Progress Update

I started out on my journey with an 8 week couch to 5k program.  However, right at the midway point I injured my hip and the physio found that the pain was coming from my glutes and was caused by weak glutes.  I've been seeing the physio for 3 week and have been doing strengthening and stretching exercises and now I'm getting back into running.

Here are my previous posts:

• Couch to 5k: Physio
• Couch to 5k: Week 4
• Couch to 5k: Week 3
• Couch to 5k: Week 2
• Couch to 5k: Week 1
• Couch to 5k: The Start

I repeated one of the week 4 runs and it felt ok so I thought I'd give Week 5 Day 1 a go.  To be honest I didn't think I would be able to do it.  Week 4 Day 3 was run 3, walk 2, run 5, walk 2, run 3.  So that 3 run segments of 3-5-3, whereas Week 5 Day 1 has run segments 5-6-5 and that's a huge leap to me.  I was so surprised and happy when I was able to do it!  I have to confess that I am running at a much slower speed than normal as per my physios instructions, but it feels so damn good to be running and improving!

Yesterday's run segments were 5-8-5 and I couldn't believe that I had managed to run for 8 minutes straight!  What's more is that my breathing was good and my body didn't feel too fatigued, the real challenge was the uncomfortableness of running that caused my mind to keep telling me to stop.  The mind had given up before the body and I had to resort to bargaining with myself to keep going.  I still have one more run to do of Week 5 which looks tough with the run segments being 8-5-8.

A couple of things are on my mind right now:

• The uncomfortableness feeling will diminish if I lose weight
• I would feel more confident if I could get into a regular workout schedule
• I have my first trail race coming up next week

The trail race I plan to mostly walk.  I'm hoping it will help give me an idea of what to expect from the rest of the series while I improve my running and fitness.  As for the other two points, well I'm still working on them :D

My friend and his wife (Red Wine Runner) just ran a 53 mile ultra marathon!  You can read the report on RWRs blog.  Here I am celebrating running for a whole 8 minutes and these guys just ran for 13 hrs 27 min 41 sec and 11 hrs 44 min 7 sec respectively!!