Pre-birthday challenge

My 34th birthday is exactly 61 days away and I want to make them count - not only losing weight wise, but also workout wise. When I hit my first mile straight a couple weeks ago, I decided that I need to refocus and work on increasing my running mileage. So I have a new challenge...run an entire 5K straight!

Source: google.com via Kathy on Pinterest

I found this 8 week long 5K Training schedule for Beginners that I want to follow. It finished up with me doing a 5K on Sunday, January 27...the weekend before my birthday. I did have to make 2 changes though...I had swap Monday and Tuesday because Tuesday is my Weight Watcher meeting day (I'll talk about WW on Tuesday). I also had to swap Wednesday and Sunday to give me a break after the Saturday long run.

My training schedule

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1 Dec 3-9	12/3 1 mi run	12/4 Rest	12/5 20-30 min run or CT	12/6 1 mi run	12/7 Rest	12/8 1.5 mi run	12/9 CT or Rest
2 Dec 10-16	12/10 1.5 mi run	12/11 Rest	12/12 20-30 min run or CT	12/13 1.5 mi run	12/14 Rest	12/15 1.75 mi run	12/16 CT or Rest
3 Dec 17-23	12/17 2 mi run	12/18 Rest	12/19 20-30 min run or CT	12/20 1.5 mi run	12/21 Rest	12/22 2 mi run	12/23 CT or Rest
4 Dec 24-30	12/24 2.25 mi run	12/25 Rest	12/26 25-35 min run or CT	12/27 1.5 mi run	12/28 Rest	12/28 2.25 mi run	12/30 CT or Rest
5 Dec 31- Jan 6	12/31 2.5 mi run	1/1 Rest	1/2 25-35 min run or CT	1/3 2 mi run	1/4 Rest	1/5 2.5 mi run	1/6 CT or Rest
6 Jan 7-13	1/7 2.75 mi run	1/8 Rest	1/9 35-40 min run or CT	1/10 2 mi run	1/11 Rest	1/12 2.75 mi run	1/13 CT
7 Jan 14-20	1/14 3 mi run	1/15 Rest	1/16 35-40 min run or CT	1/17 2 mi run	1/18 Rest	1/19 3 mi run	1/20 CT
8 Jan 21-27	1/21 3 mi run	1/22 Rest	1/23 CT or Rest	1/24 2 mi run	1/25 Rest	1/26 Rest	1/27 5K Race!

The race I decided on doing is the 5K at the USA Fit Marathon. I was kind of limited with options...there aren't many races in January and I wanted to do one specifically on the the 27th.

I'm super excited now...I can't wait to start tomorrow. Hopefully I can knock out a mile tomorrow. Last Monday, I got winded after only half a mile. But maybe since I am taking today off I will be ready to go tomorrow.

As far as weight goes, my goal is to lose at least 15 pounds in this time period. I know it is asking a lot (almost 2 pounds per week) especially during the holidays, but I'm hoping with all this exercise I can make that happen!

Until later, happy running!

Jamie