Week 7 begins

The time has flown by, and I'm now starting week 7 of the Couch-to-5k program. From this point forward, I'll be running for at least 25 minutes at a time, three times per week. My endurance has been slowly increasing to the point where I'm able to do the runs without a huge amount of difficulty. They're a challenge, but they don't feel impossible and I get home refreshed and "pumped" rather than exhausted and drained.

There's something calming, even meditative, about being outside and running.

I'm also still completing rung 36 of the Lifetime Fitness Ladder every day, which takes about 15 minutes each morning. All told I'm doing about 3.5 hours of exercise each week, or an average of about 30 minutes a day. On the one hand this seems like far more than most people do, but on the other hand it feels like the "right" amount to keep me healthy.

My weight has been bouncing around for the past week, but I'm still aiming to hit a rolling average of 150 on an ongoing basis, and hopefully I'll hit that point by the end of September. If not, that's fine too - part of learning to enjoy exercising is allowing myself a bit of wiggle room when it comes to weight-related issues. For my height, I'm well within the range of a "normal", "healthy" weight, so worrying about a pound here or there doesn't make much sense.