Today’s workout went really well.  In fact, it might have been the best workout I’ve ever had.  Here’s what happened.

I started out with a five minute walk around the gym’s indoor track.  I felt a little hungry – and this is how I like to feel, right before a workout.  Not famished, but a little reptilian.  I actually forgot to bring a bottle of water to the gym, so after each lap of the track, I’d take several sips from the water fountain.  After warming up, and doing a bit of stretching, I hit the free weights.

Focusing on my back and my biceps and shoulders, I did several different types of curls and combination moves.  I really thought about each movement, each repetition.

After completing the weight lifting portion of my workout, I considered quitting and going home, but I was feeling great.  So, I decided to jump on the treadmill and work on Week 5, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K training program.

That’s when things turned from great to awesome.

On Day 1 of Week 5, the first running interval is to last 5 minutes.  On Day 2, the first running interval lasts 8 minutes.  On day 3, the interval lasts 20 minutes.  Since I managed to squeeze an extra running session in Saturday, and I was coming off of two days of rest, I decided to skip Day 1 and move directly to Day 2.

As I passed the 5 minute mark, I noticed something.  My breathing, instead of being rushed or ragged, was smooth, easy.  My legs, instead of feeling heavy, tired, or sore, felt light and powerful.  I kept running.  I hit the 8 minute mark, and I still felt fresh, almost as if I were just having a nice walk.  So, I decided to push on, and do the entire 20 minute run, without walking.

And it was easy.

Seriously, I just kept running and running, and my lungs felt great, my back felt great, my whole body felt great.  I even ran past the 20 minute mark, and ran for an extra 2 minutes.  I only stopped out of fear of over-training.

To put this into a little perspective, four months ago, I was struggling to run 2 minutes without stopping.  Now, I’m running 10 times that long, and I’m ready for more.  Granted, comparing myself to those who run marathons, I’m still a super-newbie.  However, compared to the NCN of four months ago?  I’m like an running-machine!

I’ll be very interested to see how I do Thursday.  Frankly, I fully anticipate that Thursday will be harder than today, because today I had the benefit of two full days of rest.  We shall see.