Running – A full body workout

I've been running every other day, loosely following a couch to 5k program that runs (ha) over the course of 6 weeks. The first two days I did 7 minutes of running and then a 5 minute cool down (Levels 5.5, 5.7, and 3.0). Then on the third day, it was a 15 minute run (Levels 5.5, 5.7, 6.0 and 3.0) and a 5 minute cool down.

THAT IS A LONG TIME TO RUN, PEOPLE.

Phew. I haven't run that long in awhile. Even with just a 5 minute run, my abs and my inner thighs KILL the next day. And after my 15 minute run, my legs felt like jelly for the entire next day.

What's a little disconcerting, however, is to see the calorie burn report, which even after 15 minutes of running and a 5 minute cool down was just under 200 calories. Considering I was sweating my ass off and feeling pretty sore and tired, I'm always amazed at how few calories running burns.

I realize that running 30 minutes every day is a whole other story, but I feel just as winded if not more after running for the same amount of time as the 30 Day Shred or the other workouts, and yet, not as many calories.

I'm off to a family wedding this weekend, but will be packing my running shoes and shorts. I figure there's no better excuse to take a break from what will surely be a stressful family weekend than running away or at least pretending to do so.

On the bright side, I'm 33 today. And I've never felt better.