Pacing

I just finished week 4 day 2 of c25k, and I feel pretty good. It's the same program as day 1, but tonight I went a little bit further (like .01 miles - a very little bit). But the better part is that I was cognizant enough of my surroundings that I was able to figure out where I started and stopped running, and was able to figure out my running pace! (Yes, I know if you have an iPhone or a Droid, the app will figure that out for you. But I have neither. Back off.) My running pace - even for the dreaded 5-minutes-at-a-time run - was about 10:00 - 10:30 mins per mile. I know that's pretty darn slow, but I feel good about it. That time is especially nice for me because it's the same pace that I ran my first 2-mile run at Basic Combat training, 11 years and 40 pounds ago. So this is good. I'll want to pick up the pace, but later. After I'm able to run 3 miles at a whack. Maybe even after I've transitioned up to 10k runs. But for now, I'm happy.

Recent Records

Just finished w4d1, and I feel freaking AWESOME! Tired, yes. My lungs feel a little raw too, but overall, I feel great! I ran 5 minutes at a time TWICE - with is the longest I've run since at least December 2004. And not counting my warm-up and cool-down, my time (including walks) was just shy of a 12-minute mile. Not speedy, but I'll take it! So this workout goes like this: 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run, 2.5 minute walk, 3 minute run, 90 second walk, 5 minute run. Start and end with 5 minute warm-up and cool down. I already mentioned that 5 minutes is longer than I've run at a time in about 6 years. But last week, 3 minutes was my record. Which means I smashed last week's record to pieces. I'm pretty happy! My legs are tired, though, so I'm gonna go see if I can down a recovery shake: Apple juice, frozen fruit and protein powder. Yum.

Hacking My Program

So tonight I did week 3 day 2 of c25k. Sort of. It's a little weird. In comparison to the c210k app I tried, this has me running longer intervals, though for a much shorter overall time. But week 3 is a bit weird, because rather than ending the workout with a run followed by a 5 minute cool-down, week 3 ends with a 3-minute walk, followed by a 5 minute cool-down. But tonight, I took things into my own hands. And kinda succeeded. Usually, my workouts consist of me leaving the house as I press "start." The warmup is me walking to my local running trail (conveniently about 5 minutes away). When the app tells me to run or walk, I do that. When it says "halfway," I turn around and go back the way I came. Ideally, I reach the point where I started running at the same time the app tells me to start my cool-down, and I just walk home. Tonight, I didn't want to walk then walk some more, though, so my plan was to keep running for an extra 90 seconds after the "halfway" notice, then turn around. I was then going to start running at the 90 second mark of my last "walk" interval, then cool down for the regular 5 minutes. But I screwed up my plans a bit. When I finished my extra 90 seconds after the turnaround point, I thought, "gee, if I go just another 30 or 45 seconds, I can make it to that landmark," which I knew would make my total distance about 2 miles tonight, including my warm-up and cool-down. But that extra time going out had to be doubled coming back. So even though I started running with 90 seconds left on my last walking interval, I was nowhere near where I should be if I was going to make it home in the 28 minutes allotted by the app. So I kept running well into my cool-down time, leaving myself only 3 minutes for a cool-down. When I got home I was very tired, but I did make the time I hoped for. If I don't count my warm-up or (abbreviated) cool-down, my pace was a 13:20 minute mile. Not bad, considering that I walked nearly half the time. (Not great, but not bad.) I think for my next run I'll play it straight, though. Too much thinking involved tonight.

I'm Baaaaack!

So, it appears I haven't posted here in almost a year. Ouch. Let me explain some of the stuff I've tried to do since then. I tried Couch to 10k a couple of times, then got really busy and stopped. I've also hit the gym intermittently, and tried watching what I eat. All of that was pretty successful -- as long as I kept doing it. But when I got busy with work or whatever, the weight crept back up. Not all the way to all-time highs, mind you, but up just the same. But here's my latest thing. Well, a couple of them. I'm doing lose it again, but I'm doing a better job of sticking with it -- at least so far. My goal is to record everything I eat, whether I have a good day or a bad one. I'm also working through couch to 5k again, but this time with a different app. I'm only on week 3, but so far so good. I decided to go with c25k rather than 10k because, as much as I love the idea of burning 500-700 calories in a single workout, I am too likely to just decide that I don't have an hour to run. But I can always squeeze a 30-minute workout in, and I've not missed a single workout so far. (I've put a couple off one day, but I haven't had to bump any workouts into the next week.) The last thing I've been using is fitocracy. It's goal is to turn exercise - regular, non-"play" workouts into a game. You get points for each workout you complete, and these points are posted online. You can join groups. I'm a huge nerd, so I'm in the Browncoats and Dr. Who groups, as well as Couch to 5k. Groups organize different challenges to keep you motivated, you earn achievements and complete quests and level up, like you would in a standard role-playing game. I've been on about a week and a half, and I've been enjoying it. A couple of times I thought to blow off a workout, but then I remembered my Fitocracy points, and went out anyway. So the silly little point system seems to be working for me. So that's it. That's what I'm doing to hack my gut right now. Anyone else have any great ideas?

Week 3 Day 1

Today was 1:30 run, 3:30 walks, repeated 10 times for a total of 56:30 total run time. I got home about 1:30 early, though. I guess my out-and-back was almost completely uphill going out and downhill coming back. But I still ran rather slowly. My estimated run speed was about a 10 minute mile. That's OK, though, because my heart rate was much lower than it was at the end of my intervals last week (about 160 vs. 180). So on Wednesday, I'll try to pick up the pace on my runs a bit. I'm only supposed to go for about 45 minutes then, so I think I can handle a faster pace.

Week 2 Day 3

I actually managed to run 3 days this week. Today was 1 minute running and 4 minutes walking. Total time, including warm-up, cool-down and about 800m (where my workout ended but I wasn't home yet was about 50 mins. For those of you keeping track at home, that's an average 14:52 mile. My run times were at about an 8:20 mile, which means that I ran at a pace that would allow me to pass the Army's 2-mile run.

If I were allowed to break the running up into 1-minute segments with 4-minute rests between each one.

And if my 2-mile run were only 1 mile long.

I think I kinda suck. At least compared to my 10-year-younger self.

Next week: 90-second runs! Woohoo!

I'm Back...

So it's been... what? Eight months? Oops. I'm sure I had all kinds of good reasons/excuses to stop, but I don't even remember what they were.

But now, I'm starting over again.

Last week I bought the Couch to 10k app. Why jump straight to 10k? Well, I'm not sure. I think part of it is the fact that I really, REALLY need more than 30 minutes of exercise, especially if much of that is walking (as it is now, and will be for at leas a couple more weeks). Plus, I'm in this thing right now where I'm finding a huge lack of self-control, at least when it comes to food. So I need to counteract that in a big way.

Today I completed week 2 day 1, which entails 5 minutes of warm-up and cool-down surrounding 9 sets of 1 minute of running and 4 minutes of walking (with an extra 1 minute run thrown in right before the cool-down). The grand total was 51 minutes during which time I ran 3.48 miles. Not super speedy, I know, but at least I got out, right?