After not running for 3 weeks, I ran in my first 5k Sunday. I did much better than I expected and I had no knee or IT band pain. I finished in 36:22 which is 11:27 per mile. In my C25K program training I never matched that pace.
The race started out well. I jogged with Lauren for several minutes and we both stopped to walk at about the same time. I felt like I could have easily kept running but I knew it was wise to take a walk break considering I hadn't run in three weeks. I'm not sure how far or long I walked, but it wasn't long before I decided I wanted to run the majority of the first mile. I ran to the first drink station and walked while I finished my water. I walked for a few more seconds and then started to run again when I heard Lauren over my shoulder, so I walked with her for awhile. We both ran somewhat together down a pretty good sized hill. I started walking again when I got to the bottom and walked up a fairly steep hill before arriving at what was pretty close to the half way point. From there on I broke up my running and walking as evenly as possible, but I feel like I walked more than I ran. As I got closer to the finish, I started to hear the music and the crowd cheering on the runners and knew I had to push it out to the finish. I rounded the last turn onto the final straight to the finish and turned around to see if I could see Lauren behind me, and there she was rounding the next to the last corner. I waved as I disappeard behind a van and started jogging. I increased my pace steadily all the way to the finish until I was running all out. I passed several people on that last stretch and it felt really good to cross the line giving it all I could.
I had no idea what my time was but I was more interested in waiting for L to cross the line and congratulate her on a strong finish. She came in a little over a minute behind me. She did a great job, but was disappointed with her time.
I was really pleased with 36:22. I know the swimming and time on the elliptical have helped my cardiovascular stamina over the last few weeks. I never felt terribly out of breath and walked more for the sake of my legs than my lungs. Once I got into a breathing rhythm I was feeling good.
Our next 5K is tentatively on Thanksgiving Day. I'm really looking forward to it. My plan to prepare is to take the rest of this week off of running. I'll swim and use the elliptical machine the rest of this week and then start back on day 1 of C25K next week, hopefully with my daughters. I want to start from the beginning to work my leg strength back up. On days that I don't run, I'm hoping to be able to swim on my lunch break.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
What do we do? We Swim!
I've been insanely busy at work and with my kids soccer season starting up a couple of weeks ago, so I've not maintained my blog schedule very well.
I've stopped running temporarily. I'm trying to give my IT band time to heal completely before going back to it. I'm still planning on the 5K on 9/26, but I'll most likely be walking a good portion of it. I'm trying to not let that get to me because I know the more I think about it, the harder I'm going to push myself on race-day. The last thing I need to do is go from not running for several weeks to trying to run a full 5K. To avoid that, I may go into it with a schedule of running and walking that I commit to, no matter what.
In the meantime, I've spent some time on the elliptical machine and swimming. My swim goggles came in earlier this week and I've started the 0 to 1650 program. So far, week one is kicking my butt. I'm on day two. It calls for 700 total yards, which I'm doing, but not exactly as written. My plan is to keep doing the week one program until I can do it exactly as it is written before moving on to week two. I can do 50 yards before having to stop for a short breather. I'm basically doing the whole thing 50 yards at a time with a break for 10-15 breaths between each 50 yards until I get to the set of four 25s at the end. I'm hoping on my next swim I can get in a full 100 yards at least once without stopping for a break. I've found the key is to slow down, especially my legs. Kicking uses some serious oxygen. I've found swimming to be a much more challenging cardio workout than either running or the elliptical machine. When I go back to running, I'm expecting breathing to be a breeze (pun intended). I need to get back on the elliptical some days, though, to keep my legs in shape.
As for running, I don't know when I'll start back. I want to give everything plenty of time to rest before getting back in the groove. When I do start, I'm wondering if I should just start back at the beginning of C25K and see how it goes. There's a 5K on Thanksgiving day that I would tentatively like to do, but I'm afraid to set a goal to be able to run it because I tend to push myself to the point of burn out when I have a goal. If I start back on day one on 9/26, the Thanksgiving Day 5K could theoretically be my C25K graduation run. I don't want to set that as a goal, though, because I feel like that's at least part of what has me sitting on the bench right now. If I set it as a goal, I'll feel obligated to push myself through every workout as written, no matter what hurts.
For now, I'll just keep swimming.
I've stopped running temporarily. I'm trying to give my IT band time to heal completely before going back to it. I'm still planning on the 5K on 9/26, but I'll most likely be walking a good portion of it. I'm trying to not let that get to me because I know the more I think about it, the harder I'm going to push myself on race-day. The last thing I need to do is go from not running for several weeks to trying to run a full 5K. To avoid that, I may go into it with a schedule of running and walking that I commit to, no matter what.
In the meantime, I've spent some time on the elliptical machine and swimming. My swim goggles came in earlier this week and I've started the 0 to 1650 program. So far, week one is kicking my butt. I'm on day two. It calls for 700 total yards, which I'm doing, but not exactly as written. My plan is to keep doing the week one program until I can do it exactly as it is written before moving on to week two. I can do 50 yards before having to stop for a short breather. I'm basically doing the whole thing 50 yards at a time with a break for 10-15 breaths between each 50 yards until I get to the set of four 25s at the end. I'm hoping on my next swim I can get in a full 100 yards at least once without stopping for a break. I've found the key is to slow down, especially my legs. Kicking uses some serious oxygen. I've found swimming to be a much more challenging cardio workout than either running or the elliptical machine. When I go back to running, I'm expecting breathing to be a breeze (pun intended). I need to get back on the elliptical some days, though, to keep my legs in shape.
As for running, I don't know when I'll start back. I want to give everything plenty of time to rest before getting back in the groove. When I do start, I'm wondering if I should just start back at the beginning of C25K and see how it goes. There's a 5K on Thanksgiving day that I would tentatively like to do, but I'm afraid to set a goal to be able to run it because I tend to push myself to the point of burn out when I have a goal. If I start back on day one on 9/26, the Thanksgiving Day 5K could theoretically be my C25K graduation run. I don't want to set that as a goal, though, because I feel like that's at least part of what has me sitting on the bench right now. If I set it as a goal, I'll feel obligated to push myself through every workout as written, no matter what hurts.
For now, I'll just keep swimming.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
C25K Break and the Elliptical Machine
I tried running again on Sunday. I tried some new stretches for my IT band and wanted to see if they made a difference. I didn't do very well. I had to take a walk break seven minutes in. Considering I was scheduled to do 25 minutes, I was pretty disappointed. I attribute the poor performance mostly to it being the middle of the day and somewhat hotter than I had grown accustomed to. After catching my breath I started to run again, got about 3 minutes in and my IT band started acting up again. I stopped running and walked back to the car, disgusted and fully considering just giving up altogether. I'm not a quitter, though. I can't just give up on something. It's become somewhat of a challenge to me now. I'm determined to be able to run a full 5k. I probably pushed myself too hard. I also took that ridiculous hike back a few weeks ago. I'm pretty sure that's what started it all.
With that, I've decided to take a few weeks off running and let my knee completely heal. I don't want to lose the cardiovascular stamina I had built up, though, so I'm looking for alternatives. This morning I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. It kicked my butt. It seemed to be more of an upper leg workout than I had been used to, almost like riding a bike while standing up. I tried to keep up a pretty good pace that felt similar to what I would be doing when running but when I got to the end it told me I had only done 1.1 miles. in the 30 minutes. If that's true, it was 1.1 miles of serious stair climbing. I was beat by the end of the workout.
I'm hoping to get some swim goggles soon and start this program:
Zero to One Mile
I'm not sure when I'll start running again. I'd like to be able to work my scheduled 5K on 9/26 into the C25K program somehow, but I'm not even sure I'll be back to running by then. My plan is to give my left left plenty of time to heal. Meanwhile, I'll stretch religiously and get in some cross training.
With that, I've decided to take a few weeks off running and let my knee completely heal. I don't want to lose the cardiovascular stamina I had built up, though, so I'm looking for alternatives. This morning I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. It kicked my butt. It seemed to be more of an upper leg workout than I had been used to, almost like riding a bike while standing up. I tried to keep up a pretty good pace that felt similar to what I would be doing when running but when I got to the end it told me I had only done 1.1 miles. in the 30 minutes. If that's true, it was 1.1 miles of serious stair climbing. I was beat by the end of the workout.
I'm hoping to get some swim goggles soon and start this program:
Zero to One Mile
I'm not sure when I'll start running again. I'd like to be able to work my scheduled 5K on 9/26 into the C25K program somehow, but I'm not even sure I'll be back to running by then. My plan is to give my left left plenty of time to heal. Meanwhile, I'll stretch religiously and get in some cross training.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Couch to 5K: Week 6 Day 3
Today's run didn't go as I had hoped. I only made it 12 minutes in and had to stop and walk the rest of the way due to my aching iliotibial band. The pain wasn't unbearable and I'm sure I could have kept running on it but everything I've read about it says to stop as soon as you feel pain. I was stubborn and ran 2 minutes past when I felt the pain because I wanted to make it at least to the halfway point. The good news is, I was on about an 11 minute mile pace when I had to quit. The bad news is I was only able to run a little over a mile. At this point I guess I'm going to have to resign myself to walking a good portion of my first 5k. For now I'm going to start a pretty aggressive stretching and rehab regimen so I can get through this and get back to running. I don't want to lose what I've gained with my lungs and heart so I'm planning to swim at least 3 days next week. I may not run again until Monday 9/13. If I go that long again without running, I'm not sure how far back in the C25K program that will push me. I really don't mind going back to the beginning at this point if it means I can do it injury free.
The disappointing thing is I had several moments this morning in which everything felt like it was coming together. I was breathing easily, my legs weren't overly tired, and everything felt natural. I made it to the 10 minute mark and was feeling great. I don't want to lose too much of that progress, so I need to find a way to keep myself moving and motivated while I take time to heal completely.
The stats - for what it's worth: I did 2.5 miles today. I only ran about 1.1 of that. It took me a total of 34:51 which was a 13:56 minutes/mile pace.
The disappointing thing is I had several moments this morning in which everything felt like it was coming together. I was breathing easily, my legs weren't overly tired, and everything felt natural. I made it to the 10 minute mark and was feeling great. I don't want to lose too much of that progress, so I need to find a way to keep myself moving and motivated while I take time to heal completely.
The stats - for what it's worth: I did 2.5 miles today. I only ran about 1.1 of that. It took me a total of 34:51 which was a 13:56 minutes/mile pace.
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