Running: 12/30/2010

I got out later than usual today because I've taken the week between Christmas and New Years Day off of work and decided to sleep in this morning.  I started my run at about 9:30.  It was a nice change from Tuesday's weather at about 44 degrees. 

I set out to do another 33 minutes today.  I did it, but I didn't think I was going to.  I got about 3 minutes in and felt like I had already run 30 minutes.  I was ready to quit and walk back to the car, but I pushed on through it.  My recent running lethargy is bothering me, but I think it's due to poor eating habits over Christmas.  I'm hoping to remedy that over the next couple of weeks by getting back into a normal eating routine.

I was back in my home park today.  I started out with a couple of warm up laps around the parking lot before setting out on my run.  I'm changing up my mileage and timing tracking by only keeping track of what I run and excluding the warm up time & mileage from my total statistics.  Having done my warm up in the parking lot instead of doing it along the road through the park I started my run at a different point today.  I'm not sure if that threw me off or if my body is really rebelling against my recent unhealthy diet but I was really working to just keep running by the 3 minute mark.  I kept going, but the whole run felt like a struggle today.


Today's Stats:  I did 2.9 miles in 33 minutes which is 11:23 per mile.

Next Up:  I'm hoping to get a good run in on New Years Day.  I'm due for a speed day so I'll probably cut the time down to about 20 minutes and push to see how far I can run in that 20 minutes.  I ordered my Garmin Forerunner 305 watch Tuesday.  I'm hoping it will come in before my first run of 2011, but it's more likely to arrive sometime next week.

Running: 12/28/10

I went to the TTU running track today while away from home for Christmas.  It was 14 degrees out but I made myself get out anyway.  I needed to work off all the junk I had been eating and was about to eat.  It was a hard run, possibly because of the junk in which I had been indulging.

I set out to do 33 minutes and accomplished that goal.  Actually, my watch said 32:35 when I stopped running, but it appeared to be running very slowly, especially at first.  I think sitting out in the cold car all night effected its performance. 

In the 32:35 I did 11 laps in lane 7 of the track.  4 laps in lane 1 equals a mile, so 4 laps in lane 7 equals a little more than a mile, but I'm not sure how much more.  I'm just going to go with the 4 laps = a mile equation to be conservative.  11 laps would be 2.75 miles.  I was really pushing to keep running by the time I started the last lap but was able to find some reserve energy and really ran the last lap pretty hard.

Today's Stats:  I did 2.75 miles in 32:35 for a per mile pace of 11:51.

Next up: Another 33 minute run.

Running: 12/26/2010

I couldn't stand it anymore so I decided to run on the treadmill today.  It was snowy out this morning and we decided to postpone our post-Christmas Christmas celebration by a day.  I decided to do 33 minutes today and had no problem with it.  I breathed pretty easily all the way through. The treadmill said I was running at about 4.6 mph and did about 2.75 miles in the 38 minutes.  That's 5 minutes walking and 33 minutes running.  I was a little surprised at the short distance again so I did a little experiment to test the accuracy of our treadmill.  I made a mark on the base and a mark on the tread with White Out and counted the number of times it went around in a minute and then counted the number of times it went around over what it measured as a quarter of a mile.  Turns out the ol' treadmill is accurate within about 3%, so over the course of 3 miles, it might be off by as much as a tenth of a mile.  That's really not too bad, and not nearly as inaccurate as I thought it might be.  The only other factor that might be playing into it is the weight of a person running.  I did the measurements without a load, and it's possible that could change things.  It did make some sense, though.  I was breathing easily for most of the run and my pulse was pretty low, too.  I intentionally kept the effort on the low side today to make sure I made it the full 33 minutes.  The last time I ran on the treadmill, I took it way too fast and was worn out before I got halfway through my planned run.  Not a bad run, though.

Today's stats:  I did 2.75 miles in 38 minutes.  

Next Up:  Another 33 minutes, this time hopefully outside and hopefully covering a little more distance.

Running: 12/23/2010

I've been having a little off and on very minor pain in my left IT band for the last few days.  I'm not sure what's causing it.  I've added swimming to my routine.  Also I'm running in the cold, which is said to possibly irritate the IT band.  I'm stretching it well before and after and it never bothers me during a run.  I really only notice it when I've been sitting for awhile. 

That said, I decided to shorten today's run slightly and I'll be taking tomorrow and possibly Saturday completely off all exercise.  I don't want to have to take another month off to heal. 

Since I was shortening my run somewhat, I decided to pick up the tempo a bit.  That may have negated any healing that I hoped to allow my IT band to do, but I couldn't just let myself take it easy.  That's just not my style. 

I picked a spot in my head at which I would turn around.  I ran the first five minutes at a slightly faster than normal pace (165ish strides per minute) and then accelerated to significantly faster (175ish spm) than what I'm used to for the next three minutes.  I dropped the pace back down to the slightly faster than normal pace for most of the remainder of the run until I topped the final hill into the parking lot where I was barely able to push up to an all out run for the last 100 yards or so. 

Today's Stats:  I did 2.35 miles in 26:02 for a pace of 11:04/mile.  That's over 10 seconds faster per mile than my best time.  I was pleased with that, and hope to start varying my runs a little bit.  Rather than just training to increase distance with each run, I'm thinking I'll try to work in a shorter/faster run in each week.  Hopefully that will increase my pace over the longer distances as well.  If nothing else, it's a good cardio workout.

Next Up:  The weather is supposed to get pretty ugly here Friday night and into Saturday.  I had hoped to be able to go for a run outside on Christmas day, but if the weatherman is right, I may be in for some treadmill time, as much as I hate it.

Swimming: Zero to 1650 12/22/2010

Last night's swim was better than expected and considerably better than Monday night.  I've found that just like running, part of the process of increasing stamina is learning to pace myself.  I've noticed a tendency to start out at a nice easy pace and slowly swim faster and faster as I get closer to the end of the pool.  Last night I concentrated on maintaining the easy pace all the way to the end of the pool.  I was able to do over 75% of my swim freestyle just by making a conscious effort to maintain a slower pace. 

I'm not sure when I'm going to get back to the pool.  It's closed for a three day weekend starting tomorrow (Christmas Eve).  We'll be spending some time with family over the following week. 

I'm thinking I'll continue the current routine for two or three more swims.  I want to be able to do the whole 700 yard workout freestyle before moving on.

Couch to 5K: Week 9, Day 3

I graduated today.  There was no cap and gown, no Pomp and Circumstance, no streamers or confetti or wild all night parties.  It was just me, the ducks and herons, the squirrels, what was probably a skunk (smelled but not seen) and the rain.  Yes, it rained on my final day of the C25K program.  I don't recall having run in the rain previously.  It wasn't bad at all.  In fact, I sort of enjoyed it.  If it had been much colder out, it may have gotten uncomfortable.  Thankfully, it was just a light rain and I didn't end up soaked.  My socks stayed dry, so no soggy squishy feeling with each step. 

I've learned that I love the feeling I have right after a run.  It's like I can taste the oxygen in the air and my head is completely clear.  I'm looking forward to increasing my distance and hopefully my speed. 

Other than the rain, there was nothing remarkable about today's run.  I started running, I got tired, I pushed myself to keep going anyway, everything felt just right for a few minutes, I realized I was close to the 30 minute mark so I ran faster, then I was done.  I didn't have to run around the parking lot as much today.  Just a small circle at the end to run out the last few seconds was all I needed.  I tried to maintain the same pace as Sunday but was obviously a little slower.  I'm to the point where I need a good fitness watch to monitor at least my pace and distance.  Estimating based on strides per minute is okay but I want to know exactly how fast and how far I'm running.  That may have to be an after Christmas gift to myself.

Today's stats:  2.85 miles in 34 minutes.  That's a pace of 11:56/mile. 

Next Up:  I'm going to continue to add time at the rate of 10% per week.  So, my next three runs will be 33 minutes each.  The following week will be 36 and the following week will be 40.  I may stop at 40 and start working more on speed at that point.  I'm still searching for a 5K around the first of the year.  There are several in the area in January and February, but I haven't picked one yet. 

Swimming: Zero to 1650 12/20/2010

DecI got back to the pool last night.  I have to say that swimming in a bubble covered pool is quite dull.  My only company was the small group of older ladies doing their water aerobics workout.  While I'm proud of them for doing something good for their bodies, they didn't add much to my 700 yard swim. 

I almost feel like I'm not pushing myself hard enough in the pool, but the last time I pushed myself as hard as I felt like I should I ended up light headed and nauseous.  For now I'm just going to concentrate on swimming 700 yards until I can do it without feeling utterly exhausted afterwards.  Then I'll work on adding distance.

Last night's swim was the first in over a week, so I really didn't expect much.  I alternated freestyle with backstroke.  In running terms, freestyle is the run portion and backstroke is the walk portion.  I'm splitting them about half and half right now, with complete stops to catch my breath in between sets.  I'll be pretty excited when I can do 100 yards freestyle.  Hopefully that's not too far off.

Couch to 5K: Week 9, Day 2

I did week 9, day 2 Sunday morning.  I went out with the hope of picking up the pace a bit over what I did Friday.  I'm still monitoring my pace by counting strides.  I tried to stay at or around 160-165 strides per minute.  Friday I ran closer to 150 per minute.  I was able to maintain the 160ish pace for the whole run, but didn't have much left to push out a faster pace for the final couple of minutes.  That's okay, I now know my max pace and where to work up from.     

Sunday morning was a good morning for a run.  The weather was almost perfect.  It was just a tad too breezy from time to time, but not to the point that I couldn't run.  I started out at the usual place and took a 4 minute warm up walk.  I've decreased the walk to 4 minutes because I'm running out of room to run, and I seem to be just as ready to run at 4 minutes as I was at 5.  The first 10-15 minutes of the run can be quite tedious and sometimes discouraging.  I don't know why, but those first minutes always seem the hardest.  There's a nice window somewhere between 10 minutes and 25 minutes where everything feels just right and I feel like I could run forever.  The I hit another tough patch for about the last 5 minutes.  It's been awhile since I felt like I'm really struggling just to put one foot in front of the other like I did on occasion in those first few weeks though.

I successfully picked up the pace today.  I got to the parking lot and still had two minutes left so I turned right into the parking lot ran to the end and then back to the road.  There was still about a minute left, so I went back and did half the parking lot again before finishing up at exactly 34 minutes.

Today's Stats: I estimated my additional parking lot mileage to be around .15 so I'm estimating I ran a total of 2.95 miles in 34 minutes for a per mile pace of 11:32.

Up Next:  The last day.  That's right, I plan to run week 9, day 3 on tomorrow morning.  I'm also trying to find a 5K to do soon.  I didn't get to the pool at all last week, but I'm planning to go this evening.

Couch to 5K: Week 9, Day 1

I've made it to week 9.  I've been at this since July, and thought I would be through the program by the middle of September.  Instead, here I am, almost 6 months later, finally ready to finish up.  I struggled through some unexpected injuries and setbacks and found that I'm not 18 anymore.  Even so, I healed, and pushed through, and I'm a healthier person because of it. 

I'm proud of myself.  Not in a conceited, I'm all that way, but in the sense that I know that I've done something that I wasn't sure I would be able to do.  I ran 30 minutes this morning.  No, make that 30 minutes and 52 seconds.  I only ran 2.8 miles in that time, but I ran a full 30 minutes.  Okay, it was more of a jog than a run, but when I first started the couch to 5K program, 5 minutes of slow jogging seemed like a pretty lofty goal.

Today's run ran the gamut of almost everything I've experienced over the last 6 months.  I was tired after 3 minutes and started to question whether I would make it 5, much less 30.  Then everything started to click, and I felt pretty good for a good portion of the run.  I felt a few twinges in my IT band here and there, most likely due to the cold, but that went away.  My quads started to tire a little over halfway through.  I found myself passing the time by planning out my day in my head and before I knew it, I was passing the big smiley face painted on the road that signaled I only had about 6 minutes left to go.  I knew I had at least 6 more minutes left, so I picked up the pace slightly until I hit the big(ish) hill at the end.  I ran up the hill at a pretty hard pace and then sprinted across the parking lot to the edge of the pavement. 

I have two more days to go before I "graduate".  I'm not sure what I'll do after that.  I know I want to continue to increase my distance, but not significantly.  I also want to work on running faster, but I want to make sure I can consistently run 35-40 minutes before I really start trying to increase my pace by much.  For now, I'll just take it one run at a time.  I'll try to increase distance by about 10% per week until I reach what I feel is a good plateau, and go from there.

Today's Stats:  I ran my normal 2.8 miles in 34:52 for a pace of 12:27/mile.  I seem to have slowed some recently.  I know I made a conscious effort to slow down today so I could make the full 30 minutes.  Maybe I'll take it just a little faster next time just to see if I can do it.  I'd like to be keep my pace better than 12.  I've done 2.8 in as little as 31:31.  What that tells me is if I speed up, I'm going to have to increase my distance a bit.  That should be no problem.

Next Up:  Week 9, Day 2.  I'll try to increase my speed and my mileage.  This will probably have to wait until Monday, as I have a pretty busy weekend planned.  

Couch to 5k: Week 8, Day 3.2

I've been stuck on week 8 for longer than I had hoped to be.  Today was my 5th day of week 8.  The good news is, I think I've conquered it.  My plan is to start week 9 on Thursday. 

I brought the run inside today onto the treadmill in the fitness center at work.  It was boring but I did it.  The one thing I like about the treadmill is the ease of pace management.  I was able to find my pace and stick with it throughout the run and then incrementally increase the speed over the last 5 minutes.  28 minutes is still not an easy run, and I'm not sure it ever will be, but I know I can do it if I manage my pace correctly. 

Today's Stats:  I covered what the treadmill said was 2.8 miles in 34:45 for a pace of 12:25/mile.

Next Up:  Tomorrow afternoon I hope to get back to the pool for another 700 yard workout.  Thursday brings up C25K Week 9, Day 1 which only adds two minutes to the run for a total of 30 minutes.  I know I could have done another two minutes this morning, so if I can keep my speed in check 30 minutes shouldn't be a problem.

Couch to 5k: Week 8 Day 3

I ran inside on the treadmill today, with music.  I'd never run with music before and I would venture to say that I'll probably not do it again.  I felt the need to say in step with the beat and it messed with my pace.  I started out way too fast and wasn't able to make it the full 28 minutes.  On top of that, It's around 70 degrees in our house, and that's too hot for me.  Overall, not a good run, but I ran.

Today's stats:  the treadmill said 2.4 miles in 33 minutes.  I'm not sure how accurate the odometer is, but I'll go ahead and count it as 2.4 miles.  Not a good pace, but it is what it is.

Next Up:  I plan to get repeat Week 8 day 3.  Possibly on the treadmill at work.  It's just too nasty out right now to go to the park.

Swimming: Zero to 1650 Day Two

I made it to the pool again this morning.  Swimming is a serious workout. 

The routine for this week is:
1. Swim 100 yards 4 times, resting for 12 breaths (HA!) between sets of 100. 
2. Swim 50 yards 4 times, resting for 8 breaths between sets of 50.
3. Swim 25 yards 4 times, resting for 4 breaths between sets of 25.
 
12 breaths to rest between sets of 100 yards is simply not enough for me.  I need closer to 30 to feel even remotely ready to swim again.  The pool is 25 yards and I can do two full lengths nonstop freestyle but I start to get out of breath and a little panicky about halfway through the second length.  When I start to feel that way, I concentrate on pushing hard to the end of the pool and then switch to a backstroke for the remainder of the set.

I'm looking ahead at the plan for next week and I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep doing week one for at least another week.  I didn't feel any stronger today than I did Wednesday evening and I would really like to be able to swim at least 100 yards freestyle without having to rest before moving on. 

I've found that if I concentrate on a nice relaxed pace and not gasping for air when I turn my head to breathe, I feel much better in the water. 

I'm hoping to run tomorrow.  The weather looks like it could be pretty nasty.  I'm hoping I can motivate myself to run on the treadmill if it's too bad to get outside and run.

Couch to 5k: Week 8, Day 2.2

Another day of the week 8 routine of running 28 minutes.  I didn't quite make it last time, so I repeated day 2.  I completed the 28 minute run this morning plus 47 seconds. 

It was 19 degrees this morning at the park.  I never really felt uncomfortably cold.  I ran in shorts, a synthetic shirt, and a fleece jacket with a hood.  I kept the hood up for the first 5 minutes but had to put it down.  I decided that sweat pants were too hot when I ran in them on Tuesday.  I was quite comfortable today with the exception of my hands.  I need some gloves or mittens to wear when I run. 

I was a little concerned this morning that yesterday's swim might negatively impact this morning's run.  I don't really think it made a difference.  The only thing I noticed was a little tightness in my quads at first, but that worked out after a few minutes and the rest of the run felt great.  I took it almost painfully slow.  I kept my strides per minute down to 150 for most of the run and then decided to increase my pace for the last 5 minutes.  I was still feeling strong with 4 minutes left to go, so I pushed myself to run at almost a full sprint (or what I would consider a full sprint after having already run 23 minutes).  I was able to maintain the almost sprint pace all the way back to the car.  I decided to run all the way to the end of my route instead of stopping at 28 minutes because I wanted to push myself just a little harder.  All said, I was pleased with today's run. Oddly, it was slower than Tuesday's run.  I'm pretty sure I started out too fast on Tuesday and then didn't have anything left when I got into the second half.  I'm still learning to pace myself.

There is no comparison between the cardiovascular workout of swimming and that of running.  I have a feeling swimming is going to improve my running significantly.  I was way more out of breath last night after swimming 50 yards than I was this morning after running 2.8 miles, and I was running almost as hard as I could the last 4 minutes.

Today's Stats:  2.8 miles in 33:47 for a pace of 12:04 per mile.  That pace includes my 5 minute warm up walk.  A rough estimate of my running pace is 11:30 per mile.     

Next Up:  I'm taking tomorrow off to allow my lungs and legs to heal after three days in a row of punishment.  Then I'll probably swim on Saturday and run another 28 minutes on Sunday.  The forecast Sunday is for rain/snow & wind.  I guess we'll see how much of a runner I really am on Sunday. 

Swimming: Zero to 1650 Day One

I got to the pool tonight after work.  It kicked my butt.  I've decided to follow this plan.  I did the week one routine and basically followed it as written.  I wasn't able to freestyle the whole thing, but I did about half.  For the 4 X 100 yard segments, I was able to do 50 freestyle and then backstroked the next 50.  For the 4 X 50 segments, I don't exactly remember what I did, but I'm pretty sure it came out to about half and half.  The final 4 X 25 segments were all freestyle.

I got out of the pool and didn't feel so great.  The pool was like a bathtub and I think I may have gotten slightly overheated.  I'm feeling pretty good now (about an hour later) though.

For this, I'm not worried about speed.  I just want to be able to swim a mile freestyle without stopping.  Once I can do that, I'll decide if I want to worry about doing it faster.

Couch to 5k: Week 8, Day 2

I didn't want to do it, but I took the advice of my beautiful wife and got my lazy tail out of bed this morning and ran. She was right, of course. I'm glad I did it. I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but I did it and I'm motivated to get out there and do it again. It's funny how easily a couple days off can lead to a week off.  I can see how a week off could easily turn into never running again.  I don't want to end up there, so unless I'm physically unable to run, I'm committing myself to running at least 3 times a week.


The word for today is cold.  It was 22 degrees when I parked the car this morning.  It really didn't feel too bad for the most part.  My hands and my neck were a little cold.  My neck was especially cold when I started sweating and running directly into the wind. 

I was supposed to run 28 minutes this morning.  It had been 6 days since I last ran and I felt it.  I got 20 minutes and then had to walk.  I partially blame that on the bitter wind blowing right in my face.  The road through the park runs generally west-east.  I always start on the west end and run east, then turn around and come back. The wind was blowing out of the west.  The first half wasn't bad at all as I had the wind at my back.  When I turned around, the wind was blowing right into my face and the running became significantly more difficult.  I made it to my turn around in about 17 minutes, including the 5 minute warm up.  When the wind started hitting me in the face, I slowed down a bit to try to compensate, but my lungs started burning and I could feel myself slowly but surely losing the battle.  At the 20 minute point I had two choices.  Pass out or walk and catch my breath.  Passing out is not something I really wanted to learn about this morning, so I stopped to walk for a bit.  I walked for 3 minutes, which was plenty of time to catch my breath and then ran all the way back to the car, which was only another 4.5 minutes. 

I'm a little disappointed that I had to take a walk break this morning, but I guess I shouldn't have taken nearly a week off. 

Today's Stats:  I did the same 2.8 miles I've been doing and I did it in 32:33 which is a pace of 11:37 per mile.

Next up: I'm going to repeat Week 8 Day 2.  I want to be able to comfortable and consistently run 28 minutes before I move on to Week 9.  Also, I'm hoping to have time to get to the pool tomorrow after work and start training to swim a mile. 

Motivation

It seems like since beginning running I've gone through some motivational highs and lows.  Right now I'm at a low.  I just didn't have the will to get out of bed this morning to go run.  The sheets were so warm and I knew it was frigid outside.  I just couldn't bring myself to subject my body to that torture.  On top of that I'm still tired from not sleeping Friday night due to being up all night with a sick daughter.  After being up all night, I was too tired Saturday morning to make the 5K in which I had planned on running.  That's two 5Ks I've missed in the last two weeks. 

I'm not sure why I have this sudden lack of motivation.  As far as the running is concerned things have been going great.  I can now run 28 minutes, and I'm only a few days away from "graduating" the Couch to 5K program.

Maybe a few days off will be good for me.  Absence, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder.

Couch to 5K: Week 8, Day 1

I've made it to week 8.  I also completed another milestone this morning.  I topped the 100 total mile mark since starting back in July! 

Today's run was 28 minutes.  It wasn't much different from 25 minutes.  My problem right now is learning to pace myself so that I'm (a) not pushing myself too hard and (b) not pushing myself hard enough.  This morning was a (b) morning.  I wanted to make sure I made it through the 28 minutes, so I started out pretty slow.  As I have no better way to measure my speed, I'm using strides per minute to try to regulate my pace.  I started out at 150 and worked my way up to 156 and pretty much tried to keep it in that range for the entire run.  I got close to the end and realized I felt like I could keep going for quite awhile, even after pushing pretty hard up the hill at the park entrance.  On top of that, I only finished my 28 minute run a few hundred feet beyond where I finished my 25 minute run on Monday. 

I need to work out a plan for the 5K on Saturday that will allow me to run the whole thing at a decent pace.     

Today's stats:  I ran the same 2.8 mile route today in 33:52 for a remarkably slow 12:06/mile.  I could have run it faster, but I don't know my own limitations yet.

Next up:  5k on Saturday.  I'm going to count it as Week 8, Day 2 but I'll likely be running longer than the alloted 28 minutes.  Swimming will start next week.