Thursday, December 9, 2010

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. 

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