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.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Couch to 5K: Week 6, Day 2
The weather was almost perfect for this morning's run. I arrived at the park and watched the fog slowly rise off the lake as I did my 5 minute warm up walk. On today's agenda was 10 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking, followed by 10 more minutes of running. After stretching with the ducks I began my first segment of 10 minutes running. I started out fast, tried to slow down, sped up again and just went with it. I definitely pushed myself a little harder in the first 10 than I probably should have, but going fast felt good, so I just pretended I didn't have to run another 10 minutes and kept up the pace that felt most natural.
I was quite winded when it was time for the 3 minute walk but after 3 minutes I had caught my breath and I felt as ready as I was going to feel to run again. As I started to run I felt a little stiffness and pain in my left knee, but nothing close to what I felt before I had to take a week off to rest. I'm pretty sure I have iliotibial band syndrome. It's not really an injury, it's just an irritation of the iliotibial band caused by an increase in activity. The only cure is rest. As that is not really an option right now, I've chosen to treat it with NSAIDs and ice. I probably will take the next two days off to rest and then pick back up on Friday with W6D3.
Back to the run, I was almost immediately aware that I had pushed too hard in the first 10 minutes as I kept having to tell myself "I'll make it to 5 minutes and take a short walk break". When I made it to 5 minutes, I told myself I'd make it to 8. Once I made it to 8 I just toughed it out and ran through to the 10 minute mark, asking God for His help the whole way. I know my second half was slower than my first half by about 25 seconds but I'm not too disappointed because:
1. I got out of bed and ran this morning
2. I finished the run as written
3. My overall pace was better than my last run
The stats: I covered the same distance this morning as I did W6D1 at 2.69 miles. I did it in 33:25 and increased my pace to 12:25/mile which improved my average pace over the course of C25K to 12:58/mile.
Next up: 25 continuous minutes Friday morning. The key will be pacing myself.
I was quite winded when it was time for the 3 minute walk but after 3 minutes I had caught my breath and I felt as ready as I was going to feel to run again. As I started to run I felt a little stiffness and pain in my left knee, but nothing close to what I felt before I had to take a week off to rest. I'm pretty sure I have iliotibial band syndrome. It's not really an injury, it's just an irritation of the iliotibial band caused by an increase in activity. The only cure is rest. As that is not really an option right now, I've chosen to treat it with NSAIDs and ice. I probably will take the next two days off to rest and then pick back up on Friday with W6D3.
Back to the run, I was almost immediately aware that I had pushed too hard in the first 10 minutes as I kept having to tell myself "I'll make it to 5 minutes and take a short walk break". When I made it to 5 minutes, I told myself I'd make it to 8. Once I made it to 8 I just toughed it out and ran through to the 10 minute mark, asking God for His help the whole way. I know my second half was slower than my first half by about 25 seconds but I'm not too disappointed because:
1. I got out of bed and ran this morning
2. I finished the run as written
3. My overall pace was better than my last run
The stats: I covered the same distance this morning as I did W6D1 at 2.69 miles. I did it in 33:25 and increased my pace to 12:25/mile which improved my average pace over the course of C25K to 12:58/mile.
Next up: 25 continuous minutes Friday morning. The key will be pacing myself.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Couch to 5K: Week 6, Day 1
With my new schedule of running every other day, week 6 day 1 fell on Sunday (yesterday as of this posting). I got up at my normal time for a running day of 5:45 and prepared for what I had anticipated would be a fairly easy run.
I arrived at the park to locked gates and light drizzle. I had apparently arrived before the official opening time of "sunrise"...as if I could tell whether the sun had risen or not. I parked outside the gate and walked around and began my warm up walk. I stopped and stretched at the now familiar picnic table, enjoying the silence of a Sunday morning. As I started my run I noticed a little stiffness in my left knee and some soreness on the inside of my right calf. Both eased as I ran and my muscles warmed up some.
The first 5 minutes were pretty easy and I felt myself running faster than I probably should have but I kept the pace up anyway and tried to increase it some as I reached the end of the 5 minutes. A short 3 minute walk separated the 5 minute run from the next run which was to be 8 minutes. I started the 8 minute run fairly slowly and tried to maintain a fairly steady pace throughout. My legs started to fatigue somewhere in the middle of the 8 minute run but my lungs were keeping up very well. I pushed myself a little toward the end or the 8 minutes knowing that I had a 3 minute walk to help me recover. The final 5 minutes felt really good. My body was tired but I knew it was just 5 minutes so I pushed myself to keep the pace up, especially towards the end. I ran past my starting point before the 5 minutes were up so I knew I had done the second half of my run faster than my first half. I arrived back at the car at 33:36, indicating my second half was 24 seconds faster than my first half.
Overall, I felt good about the run. I'm still not to the point where any of it feels easy or natural. I'm hopeful that it's not always this hard. I have to keep telling myself that it's a gradual process and that as long as I'm asking my body to do more and more I can expect that it's going to be hard.
The stats: I did 2.69 miles in 33:36 which is 12:29 per mile. 1/3 of a mile farther and 30 seconds faster per mile than my last run. Seems odd that adding walking breaks can actually increase distance and speed, but it's true. My average pace over the whole course of the program to this point is right at 13 minutes per mile.
I arrived at the park to locked gates and light drizzle. I had apparently arrived before the official opening time of "sunrise"...as if I could tell whether the sun had risen or not. I parked outside the gate and walked around and began my warm up walk. I stopped and stretched at the now familiar picnic table, enjoying the silence of a Sunday morning. As I started my run I noticed a little stiffness in my left knee and some soreness on the inside of my right calf. Both eased as I ran and my muscles warmed up some.
The first 5 minutes were pretty easy and I felt myself running faster than I probably should have but I kept the pace up anyway and tried to increase it some as I reached the end of the 5 minutes. A short 3 minute walk separated the 5 minute run from the next run which was to be 8 minutes. I started the 8 minute run fairly slowly and tried to maintain a fairly steady pace throughout. My legs started to fatigue somewhere in the middle of the 8 minute run but my lungs were keeping up very well. I pushed myself a little toward the end or the 8 minutes knowing that I had a 3 minute walk to help me recover. The final 5 minutes felt really good. My body was tired but I knew it was just 5 minutes so I pushed myself to keep the pace up, especially towards the end. I ran past my starting point before the 5 minutes were up so I knew I had done the second half of my run faster than my first half. I arrived back at the car at 33:36, indicating my second half was 24 seconds faster than my first half.
Overall, I felt good about the run. I'm still not to the point where any of it feels easy or natural. I'm hopeful that it's not always this hard. I have to keep telling myself that it's a gradual process and that as long as I'm asking my body to do more and more I can expect that it's going to be hard.
The stats: I did 2.69 miles in 33:36 which is 12:29 per mile. 1/3 of a mile farther and 30 seconds faster per mile than my last run. Seems odd that adding walking breaks can actually increase distance and speed, but it's true. My average pace over the whole course of the program to this point is right at 13 minutes per mile.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Couch to 5K: Week 5, Day 3
On today's agenda was 20 minutes of continuous running. I didn't sleep well last night. I don't know if it was the large meal of fried catfish and hush puppies I had for dinner, the slice of strawberry pie I had right before bedtime, or the anticipation of the 20 minutes I was slated to run this morning that kept me awake. It was probably a combination of all three.
The alarm went off at quarter til six as it always does on my running days. I dragged myself out of bed and through my morning routine of getting ready to drive to the park, trying to keep a positive mental attitude. When I arrived at the lake it was 66 degrees, the sun was just starting to rise over the trees on the east end of the lake, and the geese were, well, being geese.
I got out of the car, stretched, did my five minute warm up walk, then stretched some more. As much as I hate it, I've found that stretching really makes a difference. I can feel the difference in my stride when I'm properly stretched and I'm hopefully preventing any further knee pain by keeping my hamstrings and quads good and loose. I'm spending about 3 minutes stretching before my walk, a good 5 minutes stretching between my warm up walk and the start of my run, then another 3 or so at the end.
After stretching, I took off at what felt like a very slow pace. I had no goals this morning other than to finish the 20 minutes without having to stop for a break. 20 minutes without walking would be victory enough. I mentally noted a point where I'm usually around the halfway mark of my run. That was the point to which I decided to run before looking at the stop watch to see if it was time to turn around. I made it to that point, looked at the watch and I had been running for 10 minutes and 24 seconds. I was glad to see that I was past the halfway point. I turned around knowing that I had just run longer than I had ever run before, and that I was about to go another 10 minutes on top of that. It was a good feeling, but I still didn't know if I was going to be able to make it the full 20.
Oddly, the second half of my run seemed to go by faster than the first half. I kept having to hold myself back from trying to run faster. I know I was running faster anyway. By the 15 minute mark I was breathing harder and having to work harder to keep my lungs on pace with my legs. I found myself looking at the watch more often, wondering how much longer. I looked at the watch and noticed I had 3 minutes left. I told myself I wouldn't look back at it until I was to the point where I had started running. For whatever reason, I looked at it again before I got there and only had one minute left to go. I was really feeling it at this point, but I was pretty excited to know that I was going to make it, so I raised my arms in the air like a complete nutcase and ran like that for a few seconds. It felt good. I brought my arms back down and pushed as hard as I could to the picnic table where I stretch. I looked at the watch when I got there and it read 20:24. I was gasping for breath, my legs were quivering beneath me, and I was dripping with sweat, but I had just run a full 20 minutes plus some.
Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of myself. Just a few weeks ago I remember thinking 3 minutes was going to be tough. I also remember looking ahead and thinking W5D3 would be the make it or break it run. Well, I made it. I'm over halfway through the program and I'm really looking forward to increasing my mileage over the next few weeks.
The stats: according to mapmyrun I did 2.34 miles including my warm up and cool down walks. It took a total of 30:24 for a pace of 12:59. I'm estimating I ran a total of 1.65 miles in 20:24 for a running pace of 12:22, which puts my walking pace at 14:30. I've definitely slowed some since the beginning of the program, but I'm less worried about pace than I am being able to know I can run a full 30 minutes by the time the program is finished.
Next up, the start of week 6. It sounds pretty easy. The program calls for run 5, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5. That's only 18 minutes of total running with walking breaks. Should be a breeze. Famous last words?
The alarm went off at quarter til six as it always does on my running days. I dragged myself out of bed and through my morning routine of getting ready to drive to the park, trying to keep a positive mental attitude. When I arrived at the lake it was 66 degrees, the sun was just starting to rise over the trees on the east end of the lake, and the geese were, well, being geese.
I got out of the car, stretched, did my five minute warm up walk, then stretched some more. As much as I hate it, I've found that stretching really makes a difference. I can feel the difference in my stride when I'm properly stretched and I'm hopefully preventing any further knee pain by keeping my hamstrings and quads good and loose. I'm spending about 3 minutes stretching before my walk, a good 5 minutes stretching between my warm up walk and the start of my run, then another 3 or so at the end.
After stretching, I took off at what felt like a very slow pace. I had no goals this morning other than to finish the 20 minutes without having to stop for a break. 20 minutes without walking would be victory enough. I mentally noted a point where I'm usually around the halfway mark of my run. That was the point to which I decided to run before looking at the stop watch to see if it was time to turn around. I made it to that point, looked at the watch and I had been running for 10 minutes and 24 seconds. I was glad to see that I was past the halfway point. I turned around knowing that I had just run longer than I had ever run before, and that I was about to go another 10 minutes on top of that. It was a good feeling, but I still didn't know if I was going to be able to make it the full 20.
Oddly, the second half of my run seemed to go by faster than the first half. I kept having to hold myself back from trying to run faster. I know I was running faster anyway. By the 15 minute mark I was breathing harder and having to work harder to keep my lungs on pace with my legs. I found myself looking at the watch more often, wondering how much longer. I looked at the watch and noticed I had 3 minutes left. I told myself I wouldn't look back at it until I was to the point where I had started running. For whatever reason, I looked at it again before I got there and only had one minute left to go. I was really feeling it at this point, but I was pretty excited to know that I was going to make it, so I raised my arms in the air like a complete nutcase and ran like that for a few seconds. It felt good. I brought my arms back down and pushed as hard as I could to the picnic table where I stretch. I looked at the watch when I got there and it read 20:24. I was gasping for breath, my legs were quivering beneath me, and I was dripping with sweat, but I had just run a full 20 minutes plus some.
Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of myself. Just a few weeks ago I remember thinking 3 minutes was going to be tough. I also remember looking ahead and thinking W5D3 would be the make it or break it run. Well, I made it. I'm over halfway through the program and I'm really looking forward to increasing my mileage over the next few weeks.
The stats: according to mapmyrun I did 2.34 miles including my warm up and cool down walks. It took a total of 30:24 for a pace of 12:59. I'm estimating I ran a total of 1.65 miles in 20:24 for a running pace of 12:22, which puts my walking pace at 14:30. I've definitely slowed some since the beginning of the program, but I'm less worried about pace than I am being able to know I can run a full 30 minutes by the time the program is finished.
Next up, the start of week 6. It sounds pretty easy. The program calls for run 5, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5. That's only 18 minutes of total running with walking breaks. Should be a breeze. Famous last words?
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