Week 9/28 Thru 10/4.

There were only two runs again this week as I had a busy weekend of working which wore me out to the point of needing a few days rest.  I ran Tuesday and Thursday and while it is still difficult I think I’m starting to win the mind games.  I’ve been trying to go into the workouts telling myself that I can make it and while running I try and just keep my mind occupied on other things so that I wont be obsessing over the amount of time left.  My pace is still pretty slow but I’ve been mixing some intervals into the last 10 minutes of the run so that I try and run faster for 30 seconds and then slow back down for 30 to 60 seconds.  Hopefully that will help my endurance and pace in the long haul.

Here are the Garmin stats for my two days of running:
Avg Pace during the 30 minute run: 1 mile in 14 minutes 4 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.3 mph
Avg HR: 153 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 5.18 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 568
Total Exercise Time For The Week: 1 hour 14 minutes

In the above figures I averaged the pace and avg speed for my 30 minutes of running but the other numbers are based on the complete exercise time which is 36 minutes per day.  See you next week!

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Tags: running, fitness

Week 9/21 Thru 9/27.

I only made it through two days of running this week and I have to say that the first day was extremely hard.  There were points where I wanted to quit but I pushed through the fatigue and made it the entire 30 minutes. I’m not getting any faster, it seems that my pace varies greatly from day to day.  I’ll just keep pushing, though, and after a few weeks I’ll start looking at increasing my pace.  I may add an extra day this week, running just a mile to work on speed and endurance, but I’m not sure just yet.

Anyway, here is what my Garmin is telling me that I accomplished in the two days I ran:
Average Pace during the 30 minutes of running: 1 mile in 13 minutes 55 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.3 mph
Avg HR: 153 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 5.14 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 577
Total Exercise Time For The Week: 1 hour 14 minutes

In the above figures I averaged the pace for my 30 minutes of running but the other numbers are based on the complete exercise time which is 36 minutes per day.  That’s it for this post, I hope your running is going well.

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Post Couch-To-5K

Well, I haven’t reached a point where I have run 5k yet but I have achieved 30 minutes of continuous running which I’m pretty happy with. It’s hard for me yet, I still have to fight with my mind and tell myself internally that I can make it. Even though it’s a struggle I do make it through the 30 minutes. I’m sure that’ll get better after some consistency in my fitness program.

From the next few months I plan on continuing with my 30 minutes of running 3 times a week, with a possible extra day or two in there where I may just run a mile to try and help increase my stamina/endurance and running speed. During this time my three days are going to be Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday for my 30 minute running days. My program will be the following:
1 minute warmup.
30 minute jog.
1 minute fast walking-recovery
5 minute cooldown.

If I can work in another day or two where I run a mile I plan on pushing myself during those runs as a way of increasing my endurance and speed.

The last two weeks my average pace has been about 13 minute miles for the 30 minute run portion with average heart rates between 150 bpm and 165 bpm during those runs. So, while I’ve reached a good point so far, in that I can run 30 continuous minutes now, I still have a lot of work to do because I want to get my speed to between 9 and 10 minute miles.

I plan on/hope to post my progress and stats at least twice a week from here on out so keep on checking back and thanks for the words of encouragement from everyone.

Week 9 Summary – 9/31/08 to 9/6/08

Statistics For Week 9:
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 59 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.6 mph
Avg HR: 152 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 9.47 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 1337
Total Time Run For The Week: 2 hour 03 minutes

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness

Week 9 – Day 3

Hi everyone, I’m finally getting to post the stats for day 3’s run. I finished this run on September 5th, so I’m just a wee bit late on the post… Just a note, I did this run on the treadmill and the runs since have been on the treadmill. It’s easier on my knees at this point as I still need a good pair of running shoes.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 41 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 13 minutes 04 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.6 mph/8.9 mph
Average Heart Rate: 148 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 179 bpm
Total Distance: 3.14 Miles
Calories Burned: 454

Since my Garmin footpod isn’t calibrated I’m not sure that the stat’s are accurate but their better than nothing.

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness

Quick Update.

Hi everyone.

Sorry I haven’t posted my results lately, I’ve been super busy at work lately and haven’t had the time to keep my posts up-to-date.

Just to let you know, I have finished the Couch Potato To 5K program on schedule, yay!!  I made it through week 9’s 30 minute runs, although I didn’t quite get to 5K yet.  I have continued my running and I hope to post my results this week so look for a few posts with Garmin statistics included.

I still find it hard to make it through 30 continuous minutes so I am going to concentrate on just keeping going for the next month or two at 30 minutes 3 times a week in order to build my stamina/endurance.  After that I will work toward actually getting to running 5K in 30 minutes and will look into other training possibilities/goals after that.

I’ll post my final week 9 results as well as the stats from my continuing runs and other thoughts later this week, so until then have a great week!

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness

Week 9 – Day 2

Made it through day 2 on Wednesday. I went on the treadmill for the 30 minute run instead of doing it outside and while it was easier to keep my HR in check it is still hard to run for 30 consecutive minutes. Hopefully after a few weeks of consistent running at 30 minutes things will become a bit easier and I’ll be able to get to the 5K distance. Tomorrow will be my last day of the couch potato to 5k program, I will have “graduated” and going forward my focus will be on getting quicker as opposed to just getting through the run.

Once again the statistics I have are with an uncalibrated foot pod accessory for the Garmin Forerunner 305 so I’m not sure how accurate the data is, besides the HR of course. I’ll probably end up on the treadmill again tomorrow to finish the program but I’m definitely going to make sure I make it through the run. I hope to post those results tomorrow but it may be sometime over the weekend that the results actually get posted.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 41 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 13 minutes 52 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.3 mph/8.8 mph
Average Heart Rate: 150 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 179 bpm
Total Distance: 2.94 Miles
Calories Burned: 354

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness

Week 8 – Day 3 and Week 9 – Day 1

Sorry for not posting last week but I didn’t get a chance to post Friday or Saturday and Sunday I was too wiped out to post so I’m combining day 3 of week 8 and day 1 of week 9 in this post.

I made it through both days ok but it was a battle against my mind once again for both runs.  The course I took on Friday was less uphill than the one I did last Wednesday but it was still a hard run.  For most of the last 15 minutes I was pretty much telling myself I could make it in spite of the pleading to just walk.  It was the same way for today’s run, which was my first 30 minute run, I ran in spite of my body and mind pleading with me to quit.

It didn’t help matters any that the enter button on my Garmin decided to quit working so I couldn’t pace my runs to my heart rate because the normal display of the heart rate is too small for me to see when running.  Usually I set my workout so I stay in a certain HR range and when I do that the HR display is big enough for me to keep an eye on it.  However, without being able to choose my planned workout I had to go with the default screens which are setup more for timing the pace of the run and not the HR.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get that enter button situation resolved and be able to get back to HR training, but I think the workouts are still going to be difficult until I have been running 30 minutes consistently for a few months.  After that I’ll probably start working on my pace.  I had planned on running 5K on Friday but I’ll probably just do the 30 minutes for a couple more weeks to get my body into better shape before trying the 3.1 miles.  Here are my stats for day 3 week 8 and day 1 week 9.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for the Day 3 Week 8 run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 39 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 26 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.8 mph/11.7 mph
Average Heart Rate: 163 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 193 bpm
Total Distance: 3.04 Miles
Calories Burned: 475

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for the Day 1 Week 9 run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 41 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 8 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.9 mph/7.7 mph
Average Heart Rate: 157 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 177 bpm
Total Distance: 3.38 Miles
Calories Burned: 529

Just a note, Wednesday’s run results probably wont be posted until Thursday as I have to work late Wednesday so that’ll be the next post from me.  I posted week 8’s summary right before this post if you would like to see that.  Have a great Tuesday and Wednesday!

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness

Week 8 Summary – 8/24/08 to 8/30/08

Statistics For Week 8:
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 27 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.8 mph
Avg HR: 160 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 9.40 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 1414
Total Time Run For The Week: 1 hour 57 minutes

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness

Week 8 – Day 2

Day 2 of week 8 started at a new location.  Instead of going out early in the morning I decided to run during my break at work.  There is a shower there and there are a number of employees who run during their lunch hour so I decided that I would do the same.  I figured this would give me some new scenery and would be a good change of pace.  Plus, this would give me a chance to get outside in the nice weather during the day.

Well, there are a few different routes that I could take so I chose one at random and started chugging along.  I was able to keep my HR within my goal range for about the first 2.5 to 3 minutes of the run.  After that, it was in the 160’s then 170’s then 180’s…  The route I chose ended up starting with a short run uphill followed by about a 3 minute stretch downhill and then pretty much uphill again for the rest of the run!  My HR slowly climbed until it was near the max HR during the last 8 to 10 minutes of the run.  It was pretty much a battle against my mind for about 15 minutes of the run.  My mind kept telling me to just walk, slow down walk and get some beats back.  I resisted the urge, even though it was extremely hard, and managed to just squeak out the 28 minutes.  There wasn’t even enough gas left in my tank to push it hard for the last 15 to 30 seconds of the run, I pretty much gave it all I had to make it to 28 minutes. 

Even though I went about 45 seconds slower per mile than on Monday I still couldn’t keep my HR under control because of so much uphill running.  That pretty much wiped me out for the rest of the day and night but I’m still happy I pushed through the pain and completed the run.  I plan on running again during my lunch hour tomorrow but this time I have a different route I am going to take, one that isn’t so much uphill work.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 39 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 50 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.7 mph/6.9 mph
Average Heart Rate: 164 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 191 bpm
Total Distance: 3.04 Miles
Calories Burned: 429

As you can see from the stats, I was no where near as fast today as I was Monday but my HR was well above where it was then.  I guess it’s not always about the speed of the run, sometimes the terrain gets the best of you too.

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Tags: couch-to-5k, running, fitness