Week 8 – Day 1

Phew, made it through the 28 minute run for day 1 of week 8.  Only 4 more timed workouts left for me, on day 3 of week 9 I am going to set my goal for 5K instead of just 30 minutes.  The 5K should take me about 33 to 35 minutes so it’s going to be a bit of a stretch.

Today’s workout went pretty good.  I didn’t really have any internal struggles until about 23 minutes into the running portion, that’s when it seemed to get pretty tough.  Even though the last few minutes were a struggle I made it through and was able to push it again for the last 30 seconds of the run.

I waited a bit before going running this morning because it was dark and would have been hard for me to see my watch to keep an eye on my HR.  Instead, I read the Bible and prayed first thing this morning which I usually do after my run; I believe that helped me out by setting my mind in a good place first thing before the run.

The total distance I went this morning was 3.22 miles, but I only ran for 2.49 miles of that and the rest was the warmup and cooldown walking which accounted for a total of 11 minutes.

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 6 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 5.0 mph/13.1 mph
Average Heart Rate: 153 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 182 bpm
Total Distance: 3.22 Miles
Calories Burned: 510

On a side note, I think the Ullrey podcast for today was only 27 minutes instead of 28 minutes for the run.  When Robert said there was only a minute left my Garmin said there was 2 minutes left.  So, if you are following along with the podcasts just keep that in mind and make sure to keep going another minute. 

I’m almost done with the program, now I just have to make sure I keep up with the exercise instead of thinking up excuses for not getting out to run.

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

Week 7 Summary – 8/17/08 to 8/23/08

Statistics For Week 7:
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 26 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.8 mph
Avg HR: 152 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 8.68 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 1345
Total Time Run For The Week: 1 hour 48 minutes

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Week 7 – Day 3

Week 7 is now complete.  I finished my final week 7 run yesterday and it was pretty tough.  My mind and body kept trying to convince me to stay in bed and just get another 30 or 45 minutes of sleep.  Well, I pushed myself out of bed and got out there for the run.  For most of the run my mind kept trying to get me to stop and walk, saying “this is just too hard, stop and walk for a while…”.  I knew that it wasn’t too hard because I’d done the same run three times already so I kept on pushing through.  My body was pretty tired near the end of the run but I still pushed it for the last 15 to 30 seconds and got in a great workout.  After I was done I was very glad that I pushed myself through this and won another battle against my mind.

While I was running I did notice my HR was above the goal limit that I had set for a lot of the run.  Looking back through the Garmin stats I was pushing it a bit more during this run than Wednesday or Monday so that explains why it was hard to keep the HR in my desired zone.  I have a feeling it’s going to be that way for a few months while my heart gets into shape.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 36 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 12 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.9 mph/13.3 mph
Average Heart Rate: 152 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 187 bpm
Total Distance: 2.95 Miles
Calories Burned: 474

Well, this run wasn’t any less of an internal struggle than Wednesday’s but I made it through just fine.  Looks like I’m going to have to get used to pushing through the limits the mind tries to set. See you next week!

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Week 7 – Day 2

Day 2 down, one more to go in week 7.  I really didn’t want to get up this morning but I pushed myself out of bed and got out there.  I’d have to say that this day was a challenge.  Mostly it was a struggle with my mind more than anything.  I knew I could complete the run since I did it on Monday and last Friday but my mind kept on trying to say “lets walk for a bit, this is too hard…”.  Well, even though I had a hard time keeping my heart rate in the zone I wanted to I knew I could do it and in the end it wasn’t too hard cause I was still able to push it for the last 30 seconds of the run.  Looking at my Garmin stats I see that my average HR for the duration of the exercise was 153 bpm which is well within the range I wanted to keep it.  But, looking at the 25 minute period of my run it averaged 162 bpm which is 4 bpm above the max rate I wanted it to go.  Oh well, I’m still getting into shape so it’ll take a while before my heart rate can stay within the range I want it to be for the long haul.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 36 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 36 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.8 mph/11.8 mph
Average Heart Rate: 153 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 186 bpm
Total Distance: 2.85 Miles
Calories Burned: 436

Hopefully Friday’s run will be a little less of an internal struggle but we’ll have to see.  One thing I know is that once the run was over I was happy I pushed myself to get out of bed and kept running for the duration of the 25 minutes. 

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Week 7 – Day 1

Into week 7, made it through day 1 yesterday.  For the most part I was able to keep my heart rate in the zone I wanted to keep it.  It does start creeping up into the 160’s bpm in the last 5 to 10 minutes of the run.  I found the run to be a challenge but it’s more of a mind game than anything.  I know I can make it through the run, it’s just a matter of pushing through the times where there’s some discomfort.  The hardest part of this process right now is waking up and getting out the door early.  It’s still dark when I get out in the morning so it’s hard to see my Garmin display for about the first 15 minutes so I have to almost wait until I get near a street lamp to see what my heart rate is… Just a few more weeks and I’ll be able to run 5K, that’s quite a stretch from where I was just 7 short weeks ago!

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 36 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 31 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.8 mph/12.9 mph
Average Heart Rate: 150 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 184 bpm
Total Distance: 2.87 Miles
Calories Burned: 435

I’ll let you know how tomorrow’s run is, see you then!

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Week 6 Summary – 8/10/08 to 8/16/08

Statistics For Week 6:
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 21 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.9 mph
Avg HR: 152 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 8.49 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 1294
Total Time Run For The Week: 1 hour 45 minutes

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

Week 6 – Day 3

I’m done with Week 6, yay!!  Sorry I didn’t get this up sooner but I’ve been kind of taking it easy this weekend and didn’t want to do much on the computer.  The run went pretty good, I managed to keep my heart rate under 158 for a good portion of the 25 minutes of running and my average heart rate worked out to be in the low 150’s bpm.  I’m pretty happy with my run and I felt good after it was over.

Next week’s runs are 25 minutes long each day with a 5 minute warmup and cooldown, plus a 1 minute fast walk after my run, the total exercise time will be 36 minutes.  I no longer fear the long runs and am looking forward to the time I’ll be able to complete a 5K run.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 36 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 24 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.8 mph/13.1 mph
Average Heart Rate: 153 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 186 bpm
Total Distance: 2.90 Miles
Calories Burned: 452

Todays post is rather short but I need to post the weeks summary and then it’s off to bed so I can roll out of bed tomorrow and get in another 25 minute run. 

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Week 6 – Day 2

Week 6 day 2 is done.  I found todays runs to be difficult for two reasons.  First, my legs became more tired than usual.  They’ve been kind of tired before but it seemed worse today, especially after my three minute walk.  So, that was kind of a mental struggle to push through that.  Second, I found it hard to keep my heart rate under 158 bpm.  My first ten minute run had an average of 158 bpm but the high got to 168 bpm and for most of the last few minutes of the run my heart rate was in the mid 160’s bpm.  During my second 10 minute run my heart rate was pretty much constantly in the mid 160’s to low 170’s bpm.  My average heart rate for that run was 168 bpm with a high of 177 bpm.  That was even though the second runs pace was about 30 seconds per mile slower than the first runs pace.  Oh well, I still made it through and had enough energy to push it for the last 15 seconds and after the 34 minutes were over I was happy I pushed myself to get up and get out there and exercise.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 34 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 22 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.8 mph/11.7 mph
Average Heart Rate: 153 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 182 bpm
Total Distance: 2.75 Miles
Calories Burned: 413

As I suspected, today marked the end of running with walk breaks in between runs.  From here on out it is just a warmup walk, a long run, and then a cooldown walk.  Friday’s run is 25 minutes long and that carries into next week as well.  Pretty soon I’ll be at 30 minutes of running and on the last day of week 9 I will just run until I hit 5K.  See ya Friday!

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Week 6 – Day 1

Day 1 of week 6 is done.  It was a bit tougher than I expected considering the longest run was 8 minutes and I just completed a 20 minute run last Friday.  It was still manageable though, however despite my efforts my heart rate was mostly in the lower 160’s bpm at the end of the first run and on the other two running intervals instead of under 158 bpm. 

Although tired before and after my runs it feels good to make it through each workout and I’m starting to look forward to the running days now as opposed to dreading them.  That doesn’t mean it’s easy, it’s still hard to get myself out there and it’s generally hard the first few minutes, but overall I am starting to enjoy it a bit more.

I did finish my day 1 yesterday but didn’t get a chance to post last night because I was at work late so here are my results.

Garmin Forerunner 305 stats for todays run:
Total workout time, including warm-up and cool-down: 35 Minutes
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 18 seconds
Avg Speed/Max Speed: 4.9 mph/12.9 mph
Average Heart Rate: 150 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 181 bpm
Total Distance: 2.85 Miles
Calories Burned: 429

Tomorrow I have  two 10 minute runs with a 3 minute walk in between and I believe that will be the last day with a walking segment.  The rest of my runs will be continuous long runs I think, I’ll have to verify that tomorrow.

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Week 5 Summary – 8/3/08 to 8/9/08

Statistics For Week 5:
Average Pace: 1 mile in 12 minutes 28 seconds
Avg Speed: 4.8 mph
Avg HR: 148 bpm
Total Distance Run For The Week: 7.37 Miles
Total Calories Burned: 1073
Total Time Run For The Week: 1 hour 32 minutes

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