The 5K

Basically it was a disaster. I didn't finish. I won't be doing it again. I'm a little mad I paid money for the experience.

For the past few months I've been focusing on getting to the point where I can run three miles. But I forgot one other very important detail about 5Ks: there are a whole lot of people at them.

I was entirely unprepared for running in a crowd. I started near the back, hoping people would quickly stretch out ahead of me. But this didn't happen, and I found myself trapped in a throng of people. I couldn't speed up or slow down without running into someone. The trail was too narrow to really pass anyone, and the number of children, dogs, and people having conversations made that even harder. So for the first mile I was stuck going a little slower than I really wanted to. I also spent that mile concentrating really hard on my music and trying to control my breathing so I wouldn't freak out.

Finally, the crowd started to thin out, and I had a little more breathing room. But right around the time I was feeling better, the people who had reached the halfway point began passing me on their way back. The flood of people coming at me sent me back into panic mode, and I had to stop running.

I spent the rest of the race trying to keep myself from escalating into a full blown panic attack. I managed to calm down towards the end, but the thought of facing the crowd at the finish line caused my heart to speed right back up. I skipped the finish line and veered off to the car with Kevin.

The crappy part is that I actually think I could have finished if there hadn't been so many people everywhere. I probably could have run for a lot farther than I ultimately did at any rate.

C25K Week Six, Redux

It took me three weeks, but I finally completed Week 6, Day 2 of the C25K program.

After I hurt my ankle, didn't really want to stop running. I went and bought an ankle brace and successfully completed the first day's workout for week 6 (run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5). Then life started getting in the way. Work exploded with deadlines and social gatherings. I have a very hard time saying no to a work happy hour, because they tend to happen rarely and they're good networking opportunities. But we had two in two weeks that coincided with project deliveries. Between this, I also flew out to California for Alumni Weekend. So when all was said and done, I was only managing to run once a week.

The running I was able to do wasn't all that successful, either. One week it was raining, which prevented my GPS from working and I wasn't able to keep track of my pace or distance. The next time I went running, my GPS was working, and I discovered that I ran a full mile in the first of two 10-minute run intervals. Based on distance, I had maintained a similar pace the week before. While I was incredibly happy about this accomplishment, I was also too worn out to complete the workout. I ended up walking home because I simply could not convince my legs to travel any faster.

The next time I went running, I made a conscious effort to slow down. Thankfully, the GPS on my phone was working and I was able to use it to maintain an 11:30 minute/mile pace.

Here's the thing. I felt like I was traveling so slowly for the entire run. I kept wanting to speed up, because I knew I could. But I also knew that if I ran too fast, I'd wear myself out. So I forced myself to stay slow and completed the entire run.

Here's the other thing. Back when I started this training program, I probably couldn't have run a quarter of a mile at that pace, even on a treadmill. To run nearly two miles, including a significant uphill portion and feel like I could go faster? That's a huge accomplishment that I need to acknowledge. And writing about my running is helping me to actually look at that and see it for how cool it really is.

The only problem was that after my most recent run, my ankle was absolutely killing me. I switched to a slow walk for the cool down portion, and it just exploded in pain. I very nearly didn't make it home because I could barely walk on it. But the entire time I had been running, I felt fine. Half an hour after I got home, I felt fine again. It wasn't the part of my ankle that normally hurts after I twist or strain it, so I don't know that it was related to my old injury. I honestly have no idea what happened. And it has me a little scared.

At any rate, the 5K is this Saturday. I don't feel entirely prepared, but I feel a lot better than I did a week ago. I'm not sure if I'll run again before the official race; I'll just have to see how the rest of the week goes. And during the race, I'll have to remind myself to not overdo it.

Wish me luck!

C25K Week Six

I was really excited to start the sixth week of the C25K training program. The first two days of the program go back to interval training, then it's just about lengthening the amount of time you can run for until you hit a 5K. The fifth week was such a turning point that I was getting pretty confident in my abilities to complete these workouts.

 Perhaps I was getting a bit too confident.

The first workout was three running intervals - 5 minutes, then 8 minutes, then 5 minutes again. I pushed myself on the first five minutes and managed to go a full half mile, maintaining a 10 minute mile pace for the whole thing. That's when I stepped wrong and felt something tweak in my ankle. During the walk I could feel it beginning to swell, so I went home. The good news is that I made it home. One of my biggest fears about running outside was that I would hurt myself in a way that I couldn't get back home. Now that I've actually gone through it, I feel a bit more comfortable about getting home in the event of an injury. The bad news was that I had to walk nearly .75 miles on a twisted ankle. The injury itself wasn't too bad, but I can't imagine that helped.

So I went home and wrapped and iced my ankle in the hopes that I would be recovered enough to try again on Wednesday.

But my confidence wasn't quite there. On Wednesday I skipped my run in favor of getting a beer with Kevin and some of his friends. On Thursday I went to happy hour with my coworkers to celebrate a completed product. And on Friday I was just too exhausted to think about running.

Saturday morning I decided that enough was enough. I put on my running clothes and headed out to retry the first workout of the 6th week. But with four minutes I could feel the blood rushing to my ankle again, trying to protect the injury. I thought I could recover on my walk. But a couple of minutes into the second run, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish.

Now I don't know what I'm going to do. The 5K is in three weeks. I've lost a week of training, and I'll probably lose next week, too. I'm not sure I'm really ready for the 5K, based on where I am now, especially if I can't run for a while. I've also already paid for it, and would still like to say that I did it. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how I feel over the next few days.

C25K Week Five

I hit a turning point during the fifth week of the C25K program. I think I'm actually turning into a runner.

The first workout this week consisted of three 5-minute run intervals separated by 3-minute walks. This was actually less running than the week before, so it felt almost easy. I was getting tired during the third interval until I got a second wind at the end of it. I felt like I could have run farther, but I'm sticking to the training program so I don't accidentally injure myself.

c25k week5, day 1

There were a bunch of other positives about my first run this week, too. Hills didn't seem nearly as hard or terrifying, and I ran up several of them without wanting to die. Recovery after the run was really quick; I was able to shower and run some errands instead of sitting on the couch for an hour. I also spent most of the next day fighting off the desire to go for another run. Like I said, I'm sticking to the training program to avoid injury and exhaustion. But the fact that I wanted to go for a run has me pretty optimisitc about this whole thing.

The second workout consisted of two 8-minute runs separated by a 5-minute walk. This is the same amount of running/walking as week four, but fewer breaks meant that I needed more endurance. And to my surprise, this run was practically easy. I'm not sure if I'm establishing a rhythm or just learning to enjoy myself more, but running for 8 minutes was actually easier than running for 5 minutes. I got a little short of breath towards the end, but I didn't get bored. Which is huge for me. And the 5 minute walk in the middle actually felt a bit long. I was ready to run again after 3 minutes.

c25k week 5, day 2. I think I'm getting better at maintaining a consistent pace

My pace was slowed down dramatically on the second 8-minute interval, but I'm just happy that I was able to keep running. And that I actually picked up my pace a bit at the end. A lot of that is directly related to whether I was running uphill or downhill, but needing to slow down is way better than needing to stop altogether.

The third run this week was the real challenge. It was a simple 20 minute run, and from what I've seen around the web it's the hardest part of the entire challenge. As I said in the last post, I went into it mostly curious to see if I could so the entire 20 minute run. And I very nearly did. At about 19 minutes, my body just gave up. But I think it was more of a mental block than anything else. As soon as I was walking instead of running I felt fine. If I hadn't hit a big hill in that final minute, I really think I could have completed that run.

Even though I walked for the final minute, I still maintained an overall 11 minute/mile pace for the twenty minutes. For the part I was actually running, it was closer to a 10:30 minute/mile pace. Which is far better than I ever dreamed I could do. Those 10-minute miles that seemed impossible a year ago are beginning to feel like they're within my reach.

I didn't finish that 20 minute run, but I'm still going to move on to week 6 next week. The first two workouts go back to intervals, and I'm positive I can do it now. Then it's just about lengthening the amount of time I can consistently run for. 5K, here I come!

C25K Week Four, Take Two

Because I wasn't able to do the entire workout at the end of last week, I decided to redo the fourth week of workouts in the C25K program. But I also decided to make an important change. Instead of splitting my workouts between the treadmill and the park, I wanted to do all three of the runs outside in the park this week.

I decided to do this because running outside has been so much more difficult than running inside on a treadmill. It turns out that there are a lot of reasons for this, from hills requiring more work to get up to gravel, asphalt, and concrete being harder than treadmills. Since the 5K I'm preparing for is going to be outside, I should probably get better at running outside.

As expected, the first run of the week was really hard. Almost impossible. But I finished it! I even kept up a decent pace through the whole run. My calves hurt more than they've ever hurt, but I keep telling myself that the pain will eventually go away. It means I'm developing muscles, which is a good thing.

Pace from the week's first run. I'm not sure what that spike at the end is from, I was probably running down a hill.

I ended up skipping my Wednesday run. We hired a cleaning service that was supposed to come by the house between 2:30 and 5:30, but they didn't show up until almost 6:30. I didn't want to go for a run while they were there and by the time they had finished the sun was almost down. We had company on both Thursday and Friday that also made it difficult to schedule a run.

I was able to go for a run on Saturday, with Sarah. Having someone to run with made the whole thing a lot easier. I mean, the run was still hard, but I was also maintaining a faster pace than I had been. And while I was tired and sore following the run, I didn't feel like death. It seems to be taking me less time to recover, too.

Pace from the run on Saturday. We started pretty fast, and while we did slow down, we still kept up a pretty good pace.

All in all, I feel a lot more confident about moving on to the fifth week. It will be an interesting week as the first workout actually has less running than the fourth week (3 5-minute intervals, compared with 2 5-minute and 2 3-minute intervals). But the third workout is just a 20 minute run. A week ago that terrified me. Now I'm actually interested in whether or not I'll be able to do it.

I'm feeling more confident in general about the upcoming 5K. Even if I can't run the entire thing,  know that at this point I'll be able to finish it.

C25K Week Four

The fourth week of the C25K training program marks a serious jump in the intensity of the workouts. The week three workout took about 15 minutes (plus 10 minutes to warm up and cool down). The week four workout lasts 21.5 minutes (plus the warming up and cooling down). Since endurance has always been my biggest problem, the sudden lengthening was a bit of a shock to my system. This week also nearly doubles the amount of time spent running which, interestingly, put a strain on my calf muscles.

I think that it's an overall good thing that the strain was on my calf muscles rather than my ankle. I've actually been pleased that my ankle has barely been bothering me. I had some issues with it early on, but running on the treadmill in front of a mirror has actually helped me improve my running posture, which in turn has put less stress on m ankles and shins. Actually posture may not be the right word. My problem - a side effect of years of ballet training - was that I was always keeping my feet exactly under me, almost like I was running on a balance beam. It's been difficult to retrain myself to keep my feet in their own lanes, so to speak, but when I can keep that up the overall running is much easier and less painful.

My problem with the first run this week (and my problem with running in general) was how bored I was getting. Running for five minutes is a long time, and I wasn't exactly feeling the song that came on my playlist for that section (Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA). I like the song fine, but it's simple and repetitive in a way that left me bored rather than engaged. I felt a lot better when The Dixie Chicks' Sin Wagon came on. I guess it's time to update my playlist.

The second run was easier. I made more liberal use of the skip button on my current playlist and stuck to songs that kept me motivated. I was able to maintain a 5.6 mph speed through all of my runs, which is a record best for me.

The third run was an entirely different story, though. I don't know why running outside is ten times harder than running on a treadmill, but it is. I wasn't able to finish this run, and after the first interval I wasn't even coming close to my treadmill pace. I think it's all the hills around my house that trip me up. Logically I know that I run downhill as much as I run uphill, since I start and stop in the same place and don't live in an Escher painting. But this entire run felt uphill. I was really struggling to breathe by the end and could barely even walk by the time I got back to my house.

See Caitlin Fail

Iit looks like I'll be re-doing the fourth week of training. I have a buffer week in my schedule, so I'll still be on track for the 5K in May. And even if I do fall behind, the final three weeks are just about increasing total time running. I can run for part of the 5K and still finish it.

C25K Week Three

The third week of my C25K training was an exercise in flexibility. I didn't even come close to sticking to my schedule. But I did get in all three of my workouts. I'm calling this one a win.

On Monday, I went down to the fitness center to discover that a small flood had closed it down for the day. It sucks when you're actually motivated to do something, but external forces make it impossible. I ended up going to a bar with Kevin instead where I had one of the best stouts of my life (Starr Hill Little Red Roostarr - it tasted like a cup of coffee). So the day wasn't a total loss.

On Tuesday I got my workout in, but I discovered too late that I'd forgotten to bring a towel to the gym. That meant no shower and made for a slightly awkward metro ride home. I can only hope I didn't smell too bad to the people around me.

On Thursday I triple-checked that I had my towel so that I could shower before getting on the metro. Instead I forgot my shoes, which made running out of the question, so my schedule got pushed back another day.

I did get my workout in on Friday, thankfully, but running both Friday night and Saturday morning seemed like a bad idea. So my weekend workout got pushed to Sunday. Kevin came on the run with me, since it was a little too cold for him to go on his bike ride. Having someone along helped me keep my pace down, which prevented me from exhausting myself before the end of the run. I felt like I was traveling really slowly, but my app informed me that I was actually going faster than I typically do on a treadmill. The steady pace thing is definitely something I have to work on when I'm running outdoors.

Pace changes on my outdoor run

The runs this week were all pretty easy - I ended up increasing my pace a lot to feel like I was working. Next week adds a lot more running and cuts down the walking intervals significantly. Here's hoping I survive. And that I have an easier time sticking to my schedule.

C25K Week Two

The second week of my C25K training was a little more difficult than the first week. It wasn't that the runs themselves were particularly difficult. 90 seconds of jogging followed by 2 minutes of walking is still well within my ability. But I had a hard time actually getting to the gym and running this week.

On Monday I realized that I'd forgotten my headphones. Kevin convinced me to run anyway. I figured there was actually a decent shot that no one would be at the gym, since there often isn't. Instead everyone decided to head to the gym, and I was actually relieved that I was able to use the treadmill. Running without music wasn't the worst thing in the world. But the guy who brought his two kids to hang out in the gym while he was on the elliptical got on my nerves. There has to be somewhere else for an 8 and a 10 year old to hang out for half an hour.

My Wednesday run got pushed to Thursday because I decided to drink beer instead. But I at least remembered my headphones on Thursday. And, of course, that time I was all alone. Ah well.

I increased my speed a bit for these runs and managed to increase my total distance to 1.95 miles. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't more until I did the math and realized that I was actually running and walking for the same amount of time this week as compared to last week. My distance should start increasing in the third week.

On Saturday I was visiting friends in Pittsburgh and had every intention of running with them. Until winter decided it wasn't done yet. The forecast had the temperature staying in the 30s all weekend, so I abandoned any hope of running outside. I'm not quite that committed. But given how easy this week's run were, I'm not too worried about skipping a day. I should be able to jump right in next week without missing a beat. And maybe next Saturday it will be warm enough for me to resume the outdoor run.

C25K Week One

I started the Couch to 5K training program this week, and I thought it might be a good idea to write about it. If nothing else, I'm hoping it will hold me accountable to finishing the program.

I started by downloading an app to my phone. Since the program relies heavily on interval training, I knew I'd want some help keeping track of those intervals. Having someone telling me when to walk and when to run (and when I'm halfway!) helps keep me on track. Each run also includes a 5 minute walk to warm up and a 5 minute walk to cool down at the end.

The next step, a highly important one, was to build a running playlist. I've spent most of the last year listening to Daft Punk's Discovery while working out. While it's definitely good music to keep you pumped - especially since Interstella 5555 still has me associating the second song with a chase sequence - listening to the same music every day was getting a little old. So I went through my music library and created a short list of songs that I'll hopefully be adding to or altering in the weeks to come.

The Running Playlist!

The next step, surprisingly, was downloading a special app that let me transfer playlists from iTunes to the music player on my droid phone. Luckily this is a common problem and solving it was super easy.

I had a couple of hiccups with the app on the first day, but the workout itself went really smoothly. The treadmill I run on is in a basement where I don't get a signal. This caused the app to yell at me about the lack of GPS signal and warn me that it would be able to compute my distance or pace. But I had the treadmill to do that for me, so I didn't really care. I also realized about halfway through the workout that my music list wasn't shuffling, which was going to keep me from hearing the majority of my playlist. Then, while I was messing with my phone during one of the walk segments, I accidentally turned off the treadmill, so I wasn't able to see my total distance at the end of the workout.

But like I said, the workout itself was really easy. All three of the workouts in the first week are the same: run for 60 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, repeat eight times. The running segments felt incredibly short, and I was almost surprised when I started to feel the workout about halfway through. By the end I felt like I could have gone longer, but I could also tell that I'd been working out.

Before my second workout I spent some time playing with the app. I discovered that it has a treadmill mode and a shuffle music mode in the settings page. Using these options led to less fighting with my phone at the beginning of the workout. I also started increasing my speed on the short runs because I knew I could handle it. I was actually surprised to discover that my heart rate, which had been a bit all over the place during my first workout, was much more consistent this time around. And thanks to not killing the treadmill, I was able to see that I'd "traveled" 1.8 miles in half an hour. Given how much walking is involved, I was actually a little surprised at this figure.

For the third run of the week, I decided to take a stab at outdoor running. Of course when I made this decision, they were predicting that the weather would be 60 and sunny. By the time Saturday actually rolled around it was only 45 out. It turned out that's a pretty good temperature to run in, though. The part I liked less was the wind, which seemed to gust up every time I hit another running section of the workout. Between the hills around my house and the wind, this run was surprisingly difficult. I thought I might die a few times, and I had a really hard time starting the final run. My walks were definitely too slow, too.

I'm trying to focus on the fact that I succeeded, though. I made it through the entire work out and managed to at least jog every time I was supposed to for the full 60 seconds. I'm hoping this gets easier with time. I'm also hoping that the GPS decides to work on my phone next week. It was refusing to turn on today, which meant I didn't get any stats about my pace or distance. I'm not sure if that information would have made me feel better or worse about today's run, but it would have been nice to have.

Stay tuned for week 2. After today's difficult outdoor run, I'm betting that the next treadmill run will be easy again. And at least next week I'll have friends to do the outdoor run with me.