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.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
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 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.
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.
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| 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.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Spring Resolution
I know it's more traditional for resolutions to come in January with the new year. But this winter, my life was in a state of flux because I was waiting to hear back about a job. I made a throwaway resolution to start investing. Then, on January 2nd I opened an investment account and gave myself a pat on the back.
Now Spring is rolling in, the weather's getting warmed, and my life is more settled than it was a few months ago. Coming from a place of stability is making it easier to think about setting goals. There's one goal in particular that I've been toying with for a while, and now seems like the right time to start pursuing it. I'm going to try and run a 5K.
I started running a little over a year ago, and while I haven't really kept up with it that well, I can run a mile in about 11.5 minutes. This is a vast improvement over my abilities in high school, when I could literally walk a mile faster than I could run one because running forced me to stop and catch my breath so often. But I've been slowly improving, and the other week I actually ran 1.25 miles, which felt like a pretty big accomplishment.
It wasn't long after this that I discovered that my company is holding a 5K in mid-May. I began to consider trying to train for it. Then I discovered that the Couch to 5K training program takes about 8 weeks. That lines up almost perfectly with the 5K I'm trying to run, if I start right away.
I'm not exactly at the couch stage anymore. I can run a mile in a reasonable amount of time, after all. But I'm going to start the program from the beginning for a few reasons. First, I want to build up my endurance. I may be able to run a mile, but I still struggle to keep my heart rate up for more than 15 minutes. I'm hoping the program will ease me into that. The second reason is that my ankle is still my limiting factor. I get fatigued and I start landing on it a little wrong and then it starts hurting and I need to stop. Couch to 5K isn't just for people who've never exercised before; it's also for people coming off of injuries. And while this is a pretty old injury, I'm hoping that by starting a bit slower I'll be able to more easily overcome it.
So there's my Spring Resolution: Run a 5K. I have a plan and will hopefully be able to achieve this in a little over two months. I'm not sure how this is going to interact with my other goal of riding my bike to work occasionally, and I may have to drop that one until after the 5K. But this still seems like a reasonable fitness goal. And hopefully having a concrete goal will help me stick to the training schedule.
Now Spring is rolling in, the weather's getting warmed, and my life is more settled than it was a few months ago. Coming from a place of stability is making it easier to think about setting goals. There's one goal in particular that I've been toying with for a while, and now seems like the right time to start pursuing it. I'm going to try and run a 5K.
I started running a little over a year ago, and while I haven't really kept up with it that well, I can run a mile in about 11.5 minutes. This is a vast improvement over my abilities in high school, when I could literally walk a mile faster than I could run one because running forced me to stop and catch my breath so often. But I've been slowly improving, and the other week I actually ran 1.25 miles, which felt like a pretty big accomplishment.
It wasn't long after this that I discovered that my company is holding a 5K in mid-May. I began to consider trying to train for it. Then I discovered that the Couch to 5K training program takes about 8 weeks. That lines up almost perfectly with the 5K I'm trying to run, if I start right away.
I'm not exactly at the couch stage anymore. I can run a mile in a reasonable amount of time, after all. But I'm going to start the program from the beginning for a few reasons. First, I want to build up my endurance. I may be able to run a mile, but I still struggle to keep my heart rate up for more than 15 minutes. I'm hoping the program will ease me into that. The second reason is that my ankle is still my limiting factor. I get fatigued and I start landing on it a little wrong and then it starts hurting and I need to stop. Couch to 5K isn't just for people who've never exercised before; it's also for people coming off of injuries. And while this is a pretty old injury, I'm hoping that by starting a bit slower I'll be able to more easily overcome it.
So there's my Spring Resolution: Run a 5K. I have a plan and will hopefully be able to achieve this in a little over two months. I'm not sure how this is going to interact with my other goal of riding my bike to work occasionally, and I may have to drop that one until after the 5K. But this still seems like a reasonable fitness goal. And hopefully having a concrete goal will help me stick to the training schedule.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Spring Shopping Spree
The weather finally warmed up this weekend, and for some reason it put me in the mood to go shopping. This doesn't happen very often, but there were things I'd been meaning to buy for a while, so I took advantage of the mood and ended up getting a lot of stuff.
I finally bought a table lamp and completed the room that it's taken us the longest to furnish. We bought the couch and tables back in January when we knew Kevin's family would be coming to stay with us. It ended up being a bit too dark to read on the couches at night, though it's been perfect for hanging out with guests. I'm glad this room is finally finished.
I also bought new drip pans, making me feel like an adult. Our old drip pans have been a mess since we moved in, and the kitchen never quite looked clean. I tried everything, from magic erasers to steel wool to soaking them to wrapping them in aluminum foil. Then a discovered that a brand new set costs less than $15. If I'd known this a year ago, I could have saved a lot of time and money.
I also bought a new purse that I'm really excited about. For a long time I had a massive purse for work, so I could cart my laptop back and forth. Then my new job provided me with an enormous laptop that was too big for that purse. So I've been using a backpack, and I ran to Target to get a new purse for work. Unfortunately, that purse ended up being too small to hold a novel. So every day I was carrying the backpack, a purse, and whatever book I was reading. Not ideal. Then I found this purse at JCPenny, and it's perfect. Not only is it big enough for everything I want to carry without looking too massive, it's purple!
I finally bought a table lamp and completed the room that it's taken us the longest to furnish. We bought the couch and tables back in January when we knew Kevin's family would be coming to stay with us. It ended up being a bit too dark to read on the couches at night, though it's been perfect for hanging out with guests. I'm glad this room is finally finished.
I also bought new drip pans, making me feel like an adult. Our old drip pans have been a mess since we moved in, and the kitchen never quite looked clean. I tried everything, from magic erasers to steel wool to soaking them to wrapping them in aluminum foil. Then a discovered that a brand new set costs less than $15. If I'd known this a year ago, I could have saved a lot of time and money.
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| Shiny! |
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