April 25, 2010

**SAME DAY UPDATE**

Check me out!

The weather didn't hold so I had to hit the treadmill at the Y. As it turns out. I was able to run the first 4 miles of my 6 without stopping in just under 46 minutes. (see previous post where I thought I was 2-3 weeks from being able to do this) That's the good news...the bad news is I had to crawl the next two miles for a finish time of 1:13:30 on the 6! Still my quickest 6 so far! Yay me!

I ADVISE U TO GO FARTHER THAN YOU THINK YOU CAN!

Who's that fat guy running on the greenway?

That would be me. This afternoon I will do 6 miles (outside if the weather holds) for the 6th time. Today completes 6 weeks of training and I'm happy to report I have not missed a single day of training. It's not been easy as there have been countless times that I wake up at 5:50 a.m. and wonder why I'm doing this.

Last Saturday I had a 3 mile assignment and Molly joined me at the Y. Something about knowing that she was watching me, motivated me to keep going and 34 minutes later I hit the 3 mile mark on the treadmill WITHOUT STOPPING.

I tried all week to repeat that feat, but couldn't find it in me to do it nonstop. My pace this week was consistently in the 11:45 range. Some days I would jog steadily at that pace, while other days I would run a 10:00 mile (haven't done that in 10 years!), and then walk a 14:00 mile. and then sprint to the end.

The 3 mile jogs don't seem very long anymore; the 4 mile jogs are still pretty exhausting, and as much as I want to run 4 miles without stopping, I think I'm still 2-3 weeks. The 6 mile assignment is so frustrating. I want to keep jogging, but I just can't keep my legs moving. I think I end up walking more than half of it. Usually somewhere around a 14:00 pace.

Now for my proud moment of the week....drumroll please....

Yesterday, The Cardinal Greenways hosted a competitive 5k. The last time I recall running a competitive 5k was some 20 years ago. My goal was to just run the whole thing without walking.

**MISSION ACCOMPLISHED**

An old friend of mine was there and I wanted to impress her as much as myself. The format was out and back, so she hit the turn before I did and gave me the thumbs up on her way back. I struggled the last mile, but kept the legs turning, and with just a tenth of a mile to go, she met waited for me to jog me in. Pushing me all the way, she said, "It'll only hurt for one more minute and then you can throw up!" She was right, and I almost did! 34:15 doesn't break any records or even place me in my age group, but I'll take it for week 6.

The next scheduled Greenway Run is a 10k on June 19. Same goal...I just want to finish without walking.

http://www.cardinalgreenways.org/index/News-and-Events/Run-WalkSeries.asp

I ADVISE U TO WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS.

April 4, 2010

3 Weeks Down and...

Just a little update here. I have completed 3 full weeks of training. I am doing 20 miles per week. 3 on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday, 3 on Saturday and 6 on Sunday.
I'm still doing cycling class on Monday nights for now as well. This will remain the schedule until Memorial Day. Then we will start increasing distance.

The first week was all walking with just a little jog mixed in. I couldn't even do 4.0 on the treadmill, more like 3.7 most days. Probably couldn't jog for more than a minute or two.

The second week I could walk about 4.1 to 4.2 and each day I could run a little more than the day before. On my 4 mile Thursday run, I ran one of the miles nonstop. Haven't done that in over 5 years.

The third week went equally as well, and everyday has gotten better and faster. My 4 mile run on Thursday was under 54 minutes which is better than a 13:30 pace. Then my 3 miles run on Saturday was under 38 minutes which is under a 13:00 pace.

Today (Easter Sunday) was the first day that I had to run outside because the Y was closed. I didn't like the way it felt when I started, but settled in fine. I did 6 miles all along the White River and my pace was very consistent with what the treadmill has been telling me.

I've been doing the weekday runs at 6 a.m. at the Yorktown Y. This is very new for me, but it's already becoming a habit I don't mind. At the Yorktown Y, the treadmills have a Nike+Ipod feature that I can plug in the Ipod and it will record my run to review at nikeplus.com It's very cool and you can also buy a sensor for your shoe for outdoor runs.

There are some runs in Muncie this summer on the Greenway that I'd like to do, but my confidence with all of this is just not where I'd like it to be yet.

Part of that confidence problem comes from my weight. I'm still the "fat kid" on the treadmill. I know when I started this I said that losing weight was not the goal, but rather just a benefit that would come with doing this. I guess I just thought it would be a benefit that would be showing by now. THE SCALE IS NOT MOVING.

Clearly, I'm going to have to pay more attention to what I'm eating. In the past I've changed my diet without exercise and lost weight, but it is not working the other way.

I'm not giving up! I will do this.

I ADVISE U TO NEVER QUIT!