Persistence (Week 4 Day 2)

"Never let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do."

Wow, not sure what happened last night but I woke up so tired and my legs were just dead. Regardless, I knew I had to go run... giving up one day makes it too easy to give up the next day.

The 5-minute warm-up walk went well, and the first 3 minute run breezed by pretty quickly. After that though... I knew I was in trouble. The first 5-minute run interval was rough... I tried to talk myself into quitting about halfway through it but pushed through and finished the full 5-minutes.

The second 3rd minute run interval was soooo hard, and at the end of it I almost gave up for the day and went home. Thankfully, at that time, "Big Pimpin" by Jay-Z came on the iPod and motivated me to at least walk out the remaining time.

I just didn't have the last 5 minute run in me... my legs were dead today, I was physically exhausted going in and knew if I pushed too hard I was going to hurt something because I could feel my running form being altered by the soreness in my legs.

I know I'm entitled to bad days, and I'm not disheartened by it. I'm going to take an extra rest day tomorrow and not go to the gym at all. I plan on absolutely smashing W4D3 on Friday.

Side note: To the exceptionally beautiful girl who was on the elliptical when I went into the cardio room... Hi! :-)

Week 3 Day 3

Thursday was an "off" (i.e. non-running) day, but I still hit the gym and put in two miles walking... I'm going to do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays and allow my body to rest over the weekends to prepare for the next week. I'm doing this for cross-training purposes and also to promote weight loss to make running even easier still.

Someone made a comment to me Thursday afternoon that I seemed to be walking better and my posture was more normal (I was slouching a bit compensating for a back I couldn't keep straight due to a pulled muscle). It hadn't dawned on me, but at some point on Thursday my back felt a lot better! It was a bit stiff this morning, but nothing terrible and it got worked lose within a few minutes of activity.

Soooo... week 3 day 3 met a 95% healthy me and didn't stand a Siamese cat's chance at a pitbull convention. Even after not finishing the full last interval on W3D2, I decided to go for it today... and my last 3 minute run I stretched into a 4 minute run.

I figured I'd try some of the advice I've given to some of the people I know who have picked up C25K now (I've got 8 friends I know of who have started this after I did... go friends!). The advice? If you slow down a little, you can run further. So, I slowed my roll just a bit and easily completed the 3-minute runs. The last run, as mentioned, I pushed a little harder and went 4 minutes.

I'll consider Week 3 in the books, ready to start smashing week 4 on Monday!

My big announcement for the week? I accepted a position with my company in another one of our call centers in Monroe, Louisiana. My last day in Hot Springs will be 10/2 and I will report to Monroe on 10/5. The Spa 5K is November 21st (not the 28th as I previously thought) and I will still be coming back for it.

Another positive... there are several 5Ks and other running events in the Monroe area per year and only one in Hot Springs.

Week 3 Day 2

I've had a couple of runs since my last update.

A slight setback over the weekend. On Saturday I was helping some friends move and at one point felt something pull between my shoulder blades (my unprofessional opinion is it is a pulled muscle). It's been hurting ever since, especially if I sit still for any period of time more than 5 minutes.

My runs this week go as follows: 5 minute warm-up walk, 90 second jog/90 second walk, 3 minute jog/3 minute walk, 90/90, 3/3, cool-down walk.

Monday I managed to finish, the cardio was a little stretched at the end of the second 3 minute jog, but the legs felt fine. What has hurt is my back up where the (presumably) pulled muscle is.

This morning it hurt bad enough I couldn't finish the 2nd 3 minute run and had to finish the last minute and a half walking (though I did keep a brisk 4.2mph pace while walking).

It's frustrating to know that my legs and cardio are okay to handle it, but there's another injury which is keeping me from accomplishing my goal for the week.

I'm considering taking Friday off from running (would just do a brisk walk instead) and giving myself over the weekend to hopefully heal. I'll make that call on Friday depending on how my back feels when I wake up.

Couch to 5K - Week 2 Day 3

Wow... what a great finish to the week. Wednesday I finished 1.91 miles (my best distance to date) followed up today by a 2.02 mile effort. This is the first time I have ever completed a distance like that with any type of running.

The progress has been good. I weighed myself on Wednesday and found that in 2.5 weeks I have dropped a total of ten pounds.

As I did last week, I tried to push Day 3 a little harder. I sustained a run of 7MPH during part of the last interval which felt really good and got the heart rate pumping.

Still, the most amazing part for me is the fact I'm actually enjoying this. My old philosophy was I would only run if someone (and he'd better be extremely large) was chasing me. My energy is higher than it has been in years... on to week 3 Monday which looks like this:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:
• Jog 90 seconds
• Walk 90 seconds
• Jog 3 minutes
• Walk 3 minutes

I Almost Quit Today (Week 2 Day 1)

Today is one of those days which would have been really easy to just quit and go home... at least for the day. In all likelihood, that would've started a spiral downward because once you can quit once... it gets easier to do again.

I got to my gym at 5:35am as it opens at 5:30. The problem was... there was nobody there. Well, correction, there were no employees there. My running partner and one other member were outside waiting. Then 2 more members showed up. At 5:45am my running partner left and went home. I decided to wait a few more minutes because I knew the potential downfall of going home even once. At 5:54 (24 minutes late) the girl who opens the gym showed up. No apologies, no good morning, just shuffling in and sitting down behind the desk.

Anyhow, today was the beginning of Week 2 in the Couch to 5k Program - an interval training program to take you from inactive to running 3.1 miles (or 30 minutes) in 9 weeks. Week 2 breaks down like this:

5 minute warm-up walk
1.5 minutes running/2 minutes walking for 20 minutes.

Day 1 of this felt pretty good. A little burning in the front/side of the calves during the 2nd run interval, but nothing terrible. Pushed through it.

I knew I could run 90 seconds straight as I finished up Friday's run with a 90 second jog, I just didn't know if I could keep it up repeatedly for 20 minutes in intervals. I was very happy to say I made it through each of them. The last 90 second run was starting to stretch the cardio a little (that's kinda the point I think) but I finished strong and did a 3 minute cool down walk.

1.85 miles today. Felt great. Looking forward to Wednesday and (hopefully) starting at 5:30am and not 6am. Hoping my running partner doesn't give up based on this 1 bad experience.

Week 1(b) Day 3

I run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Yesterday (Thursday) I decided to go to the gym and do some light cardio. I decided to take my first venture on the elliptical machine. Big mistake.

I think the elliptical machine is the most evil thing ever invented. It is completely unnatural movement to me and I don't know if it's because of my height or what is normal for me, but this thing hurt! It wasn't the good kind of hurt either. Not the "oh, I'm getting some new muscles worked our here that feels good", but rather "crap, I think this think is shredding my quads and my knee apart".

Being stubborn, not wanting to be the fat guy in the room who got on the elliptical for 30 seconds and got off beacuse he was tired, I kept it up for 5 minutes before moving to the treadmill for another 20 minutes of a 4MPH walk. My knee hurt slightly the entire time.

I spent the rest of Thursday with my knee hurting. I took about 30 minutes before bed last night thorougly icing it and slept with it elevated. It felt good when I woke up this morning, but I was really nervous how it would feel when I got on the treadmill this morning.

Well, I got through it with no pain. I finished 1.81 miles today putting my total cardio for the week at 6.47 miles. I also weighed myself on Thursday and I've dropped 5.5 pounds in 9 days. My fitness level feels a lot better already and the weight loss is a huge added bonus. Feeling great!

Today, I even did my last running interval for 90 seconds instead of 60 just to see how it felt since next week is all 90 second runs. It felt good. I'm fired up for Week 2! Now for 2 days off from cardio to rest the legs so I can go bigger on Monday...

Week 1(b) Day 2

Wow... best day so far. Easily.

First, my running partner not only showed up for Day 2, he actually showed up BEFORE me and I was 2 minutes early. Way to go running partner!

Due to the calves being set on fire during the last workout, I was much more dedicated to stretching my calves in addition to my quads before I started on the treadmill today. It was probably a combination of this and just getting back into shape, but I had no muscle burning/cramping during my workout at all. A very welcome change!

I actually found today pretty easy. Easy enough, in fact, that I found myself pushing a little harder during some of the intervals. My cardio felt good doing my normal speeds so I decided to go a little harder and still handled it pretty easily. I ended up covering 1/10 of a mile more (up to 1.85 miles now) and even hit a max running speed of 7MPH. Admittedly, the 7MPH was a bit much but I managed it for 30 seconds and then dropped down to 6.5MPH for the other half of that interval (it was my last interval and I just wanted to finish strong).

Still, it felt GOOD to know I could go 7MPH without my legs killing me. It was the cardio that wasn't keeping up at that pace very well. Still, I did most of my intervals at 5.5MPH but did several at 6MPH and felt great doing it. Recovery time was still good and I feel great.

I also did some light weightlifting for about 25 minutes at the end as well (shoulders, pecs, shins, calves, and quads).

Today was the first day in a long time I actually felt somewhat athletic again. I didn't feel like some fat guy huffing it out on a treadmill.

My favorite things so far is still the feeling I get when I first finish and I walk but feel like I'm still running. Love that.

The Real C25K - Week 1

So I was on my way to the gym this morning at about 5:35, figuring working out alone would be my reality when my phone rang. It was my new (as "new" as one could be when the "old" never even showed up for the first day) running partner! He was about 30 minutes away (I was about 3 minutes away) and he still had to fill out his paperwork and get signed-up at the gym.

So, I went upstairs and did some light weight training. Again did 3x10 each of flys, seated military press, and hack squats.

My new partner showed up and got signed up, so we went back upstairs and into the cardio room. I'm very happy to say I completed the full W1D1 regimen today as scheduled, no extended walking breaks! I did this as follows:

5-minute warm-up walk starting at 3.2MPH and increasing to 3.5MPH.
60 second jog at 5.5MPH
90 second walk at 3.5MPH
60 second jog at 5.5MPH
90 second walk at 3.5MPH
60 second jog at 5.2MPH
90 second walk at 3.2MPH
60 second jog at 5.2MPH
90 second walk at 3.2MPH
60 second jog at 5.2MPH
90 second walk at 3.2MPH
60 second jog at 5.2MPH
90 second walk at 3.2MPH
60 second jog at 5.5MPH
90 second walk at 3.2MPH
60 second jog at 6.0MPH - My fastest run speed to date since starting this a week ago, handled it just fine. Good confidence builder.
90 second walk at 3.2MPH
120 second cool down walk at 2.5MPH

So, the total C25K style workout was 27 minutes and I covered right at 1.75 miles.

Onward and upward!

Week 1(a) Day 3

Oops!

So... as I misread the C25K training program, I thought Week 1 was supposed to look like this:

Stretch
5 minute warm-up walk
Alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for 30 minutes
Stretch

The actual training was supposed to alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for TWENTY minutes, not thirty. No wonder I found it more difficult for a beginning program. As I mentioned in a previous post, I modified my week 1 agenda because I knew I couldn't keep it up for 30 minutes. Duh. So, today I finished my Week 1(a) Day 3 modified agenda where I did 60/90 for 10 minutes... walked 10... and another 60/90 for 10 minutes. Day 3 was actually the hardest of the 3 days as I experienced some soreness in my calves during the runs.

Monday I'm going to start the ACTUAL C25K interval training. It kind of worked out for me though... I think the modified agenda for week 1 allowed me to get my general fitness up for a bit. I really focused on controlling breathing and relaxing while I ran. My heart rate and recovery time increased dramatically even with just 3 days of cardio.

Also, I think I've found a training partner to start with me on Monday, someone to help keep me motivated and accountable. I had someone who was supposed to start with me this week, but they flaked... they apparently decided at about 5:30am on Monday that 5:30am was too early to hit the gym. So, I finished my first week alone.

The new training partner seems serious and motivated (and I also threatened to refer to him by a not-so-nice name for the remainder of the year if he wimped out at this point).

I mixed in some light weight training today after my interval training. I did 3 sets of 10 reps flys on a machine, 3x10 seated military presses, and 3x10 hack squats.

Side note: I decided to go ahead and weigh myself just to track the progress. 334 pounds as of today... so, I was right... I figured I was in the 330-340 range. So it goes.

Week 1(a) Day 2

So, my "workout partner" who was so gung-ho to start this with me failed to show. Again. Looks like I'm going it alone. For those of you who missed the first post, here's my modified Week 1 workout before starting the real Week 1 (because I'm really out of shape, and I'm trying to get fit... not have a heart attack):

Stretch
5 minute warm-up walk
Alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for 10 minutes
Brisk walk for 10 minutes
Alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for 10 minutes
Stretch

I did slightly increase my speed/distance today as I completed a bit over 1/10 of a mile more than I did on Day 1.

My body reacted a little differently than it did on Day 1. When I went in this morning, my quads were still a bit sore from Day 1 but they quickly warmed up and were pain free by the end of the 5 minutes warm-up walk at the beginning.

My calves started getting tight and burning (not really cramping) during the second run interval. I set my focus on really relaxing my muscles and just letting the running come naturally rather than trying to force it, this helped greatly and my calves didn't hurt for the rest of the workout (though I did feel some fatigue).

My heart rate did a little better this time (surprising for only my second workout) and recovered A LOT faster than it did after Week 1(a) Day 1.

I feel good... I'm sure the quads will stiffen up again and I'll experience a little more soreness from this workout than the 2nd as my muscles were already somewhat hurting. I am expecting Day 3 to be a bit of a mental challenge on Friday and will look forward to two days of recovery over the weekend before hitting it back up on Monday.

Week 1, Day 1

Saturday, November 21st, 2009 - Hot Springs/Spa City 5K

That's the goal... 15 weeks away.

This morning I started on the 9-week "Couch to 5K" (C25K) running program. I've decided to start doing this early to really try to get myself in shape and allow for healing time if I suffer any setbacks/injuries during training or need to repeat a week if I'm not progressing as I would like.

I'm really out of shape as I start this. Yesterday I decided to go to the gym for a little bit just to get a feel for the treadmill and get a little activity under my belt. I ended up doing 30 minutes on the treadmill (mostly walking and a light jog at the end) and then doing some weightlifting.

I was pleasantly surprised not to be terribly sore when I woke up this morning considering I had worked out pretty decently. Might be the potassium I've increased in my diet in the last few days to help prepare for this.

Today I started Week 1 of C25K and let me tell you... my cardio is terrible. The Week 1 workout is 3 days of this:

Stretch
5 minute warm-up walk
Alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for 30 minutes
Stretch

I had to fluctuate mine a little bit to make sure my heart rate didn't get out of control... I've decided to slightly alter my week 1 routine and next week I'll "repeat" week 1 and try to stick to the guidelines of the C25K program. The 3 days I do my routine this week should start to get my body into a little better shape and increase my cardio so I can do the actual designed training. I'm really focusing on controlling my breathing while I run and walk to help control my heart rate.

My workout this week is as follows:

Stretch
5 minute warm-up walk
Alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for 10 minutes
Brisk walk for 10 minutes
Alternate 60 seconds of running/90 seconds of walking for 10 minutes
Stretch

We'll call it C25K Week 1a. :-)