C25K: Week 4 Day 3

I was in Beast Mode today!  Today was the first time at the end of the run I had that awesome runner's high.  I looked at what I accomplished and I thought, "Man!  I am awesome!"  I went out there today not having great thoughts.  I still haven't charged my Garmin and I was starting to miss him.  In fact, I think I'm going to name him Gary as he is my official running partner and coach.  It was hot out there today, when I parked the car it said it was already over 85.  There was no breeze.  I just didn't have much faith in myself.  Then after the first 3 minute interval when I realized I was further than I was on Wednesday I thought to myself, I'm going to push and see if I can go 2 miles not counting the warm up or cool down walks.

So I did.  Period.  Nailed it!  By the time I was done with the second 5 minute run interval I was roughly at 2 miles give or take a few feet.  I did it by telling myself I just need to make it to that fire hydrant, ok now that poll, good, now pass that parked car.  And I pushed and I pushed and I made it.  And I felt strong!  It felt good.  And I had just enough gas in the tank to really push myself in that last minute of running to make sure I made it to the starting point so that I'd know I went 2 miles.

And since I'm a math nerd as I finished walking back to the Y I started trying to math it out in my head to see what my possible pace was.  But since I'm bad at mental math I had to come home and get a pen and paper and work it out.  Here's what I came up with.

2 intervals of 3 minute runs, and 2 intervals of 5 minute runs equals 16 minutes of running.
2 intervals of 90 second walks, and 1 interval of 2.5 minute walking equals 5.5 minutes of walking.
So I went 2 miles in 21.5 minutes of moving.

I was pretty proud of that right there.  But without Gary my Garmin I just don't know what that means my average running pace was.  Did I stick to my goal of being a sub 10 when running these shorter intervals?  So this was what I needed the paper and pencil for.  Knowing what I normally see on Garmin during the recovery walks I'm usually going about 15 minutes/mile.  So I did my math based off that number.  If I walked for 5.5 minutes at a 15 minute per mile pace then during my walking intervals I went a distance of 0.36 miles.  So that means that in the 16 minutes of running I covered a distance of 1.64 miles.  Plug and chug that into your standard r=d/t (see all my former math students, you do use math in your every day life) except that will give me miles/min and I want minutes/mile so you do r=t/d.  Anyway, I found that I probably averaged a 9.75 min/mile pace or in other words if I had run a mile straight at that average pace it would have taken me 9 minutes and 45 seconds.  What what!

I feel really good about that.  I know that my times are about to slow down drastically as the runs get longer starting next week (next Friday is a 20 minute no walk break day) but I'm really proud that I set a goal to do these short runs at a sub 10 and I accomplished it.

Disney Princess Half I'm coming for you!  And I plan on stopping for every photo op there is if I can keep training at times like that!

C25K: Week 4 Day 2

Nothing spectacular to write about today but I know it's important to keep writing so I keep pushing myself to do this.  Again, I forgot to charge the Garmin so today I really just wanted to focus on how I felt while running.  So I have no idea how I did on pace.  I made it a little over 2.25 miles from warm up to end of the 2nd 5 minute run.  I think what I've learned is that I love my Garmin and I miss it when it's gone.  I like being able to glance down and get a read on my pace especially since right now I'm working on developing a good steady pace and I really like knowing definitely how far I've been.  So I guess the main thing I learned today is I apparently care more about what my little Garmin is saying then what my body is saying.  Ha!

C25K: Week 4 Day 1

Last week was, I think, one of the easier weeks of C25K because your longest run is 3 minutes and it was followed by an equivalent recovery period.  Week 4 it all changes and could quickly become an uphill battle.  This week you run for 3 minutes then walk for 90 seconds, then run for 5 minutes and recover for 2.5 minutes, then repeat.  So we are at the tipping point where the runs are becoming longer than the recovery walks.

I hit the course at the Y and set out to keep up with my goal of being sub 10 for these short runs.  Then after the first 3 minute interval right when the first 5 minute run was starting I glanced down and my poor Garmin was dead!  Oops, I guess I should remember to put that thing on the charger from time to time.  So I can't tell you how I did on my pace nor can I give you a definite distance.  But I can say that I felt strong through the run and I made it between 2.25 and 2.5 miles from warm up (5 min walk) to the end of the 2nd 5 minute interval.  So that's pretty good for me!

C25K: Week 3 Day 2

So I skipped W2D3 and W3D1 while I waited to see what the doctor said about my knees.  Since he didn't say I couldn't run I headed out today after an AMAZING yoga class (more on that later) to run W3D2.  I must say that this week's runs seem to be an easier time frame than some of the others.  This week is 2 sets of the following: run for 90 seconds, walk for 90 seconds, run for 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes.  However, 30 seconds into the first run set my knees were screaming in pain.  I told myself to suck it up and pushed through and got done with all of the runs with out any cardio problems.  I even kept my pace at a sub 10 which is what I am really trying to do in these early and short runs.  I felt good after the second 3 minute run and really could have done another round of those.

I love the C25K program!  If you are a beginner runner you really need to try it.  It's a great way to slowly  build in without getting discouraged.  It's great to complete the run, and finish strong and feel successful.

Knee Check Up 1

Well, after my knees hurting still on Friday I decided to skip running until after I got the all clear from the Ortho doctor.  So I missed W2D3 and W3D1.

So I met with Dr. Miller today one of the knee specialists at Campbell's Clinic.  They took xrays and poked me in my knees and asked me when and where things hurt.  I have going to the doctor.  I'm just really bad about articulating problems to them and I immediately switch over into my standard suck it up mode and down play things that probably shouldn't be down played.  So he pretty much implied that I don't have a body built for long distance running and sent me out with a prescription for an anti-inflammatory medicine, told me to get some glucosomine, and wants me to go to physical therapy for the next 4 weeks.

The good news is that it's not arthritis and he didn't say not to run.  So tomorrow I'll do W3D2.  If I have a hard time with that I'll back down to W2 and do that again this week.

C25K: Week 2 Day 2

Well, nothing really eventful happened during today run.  Except afterwards my knees were in a fair bit of pain.  In fact, they still kind of hurt.  I've always known I have bad knees and usually hide behind them as an excuse not to do things but this half marathon goal is really important to me so I guess I'll call the doctor and make an appointment to get it checked out.

Committed: St Jude Half

Today is a big day.  I've been counting down to this day for a couple of weeks now.  So much anxiety has already built up in my mind about it that I wondered if I was going to actually do it.  But today, May 1st, the registration for the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend opened and first thing this morning I logged on and registered for the Half Marathon.  There is no turning back now.  I mean, I guess there technically is since the race allows for registration transfers but that's not the point.  I've paid my money and I'm committed to doing it.

I cannot tell you how completely intimidated I am by the very thought of doing this race.  13.1 miles!  That means that if I run my hardest for the ENTIRE time the best I can hope for is a time of 2 hours and 37 minutes.  That sounds like an eternity considered my farthest distance to date was a little over 4 miles almost a year ago, and it took me about 50 minutes.  I was pretty sure I had been running for forever when I was coming up on that finish line.

I know that when I started this process my thought was I'm going to run the Disney Princess Half so you might be confused why I signed up for this one.  Well, the more I thought about the Disney race the more I realized that I wanted to go down there and have a good time, not run and get a good time.  The Disney race looks so unique with all the various characters and places I'll want to stop and snap a picture and I didn't want to miss out on doing those things because of the stress of falling behind the balloon walkers. So I decided to sign up and train for this St. Jude half and try my hand at getting placed into a better corral.  So that's why I'm doing this.  Now this also changes my training plans in that I need to figure out my training plans!  I was planning on following Disney's Jeff Galloway plan: found here and just modifying it to fit the calendar for this year.  So now I think I may back it up and train with that but adjust the dates so that it gets me ready for the St. Jude Half.  But then my runner friend Travis and a mommy blogger I follow Mama Laughlin both recommend using Hal Higdon.

So, have you ever trained for a Half Marathon before?  What program do you recommend?