I'm following a women's running program that goes 16 weeks. If I follow it correctly, I run 4 days a week for the first 8 weeks, then add an extra day after that. The first 12 weeks works just on building endurance. It's based on time, so right now I do 3 days of running for 30 minutes, then I do a 40 minute run on the 4th day. The last 4 weeks builds some speed intervals into the mix and keeps the length of time about the same.
Prior to this I was poking along at about a 12:00-12:30 minute mile. I have been feeling like that was almost painful to go that slow, so I picked it up a little bit. I'm now running at about 11:00 miles, but over the course of the 30 minutes, I end up having to take about 3 walk breaks, which is frustrating. I end up, with walking, going about 2.5-2.75 miles in the 30 minutes.
It's good to see a few improvements (that I can actually go faster than I was), but frustrating at going back to doing walk intervals. I know patience, patience, patience. I did lose a little weight this week, so that has made me feel better. I even bought a pair of shorts a size smaller than normal, so that's progress also. If it weren't for my hubby's very fattening (but yummy) cooking, I'd probably lose a bit more weight!
2 weeks until the alumni run. Not sure I'll make my goal of 22:00, but we'll see. I'm pretty certain I can beat my 25:01 time from Albion though, and that would be enough for me!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
I think I can....no, I know I can!
So here's my new schedule:
Saturdays I do a long, slow run, trying to increase the mileage by 0.5 miles each week. I do this at a slower pace than normal.
Mondays, I'm going to do a maintenance run, which is whatever mileage I just covered on Saturday, but at a quicker pace.
Wednesdays, I'll do a speed workout, which currently is running about 2.5 miles while alternating walking 0.25 miles with running at a fast for me pace for 0.25 miles. I'll likely add some hills or increase the incline on the treadmill this week or next also.
I just started this last week. Saturday was my longest run yet, which was 3 miles. In looking back, I cannot believe that 9 weeks ago I could barely do 90 seconds of running! So on most days when I feel slow as a snail, I need to focus on how far I've come.
Today was very good! I went 3 miles again, but I ran faster than I've ran before. I normally run a 12:00 mile pace (5mph), so today I decided to try 5.3 mph for as long as I could go. I kept going to 1.5 miles, then increased to 5.6 mph for another .5 miles. I then was pretty pooped, so walked a couple minutes then started in again. I took another walk break around 2.5 miles, but other than the 2 short walk breaks, I never ran slower than 5.3mph. Overall, with my 2 minute warm-up and the walk breaks I did an 11:30 pace, which is a 30 second improvement! Great news is I still have 3 more weeks to the alumni race, so my goal of 22 minutes is looking more and more attainable all the time!
I have made some changes to my diet also. After doing some reading, I don't think I was eating frequently enough. I've added more fruits and veggies and complex carbs to my diet also. I lost weight last week and I continue to think that my legs look a bit better. I read an interesting tidbit about how women store fat. Men tend to store fat in a layer over their muscles, so it's easily noticeable when it's occurring. Women store fat in the small spaces in between muscles and when those are all filled up, then they start storing fat in layers. So by the time a women notices fat on their legs, hips, butt, etc, they actually have a lot of fat already stored amongst their muscle also. So when I started exercising, the lean muscle I was building was getting rid of all the small fat deposits amongst my muscles instead of the large deposits. Interesting to me! I also read the most effective way to turn sugar burning cells into fat burning cells. So, hopefully I'll continue to see weight drop and inches to decrease!
Overall, I have to say that I'm so amazed at how this is going. I never thought I would stick with this! I'm so glad I started. I actually look forward to my workout days. I tried adding a 4th running day, but legs just aren't ready for that yet. I'm going to add some sort of cross-training in though because I feel like a slug on days I don't run.
I have went from thinking maybe I can do this running thing to knowing that I can do it and the only person it really matters as to how fast or slow I go is me! And right now, tonight, I'm pretty proud of me.
Saturdays I do a long, slow run, trying to increase the mileage by 0.5 miles each week. I do this at a slower pace than normal.
Mondays, I'm going to do a maintenance run, which is whatever mileage I just covered on Saturday, but at a quicker pace.
Wednesdays, I'll do a speed workout, which currently is running about 2.5 miles while alternating walking 0.25 miles with running at a fast for me pace for 0.25 miles. I'll likely add some hills or increase the incline on the treadmill this week or next also.
I just started this last week. Saturday was my longest run yet, which was 3 miles. In looking back, I cannot believe that 9 weeks ago I could barely do 90 seconds of running! So on most days when I feel slow as a snail, I need to focus on how far I've come.
Today was very good! I went 3 miles again, but I ran faster than I've ran before. I normally run a 12:00 mile pace (5mph), so today I decided to try 5.3 mph for as long as I could go. I kept going to 1.5 miles, then increased to 5.6 mph for another .5 miles. I then was pretty pooped, so walked a couple minutes then started in again. I took another walk break around 2.5 miles, but other than the 2 short walk breaks, I never ran slower than 5.3mph. Overall, with my 2 minute warm-up and the walk breaks I did an 11:30 pace, which is a 30 second improvement! Great news is I still have 3 more weeks to the alumni race, so my goal of 22 minutes is looking more and more attainable all the time!
I have made some changes to my diet also. After doing some reading, I don't think I was eating frequently enough. I've added more fruits and veggies and complex carbs to my diet also. I lost weight last week and I continue to think that my legs look a bit better. I read an interesting tidbit about how women store fat. Men tend to store fat in a layer over their muscles, so it's easily noticeable when it's occurring. Women store fat in the small spaces in between muscles and when those are all filled up, then they start storing fat in layers. So by the time a women notices fat on their legs, hips, butt, etc, they actually have a lot of fat already stored amongst their muscle also. So when I started exercising, the lean muscle I was building was getting rid of all the small fat deposits amongst my muscles instead of the large deposits. Interesting to me! I also read the most effective way to turn sugar burning cells into fat burning cells. So, hopefully I'll continue to see weight drop and inches to decrease!
Overall, I have to say that I'm so amazed at how this is going. I never thought I would stick with this! I'm so glad I started. I actually look forward to my workout days. I tried adding a 4th running day, but legs just aren't ready for that yet. I'm going to add some sort of cross-training in though because I feel like a slug on days I don't run.
I have went from thinking maybe I can do this running thing to knowing that I can do it and the only person it really matters as to how fast or slow I go is me! And right now, tonight, I'm pretty proud of me.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Found my groove
I finally found my groove! After a disastrous workout last week, I did a "max run" test. It was to go at my current pace and see how long I could go without stopping. I made it 24 minutes (2 miles). Not great, but not horrible. It was hard though. I was still a mental mess! That was last Wednesday. Then I took Thursday and Friday off due to 4th of July stuff going on.
Saturday was the day I've been waiting for, and wondering if it would ever come. I decided I'd stick to my current pace and hope that I could at least make it to 2 miles with no slowing down and no stopping. Well, I did that and added a 1/2 mile! I felt absolutely great and for the first time could really say that I enjoyed my run. Bennett was quiet throughout the run (busy watching Bugs Bunny DVDs) and that helped me maintain my focus a bit more. I felt really, really good! I couldn't believe it. I felt like I could have kept going or picked up the pace a bit even! That was so encouraging for me! I'm so ecstatic! I know I'm still slow as a snail, but looking through my logs, I know I'm improving, even tiny bits at a time!
Today I did another 2.5 miles in 30 minutes and felt good while doing it. I hit 2 miles and I start getting all "mental," so I'm working on that. My goal this week is to do 2 more 2.5 miles workouts at the same pace. Next week, I plan to increase to 3 miles on 3 days and 1 day do a shorter distance at a faster pace.
I am going to sign up for the Cedar's Rapid Run (alumni run) on August 7th. I'm going to do the 2 mile run. My goal is to run that in 22 minutes or less. I know it's doable. I would really like to be 20 minutes, but I'm not sure in a month's time if that is really achievable or not. We shall see. I'll be happy so long as I can beat my 25:01 from the Albion run!
Saturday was the day I've been waiting for, and wondering if it would ever come. I decided I'd stick to my current pace and hope that I could at least make it to 2 miles with no slowing down and no stopping. Well, I did that and added a 1/2 mile! I felt absolutely great and for the first time could really say that I enjoyed my run. Bennett was quiet throughout the run (busy watching Bugs Bunny DVDs) and that helped me maintain my focus a bit more. I felt really, really good! I couldn't believe it. I felt like I could have kept going or picked up the pace a bit even! That was so encouraging for me! I'm so ecstatic! I know I'm still slow as a snail, but looking through my logs, I know I'm improving, even tiny bits at a time!
Today I did another 2.5 miles in 30 minutes and felt good while doing it. I hit 2 miles and I start getting all "mental," so I'm working on that. My goal this week is to do 2 more 2.5 miles workouts at the same pace. Next week, I plan to increase to 3 miles on 3 days and 1 day do a shorter distance at a faster pace.
I am going to sign up for the Cedar's Rapid Run (alumni run) on August 7th. I'm going to do the 2 mile run. My goal is to run that in 22 minutes or less. I know it's doable. I would really like to be 20 minutes, but I'm not sure in a month's time if that is really achievable or not. We shall see. I'll be happy so long as I can beat my 25:01 from the Albion run!
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