Running

[YellowKing]

I've been struggling to keep my expectations in check. I've come a long way since I started getting serious around April, but it was a long, strange trip that got me here. It consisted of getting to Week 6 in Couch to 5K on the treadmill with skipped weeks here and there, and then starting over from scratch when I decided to run outside.

I've proven that I can run a mile consistently, so I keep telling myself that's almost 1/3 of my goal of a 5k. However, when I'm doing these Couch to 5K sessions I find myself wondering how I'm ever going to get to that 3 mile endurance. I think it's a psychological thing - in my mind I feel like I've been running a lot longer than I really have (4 1/2 months). But in reality a lot of that was on an air-conditioned treadmill with some gaps in training where I took weeks off or started over or in some way had some inconsistency in my plan.

[Zaxxon]

You'll get there. As much as everyone tends to encourage slow increases in distance / speed (see: C25K, every other running plan out there), actual improvement does periodically tend to stagnate and then make a massive jump seemingly out of the blue. Keep at it, and one day you'll suddenly just have no trouble keeping up with your training plan.

[GreenGoo]

Well, I went from walking 1km, jogging slowly 3.5km and then walking the last 800m or so on my route, to jogging (very) slowly the entire route, then putting another 3km onto the route, jogging the whole way. No one was more surprised or ecstatic than I was. And it was right out of the blue.

That said, I've been trying to get there since pretty much this time last year. The winter was a pretty big setback but still. A year just to to be able to do the slow fat man's jog for 5km for the first time. Ugh.

[Chaz]

Last week was not a fluke. Just did another 8 miles. Today was a lot harder though. I'm guessing that's because it's 80% humidity today vs last weekend's steady rain. Finished it though, so that's good.

[cheeba]

Oh man that's awesome. Thinking about maybe doing a half-mary?

[Chaz]

I was actually thinking about that while I was out this morning. It's a possibility. My main goals at the moment involve obstacle races though. I'm hoping to do an 8-mile Super Spartan at the end of September, and then next year, my goal is do to Tough Mudder, and then the 3-mile Spartan Sprint, 8-mile Super Spartan, and 12-mile Spartan Beast. Plus whatever smaller races I can fit in there.

[cheeba]

Personal best! 33:37 for 3.3 miles, which is 37 seconds better than previous best.

Good lord what a difference a couple days of rest makes. I felt great. I actually didn't think I was pushing myself very hard and thought I would probably come in about a minute slower than I did. That was a nice surprise when I checked the timer. Even now I feel great, unlike Friday when I was just exhausted. I was 2 mins/mile faster than Friday and feel 10x better.

Of course while I feel good about my speed increasing, I also got a nice reality check on the run. I hear the pitter patter of feet behind me and I know someone's catching up to me. This chick runs by and we say hi, I tell her she's shaming me and she laughs and says at least I'm moving. Then she proceeds to run probably close to twice as fast as me. She was flying. Next year I'm going to be racing against a bunch of people like that and better. I have a LOT of work to do.

[stessier]

Of course while I feel good about my speed increasing, I also got a nice reality check on the run. I hear the pitter patter of feet behind me and I know someone's catching up to me. This chick runs by and we say hi, I tell her she's shaming me and she laughs and says at least I'm moving. Then she proceeds to run probably close to twice as fast as me. She was flying. Next year I'm going to be racing against a bunch of people like that and better. I have a LOT of work to do.

If it makes you feel better, you're unlikely to see those people - or at least see them for very long.

Once the race starts, you'll end up being surrounded by people of generally the same pace. Some will pass you, you will pass others. But it is rare for someone to go by you like you are standing still after the first mile or two.

[hog]

Personal best! 33:37 for 3.3 miles, which is 37 seconds better than previous best.

Hey, good job!

Of course while I feel good about my speed increasing, I also got a nice reality check on the run. I hear the pitter patter of feet behind me and I know someone's catching up to me. This chick runs by and we say hi, I tell her she's shaming me and she laughs and says at least I'm moving. Then she proceeds to run probably close to twice as fast as me. She was flying. Next year I'm going to be racing against a bunch of people like that and better. I have a LOT of work to do.

No matter how fast you get, there are always people who are faster. There are people who see YOU as the fast one!

[GreenGoo]

No matter how fast you get, there are always people who are faster. There are people who see YOU as the fast one!

During my bike ride this Sunday, buddy tells me afterward that this was the first time he'd past anyone on the hill. Ever. So he was feeling pretty good about it. Of course they weren't shining examples of tour de France racers, but still. Progress is being made. Not to mention that given we are there and on the road for 7am only the most dedicated bikers are on the hill when we are, and they tend to be pretty good.

As to the woman passing you, I stumbled across this picture a few months ago when doing some research and just generally reading about running. I wanted to run so bad but wasn't in shape enough to do it, so I read about it instead.



The original pic I saw was bigger than this, but I often see this image in my head when I'm running. Sometimes it's because I feel shame at how slow I'm going, some times it's because I'm inspired and part of me feels like she looks in the pic. In either case, in my head she's usually even faster looking, and sometimes little wings sprout from her ankles, keeping her off the ground like that.

That pic just screamed "flying!" at me when I saw it, so it has stuck with me.

If she (or other reasonable facsimiles) were to pass me, yeah, I'd put on a little burst to keep my true speed hidden, but I'd also not feel terrible for having her blast past. I'm fat, old and slow. I'm working on the fat and slow parts. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

[Zaxxon]

Knocked out a 10k tonight on the treadmill while I'm stuck in Louisville (wanted to get the Fitocracy quest points). Surprised myself by coming in at 58:13 which includes my warmup (first 5 min of 4 mph, 4.5 mph, 5, 5.5, 6). Had I tracked where I was when the warmup ended and started tracking the 10k there, it's probably in the low 57s. Considering how much weight I've gained in the last year, I'm happy with that.

Cheeba, congrats on the PR! Don't worry about what others around you are doing. Like others have said, there's always someone faster. You're consistently improving yourself, and that's what matters.

[Kurth]

Of course while I feel good about my speed increasing, I also got a nice reality check on the run. I hear the pitter patter of feet behind me and I know someone's catching up to me. This chick runs by and we say hi, I tell her she's shaming me and she laughs and says at least I'm moving. Then she proceeds to run probably close to twice as fast as me. She was flying. Next year I'm going to be racing against a bunch of people like that and better. I have a LOT of work to do.

In all likelihood, those reality checks will NEVER go away, no matter what your speed gets to over time.

I just did a 5K at the end of June. I was feeling pretty good about myself and thinking I was on the faster end of the spectrum, so I decided to start at the front of the pack. What a mistake. I pretty much gauge my run by how I'm doing relative to others. If I'm passing people, I feel good about myself. If I'm getting passed, not so much. Starting at the front, from the moment the gun went off, I knew I was in trouble. I was struggling to keep pace and not get passed regularly. I felt like I was in front of a wave of pittering pattering feet that was getting closer and closer. After the first mile, I was getting passed by everyone and their uncle and definitely felt like I was in the slow lane. By 1.5 miles, I had a cramp (side sticker) that I thought was going to kill me. It took everything to just keep running, and by that point, I felt like I was getting passed by little old ladies in walkers. I make it a point to always finish strong, but I could barely muster up much of a speed increase over the last quarter mile, let alone a sprint.

In reality, the race wasn't nearly as bad as if felt at the time, and my pace wasn't really all that far off my norm, coming in at 22:08. But it just goes to show you that it's all relative. If I had started in the middle of the pack and spent most of the race passing people, I probably would have been drinking my beers afterwards in celebration rather than drowning my sorrows. Either way, the beer still tasted good!

My personal take-away: It's all about individual goals. Unless you're one in a million, you're never going to be the fastest person out there!

[GreenGoo]

So Monday's are supposed to be a rest day, both by my old internal workout plan and by the plan Zax linked to. Given that my legs were cramping pretty good yesterday afternoon after my bike ride, I definitely should be taking Mondays off. And I do, most of the time.

I did a little ab ripper X (but not much, and very weakly) and was dissatisfied with how it went. I had intended to run 5km straight through tomorrow to get a general idea for my pace, given that I've only ever run 5km once in my life. But I couldn't wait and headed out tonight with the idea being that I'd just cool off after the ab work. It's a nice night, it's muggy in the house and there's a breeze outside, so a good time to clear my head.

But before I even leave the house I'm already thinking I'll do 1 or 2 km just to keep the legs warm, after a 1km warmup walk. As I'm walking in warmup, I start setting my pace alert to 6 min/km, because, you know, I just want to feel how bad it is.

I finish the warmup and start out. Watch immediately beats at me. Ugh. So like a startled deer, I spring away, and after the first 500m of the first km my lungs are burning and my vision is getting just a smidge swimmy. I look down and see a 4:30 pace being reported by my watch. WHOA! Slow down hoss. And I do, but some damage is done, and I'm struggling to find a happy place at a slower pace but still faster than 6 min/km. So it was a bit unpleasant trying to get my breath back and get a good rhythm down.

Long story shortered, I did 2.5km at about a 5:43 pace. Faster to slower as time went along, with another warning beat in the last 0.5km. I don't think it's much of a stretch to think I could have hit 3km while still maintaining a sub 6 min/km pace, and given that I can practically walk an 8 min/km pace, I have a fair bit of confidence that I could turn in a sub 35 min 5km right now.

tl;dr version.

Ran 1/2 of 5km at a pace slightly faster than 6min/km (needed for a 30 min 5km), which makes me feel confident that a 35 min 5km is in the bag already. All that's left is to push for a 30 min 5km while making sure not to injure myself.

I will probably approach this by trying to do longer distances, rather than faster 5kms (during training). Fairly sure I want to go for 10km once I run a couple of 5km events. 1/2 marathons are still right out though, no intention of doing those, ever.

[GreenGoo]

Just got back from my "how far can I go?" run. Turns out it's at least 8.1 miles at a pretty consistent 9:30 pace.

Went back and took a look at this post, after running a 9 and change pace for less than 2 miles tonight. Now that I have a better idea of what a sub 10 min/mi feels like, your numbers are all the more impressive.

Congrats!

[Chaz]

Now go check out Kurth's numbers that he posted just after mine. That guy's nuts.

[GreenGoo]

Now go check out Kurth's numbers that he posted just after mine. That guy's nuts.

Yeah, Kurth doesn't exist in my world, he's in some other world, but not in mine, so I don't bother looking at his stuff.

[GreenGoo]

Attn: Zax

After coming across a (great) review of a C25K app for the iPhone, I went looking for the same for Android. There are a few, almost all of which are universally panned. And 1/2 are for pay, which is kind of silly given that it doesn't need to be an overly complicated technical implementation of fairly straight forward requirements. If I were to do it I'd add a SHITLOAD of nice to have's to it, but apparently Android doesn't even have a worthy base model yet.

But what I wanted to ask was, do you know of any app, even something dead simple, that I can use to keep track of my progress on the training plan you linked to? I'd prefer something Android related, but I'd settle for something for the desktop.

As it stands now, I'm probably going to go with something extremely low tech. I might even print out the table and simply add calendar dates and cross them off as they are completed/pass. Although I might want more flexibility if I want to swap days or something (Saturdays are not great for me, but I often manage something on Friday, so I could swap Friday's rest day for Saturday's workout, as an example).

Hell, if I can't find anything, I may just convert the table to a spreadsheet and manipulate it there. And print it out if I want something hanging on the wall for inspiration.

Ugh. Can't someone do my work for me, and do it for free? What is this world coming to where a man can't make unreasonable demands on the internet and have them met by strangers in foreign lands eager to do his bidding for free?

I blame George Bush (the more monkey looking one).

[GreenGoo]

Attn: Fretmute

Taken from the weight loss thread in June:

I started the couch to 5k this weekend. First jog Sunday evening went pretty well, although here I am two days later, and my quads still hurt.

Damn you, aging!

I'm also doing the 100 pushups program, but I seriously doubt that I will ever be able to do that many in a row. I'm not Herschel Walker.

How's it going/how did it go?

[Zaxxon]

If by track your progress you mean track your workouts, try CardioTrainer. It's great both for GPS workouts and manual entry after the fact.

[Chaz]

I started with CardioTrainer when I started out with Ct5k, but switched to Runkeeper pretty fast. CardioTrainer doesn't (as far as I know) let you set up intervals with alerts, and doesn't track data on a website. Runkeeper lets you set up saved workouts with included warmups and cooldowns and intervals based on time or distance, then uploads tracking data to the website where it can be broken down into splits and graphed and such.

It won't let you check off days on the Ct5k program, but I just wound up making workouts labeled Week 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 for weeks where the days were different, then just Week 6 and do it three times when they weren't. The website will show you what your intervals were after the run, so you can refer to them later. Also, the Android app is very good.

[GreenGoo]

If by track your progress you mean track your workouts, try CardioTrainer. It's great both for GPS workouts and manual entry after the fact.

Not even, although I would expect what I want to be part of a greater application that tracks stats on the workouts themselves. Basically, I was hoping that something existed that let me put a check mark beside each workout after I finished it, with maybe a place to put some notes if anything occured that I wanted to pay attention to.

My watch handles the gps side of things, and Sportstracks (on windows) takes care of the analysis and viewing of the data generated by the watch for human consumption.

The phone would be more awesome if I felt more confident in its gps data.

On that note, my buddy runs his phone with MyTracks while I use my garmin 305 for our bike rides, and our data is within a very small margin of each other. So both seem to be accurate enough in mostly open terrain. So maybe I'm unfairly prejudiced against the phone.

[GreenGoo]

Guess I'm pushing too hard, legs are pretty crampy right now. At least Week 1 day 1 (Tuesday. i.e. tonight) is a pretty easy interval run of about 2km or so. 400m on (fast pace) 400m off (slowish pace) for 3 intervals.

Should be able to handle that without too much issue.

Edit: Crap. Realized I was looking at another similar, but not the same training schedule as the one Zax linked. It probably doesn't matter too much which I use, as long as I stay consistent with one or the other. Given I had already heard of Zax's guy (although it may have been from Zax from months ago) I'll stick with him.

Hal Higdon says 3 miles tonight. Ugh. Although that was originally my plan before I jogged last night and made my legs all crampy, so I don't have much of a leg to stand on to complain. 3 miles it is, if I can manage it. Pace will not be discussed yet again.

[GreenGoo]

Help.

Tempo Runs. What does this mean?

Tempo Runs: This is a continuous run with an easy beginning, a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace, then ease back and cruise to the finish. A typical tempo run would begin with 5-10 minutes easy running, continue with 10-15 faster running, and finish with 5-10 minutes cooling down. You can't figure out your pace on a watch doing this workout; you need to listen to your body. Tempo runs are very useful for developing anaerobic threshold, essential for fast 5-K racing.

To me, if the "faster" part in the middle is approaching the 10k race pace, then it is still slower than a "normal" 5k pace. Is a tempo run mostly a rest run? Slow and easy, faster but not too fast, then back to slow and easy?

That would seem to be the opposite of an anaerobic workout. Clearly I'm missing something. What is it?

[cheeba]

My personal take-away: It's all about individual goals. Unless you're one in a million, you're never going to be the fastest person out there!

Oh I agree with that. I'm not ever going to be the fastest person out there, but I do hope to get to a point where someone isn't *twice* as fast .

[Zaxxon]

I started with CardioTrainer when I started out with Ct5k, but switched to Runkeeper pretty fast. CardioTrainer doesn't (as far as I know) let you set up intervals with alerts, and doesn't track data on a website.

Yes, it does (with the Pro module) include intervals, and yes they have a site. I don't think the site is as full-featured as RK's, though. Does RK let you track non-run workouts these days? I also enjoy CT's 'race against yourself' feature that lets you re-run a route with real-time updates as to how you compare to a previous run on that route. Not sure if RK includes that.

To me, if the "faster" part in the middle is approaching the 10k race pace, then it is still slower than a "normal" 5k pace. Is a tempo run mostly a rest run? Slow and easy, faster but not too fast, then back to slow and easy?

10k race pace is faster than a 5k training pace. A tempo run is anaerobic at its peak and aerobic during the slower parts. It's definitely not a rest run. You start out slow but by the 10k race pace section you should be feeling it in a pretty serious way. The way I think of it is a run where the slow warmup just keeps on getting faster until it hurts, and then the cooldown is longer than normal but also much more gradual. Make sense?

It might clarify things to consider that when Higdon says '10k race pace', he's referring to the 10k race pace of someone who is quite fit (eg a marathoner). It's fast--10ks are a challenge for them due to their speed, not their distance.

[Chaz]

I started with CardioTrainer when I started out with Ct5k, but switched to Runkeeper pretty fast. CardioTrainer doesn't (as far as I know) let you set up intervals with alerts, and doesn't track data on a website.

Yes, it does (with the Pro module) include intervals, and yes they have a site. I don't think the site is as full-featured as RK's, though. Does RK let you track non-run workouts these days? I also enjoy CT's 'race against yourself' feature that lets you re-run a route with real-time updates as to how you compare to a previous run on that route. Not sure if RK includes that.

I never used CardioTrainer long enough to look into the paid options. It sounds like RK might be more full-featured at the free level. I'm also not sure if RK let's you race against yourself. I'll try and remember to take a look. RK lets you enter activities for:
running, walking, hiking, cycling, mountain biking, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, elliptical, skating, swimming, rowing, or wheelchair, and you can tell it you were using a treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, or rowing machine. I don't recommend using your phone to track your swimming workouts.

[Zaxxon]

In the interest of nerd exercise-tracking debate, CT lets you track:

run, walk, treadmill run, treadmill walk, biking, stationary biking, aerobics, boxing, stair climbing, xc skiing, dancing, elliptical, hiking, horseback riding, inline skating, jumprope, kayaking, mountain biking, nordic walking, pilates, racquetball, rowing maching, skating, skiing, snowboarding, spinning, squash, step machine, swimming (lap or open-water), team sports, tennis, weight lifting, yard work, yoga, and create-your-own.

I'm also a fan of its ability to place a widget or notification-area medal listing your running 7-day calorie burn (highly motivational), weight-loss tracking options, Calorific module for tracking amount and quality of food consumption, and workout scheduling/reminders.

[GreenGoo]

10k race pace is faster than a 5k training pace. A tempo run is anaerobic at its peak and aerobic during the slower parts. It's definitely not a rest run. You start out slow but by the 10k race pace section you should be feeling it in a pretty serious way. The way I think of it is a run where the slow warmup just keeps on getting faster until it hurts, and then the cooldown is longer than normal but also much more gradual. Make sense?

It might clarify things to consider that when Higdon says '10k race pace', he's referring to the 10k race pace of someone who is quite fit (eg a marathoner). It's fast--10ks are a challenge for them due to their speed, not their distance.

Clarify for me how a 10k pace is going to be faster than a 5k pace, because that seems non-intuitive. [Edit: Ok, I missed the race pace vs training pace. Still, it's a non-intuitive speed given that many people who are using the intermediate training program for the first time won't have a clue what a 10k race pace is.]

In any, case I found another site hosting a nearly identical training program, right down to the explanations for the various run types in the table, but in the explanation of Tempo they are slightly more clear about what is expected. i.e. fast in the middle. i.e. anaerobic as you pass your comfort pace for an extended period.

Already over did it. Left quad is "unhappy" and tonight is supposed to be my first run of week 1, a full 5k at a comfortable pace. Considering there are another 2 full 5k's scheduled for the week with a tempo and an interval run on top of that, and then finish off with a FIVE MILE run on Sunday, I think I'm already in trouble. This is probably more than I can chew, but I'm still willing to give it a shot this week and see how it goes.

Seeing as 2 weeks ago I hadn't even run 5k ever in my life. Not even once. Ambition may be larger than life in this case.

[GreenGoo]

Guys, I just ran the first day of a 2 month training program. I was thinking of "blogging" in a more organized fashion my progress as I follow the program. Are there any objections to doing that here in this thread? Or perhaps I should start a new thread to separate my posts from the more generalized Running thread?

I'm not actually going to start a blog, because I don't see it being that interesting for others. OO sometimes acts as a journal for me, and this would be one of those times.

Opinions? My thoughts were to post the training program, where I am on it, what I've completed, where I have to go next, my performance during the training and anything of note that comes up, like injuries, plateaus, overcoming humps, and so forth.

The more defined goal(s) and more rigid and ambitious running schedule has me leaning to a more organized approach of tracking it, rather than my approach up until now, which has been to do what feels right based on any progress I was making.

I put in 5km last night. 1km warm up walk, 5km jog, and about 600m cooldown walk. The run was AWESOME, at least how it felt. I was grinning my ass off the first 2 km. Just so enjoyable. It took a lot of hardwork for me to reach this stage and now that I've made it this far I'm very happy and looking forward to the next phase. I am SORE today, but that's because I'm running more often and not getting enough rcovery time. I'm planning on fixing that by taking an extra rest day on Saturday.

5km paces:

1st km: 7:05 min/km bpm 109
2nd km: 7:18 min/km bpm 108
3rd km: 7:12 min/km bpm 110
4th km: 6:46 min/km bpm 149
5th km: 6:13 min/km bpm 160

Surprised at how steady my first 3 km were. Was also in conservation mode as I still have no idea how my body is going to respond at various stages. The 4th was because I could see the end and was feeling strong. That strong feeling translated into a faster pace naturally, without conscious. The 5th I actively picked up the pace, as the end was just around the corner and I was still feeling good. It was a slight uphill grade the whole way, and at about the 700m mark (300m left) it did start to feel a bit long. It felt good to stop, but in no way did I collapse or feel I needed to stop. Yay. Because in the past I *needed* to stop, and that was over less distance and slower. Yay again.

Tonight is intervals. Something I'm familiar with, except I'm used to a much slower pace. Tonight's "rest" phases I'll still need to be running, rather than the walking I used to do. Should be very interesting. On the plus side the total distance is shorter. On the negative side the constant pace changes, including paces faster than my comfort level, will drain me more than the same distance at a steady pace.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I did 20 minutes of Wii yoga as a warmup last night. I have been finding myself stiff in my lower and upper back, my neck and other areas. I used to stretch like a mofo but I've been trying something different and using my warm up walk to loosen things up. So my legs, despite being stronger and faster than ever before, are actually tighter and less flexible than they have been in a long time. Bad combo. So I'll be throwing in some x-training stuff here and there to try to achieve a more general overall body fitness. Ab ripper X, wii yoga, extensive stretching, and I'll return to some upper body strength work that fell by the wayside when I hurt my ribs (which still hurt, but fuck them anyway).

[stessier]

Opinions? My thoughts were to post the training program, where I am on it, what I've completed, where I have to go next, my performance during the training and anything of note that comes up, like injuries, plateaus, overcoming humps, and so forth.

Absolutely do it here! I think it will be great for both you and us.

On the negative side the constant pace changes, including paces faster than my comfort level, will drain me more than the same distance at a steady pace.

Yes, yes it will.

I've always thought of a tempo run as both fun and mentally taxing. Fun because going fast is always fun. But mentally trying because going fast and long is hard and when things get hard, my mind always starts looking for a way out. I've had great success with the moving stop line (Ie, I'll keep going to that light pole, then let myself stop - but then I get there and make the same deal for the next one). I'm sure everyone has some trick.

[stessier]

Double post

[stessier]

triple post

[stessier]

the rare quadruple post

[stessier]

the much sought after quintuple post

[stessier]

the long thought extinct sextuple post

[cheeba]

Of course you should post, Goo!

Today is the first of my running days in over a month where I didn't do a 5k. Business got to me this morning and so I got a late start. I'm also tired from swimming yesterday. So I went to the track to do a "fast" mile. Turned out to be 9:15, ugh. I swear I was going faster than that.

Think I'll swim today to the point of exhaustion, then tomorrow take the day off other than bodyweight exercises, then on Friday I'll do a distance run.

[Baroquen]

Didn't get up for a morning run. Might do an evening run at the gym instead. Then a short run Friday with a distance run Saturday, though that might get pushed to Sunday because of my daughter's birthday. Then it's back to work next week, so I'm not sure how I'll fit my running in. I'll see how it goes.

[GreenGoo]

I've always thought of a tempo run as both fun and mentally taxing. Fun because going fast is always fun. But mentally trying because going fast and long is hard and when things get hard, my mind always starts looking for a way out. I've had great success with the moving stop line (Ie, I'll keep going to that light pole, then let myself stop - but then I get there and make the same deal for the next one). I'm sure everyone has some trick.

Yeah, I agree. The moving stop line is how I set out a couple of weeks ago to do a personal best of 4km and when I finally called it a night I'd actually run 7km.

Still, I'm scared that going fast will burn me right out, leaving me hanging trying to struggle through the rest of the run.

But tonight isn't tempo (which is probably the hardest, except maybe for a "fast" run), tonight is intervals. Fast/slow/fast/slow/fast/slow. Training plan says I can walk the slows if I want/need to. I'll let you know if my ego lets me walk or if I kill myself trying not to.

I think I'll try to build a little template post for me so I can fill it in and cut and paste it into the thread with details for a specific training run.

Does anyone care about the beats per minute? I thought it was interesting but it might be more novelty than anything. I can't believe how steady it was for the first 3 km or how low, or the huge jump in heart rate to match the increased pace of the 4th, OR how little I felt the increased pace and heart rate for the 4th. It wasn't until the 5th and final km where I started to think "I'm tired and this is harder than it should be".

[GreenGoo]

I just want to say that, walls of text to the contrary, I have a limited amount of writing in me, and if I do these bloggish posts, I may not have the time or energy to post contstructively about what other people are up to. Hopefully this doesn't come across as too self centered, as I absolutely am interested and will read what everyone else is up to, I just may not always post constructive support as I'd like.

I know this is a strange post, but it bugs me that I may seem to be hyper focused on my own running (I am, of course) while not giving a crap when other people post what they are up to and/or accomplishing.

Reading what other people are up to here has been incredibly inspirational and is without a doubt a major reason for my finally getting off my butt and moving again, as well as my continued progress and success.

This running is actually pretty emotional for me (ditto the weight loss but not nearly with the same meaning or impact) and I've been toying with a "what running 5k has meant to me" post (which I may still get to eventually).

As an example, last night was going to be only the second time I had run 5km without stopping/intervals ever, and I was pretty nervous despite knowing I could do it fairly easily now, without each step being a struggle for survival locked in combat with the Grim Reaper. The nerves went away fairly early, and as I moved from my first km to the 2nd km, I was grinning like a MANIAC. Just the act of running was a victory in and of itself. Finish lines didn't enter into it. I was listening to the Flight of the Conchords and singing along and laughing out loud as I ran. I spat on the asphalt in a symbolic fuck you to the km just past and as a warning to the next one coming. I even threw up the horns with both hands over my head in a rocky'esque moment (but with horns, not fists. Not sure why. I wasn't a headbanger as a kid but it just feels right today).

I have mentioned that I suffer from depression, which is a combination of chemical and cognitive issues, which means I rarely get to experience true joy. And even when I do, it's like it surfaces through a thick molasses and usually sinks out of sight again quickly. Typically this happens with my children only, and not full time (which sucks for everyone). But this struggle (and I mean struggle) to be able to walk any distance, let alone run, means that my current feelings of success and victory when added to the athletic high I get when I run equates to real joy. For someone who's norm is below that of the average person, real joy is nearly orgasmic. Like I'm drugged and high. Addictive. Exciting. Powerful. And it probably explains why, even though I'm exhausted and nodding off at my desk in mid-combat while playing Champions Online, that I still get up off my sorry ass when it's time, get changed, and head out into the dark. Where I am alone with the night and my legs and my lungs and the sidewalk. Just me in the moonlight as my lungs burn and my legs pound and the meters (and now kilometers! Yay!) fly by underneath me.

Well, I guess I covered most of the emotional aspects, except maybe for the reasons *why* this is important to me, but that can wait for another day. Bit of a silly post but here it is.

And so the walls of text begin. We're in for it now.

[YellowKing]

No need to apologize, Goo. I enjoy reading your posts (and the others in this thread). You guys are way ahead of me in terms of stamina, yet you started out just like me. That is definitely inspiring.

Speaking of stamina, I think I hit one of those magical breakthroughs tonight (I prefer to refer to it as a "level up.") I missed last night's run due to my daughter being sick. Not having run since Saturday, I figured I was in for a tough road. So I decided to take it *really* easy and go my slowest comfortable pace.

I was a bit shocked when I looked down after my first run and on my "slowest" setting I was doing a full minute faster than my previous average! I ended up finishing the session feeling like I could do another mile and a half. I actually had to restrain myself from running back home versus doing my 5 minute cool down.

Next week will up the ante and I'll probably be back to getting my ass kicked again, but it felt really good to have everything 'click' and know that I was seeing tangible results.