Couch to 5K, moving into week 2

I'm on fire, I tell you. I'm getting around to starting week 2 of couch to 5k version 2. I tried a pair of running shorts (these, I think). I think the 5lbs I have left in The Fat Runner's weight loss challenge (I've made mine a 6 week challenge) will help these shorts fit a little better, but I was pleasantly surprised even today. A little riding up, but not too much chafing, though I certainly wouldn't try these on a longer run quite yet. They did the trick for 20 minutes, though. Also went to the park to do pushups and situps even though the rain last night meant the grass was wet and I have no hope of wearing those clothes again without washing them. I can definitely tell I'm getting stronger. Kind of a boring run, no one doing anything funny or extra fun music, but I'm pleased that I was up and running by 6:30.

A slightly better run report

I'm not cool like JogBlog so I haven't got any fancy sunglasses to review but I nevertheless dutifully put on capris, decent bra, tank top, socks, shoes, and hat. I put my sunglasses on the brim of my hat while I get the Garmin and my iPod all ready. I go outside, wait (and wait, and wait) for the Garmin to find a signal after all these months of not running and finally get going. I do my 60 seconds on, 90 seconds off thing. The goal this time around on Couch to 5k is to end up being able to run a sub-30min 5k at the end of it, so I try to do approx 10-min-miles in the running bits, which actually turned out to be a bit faster but we'll see how that goes when the time extends. I do 10 minutes, am feeling good, contemplate adding an extra 5 minutes today, decide not to because I have been so slack lately and don't want to overdo it the first day out but agree with myself to do 20 min Mondays, 25 min Wednesdays, and 30 min Fridays this week and next while everything is building up, then re-evaluate, so I turn around. Still feeling good after another 10 minutes when I'm back at the park near my house. I go to do the test for 100 pushups and 200 situps, and DISCOVER MY SUNGLASSES STILL ON THE BRIM OF MY HAT. I am a moron, or else London isn't really sunny enough for sunglasses yet. At least I didn't lose them as I did a little Metallica-headbanging-running-thing.

I know you're supposed to train for distance, and the speed will come, but as I said part of my problem doing longer distances (which I enjoy) is that it takes so bloody long to train for them when you are as slow as I am. So I'm doing a short-distance training to get myself used to running this kind of recreational distance at a not-embarassing pace, then planning to up the distances according to an as-yet-undetermined (Hal Higdon? FIRST? your thoughts?) plan based on my success in this revamed C25k. The first time I did C25k, I counted my warmup walk and cooldown walk in my distances, so I can't compare given that I didn't do any warmup or cooldown bits on this run, but back then I did an overall 13-ish minute mile and way back when I started doing marathon training I did 3 miles, jogging (I think) the whole thing at a 12:39 pace, and today I did rather less than 2 miles at an 11:59 pace of walking more than I was running. So I'm off to a better start.

I'm on Twitter, as many of you are. My running-tweets are predictably listed under @RunFrom30. I have a personal one too of course but my RL friends probably don't want to know how many (girly-style) pushups I've done. That's what I have you guys for.

Finally, check out the TopHeavyRunner, another well-endowed lady with suggestions about good bras for large-breasted ladies. I'm planning to try some of the bras she's reviewed, and I hope she'll do the same for me.

Couch to 5K, Version 2

I've decided to do Couch to 5K again. I can run 3 miles/5k, but not so fast. And part of the reason my training for long races goes to shit is that it takes so long to go anywhere. So this time I'm doing it with the aim of having a sub-30-min 5k at the end of it. Which means continually increasing the time I can run at a sub-10-min-mile pace. I know, not so fast, still, but a big improvement over when I first started this program, and this blog. I'm also adding the 100 pushups and 200 situps programs.

Reverse brick with absurdly long transition

Not really a brick workout, but I am proud to say I both ran (for the first time in practically forever) and rode my bike to work this morning. Short run, but the goal of it was really just to prove to myself I can still run since the last few have been crap (some so crap I won't even write about them here). And I think something's not quite right with my bike - yesterday it derailed for no reason so I couldn't even ride my bike to work and today I felt like I was mashing away hard for not a lot of result - but I did it. And I was even on time.

Anyway, I'm back from vacation. I've missed everyone, I'm totally behind on both training and hearing about y'all, but I hope to be back on track and caught up soon.

Running errands

My last 3 runs have been of the "I'll run to X that I have to do anyway" variety. It's been a great motivator for me. From the trip to the ATM, to the camping store on my long run well over a week ago, to my attempt to buy new knitting needles today that provided the impetus for me to get off my cozy couch and out into the hail/snow/rain/cold, these have been good ways to ensure I run even when I might not exactly want to. Which is good - because the marathon is now 5 weeks away, and the last month has been less than ideal in the training department. But 5 weeks is long enough to make a difference (I hope) but short enough to make me focus, so I'm re-dedicating myself to the training: 3 weeks of hard training and 2 weeks to taper. I think the 16 week training program was too long for me, and although I'm already thinking about the next couple of races I want to run, I think I'm planning to do a shorter program. I'm planning a 10k with my office in early July, so my tentative plan is to take a month after the marathon to recover, run when I feel like it, etc, then take 8 weeks to get myself ready to run a <1 hour 10k - from a 11-12 min/mile base, I think this is feasible, right?

Today's run featured quite a bit of the mantra, and a lot of time thinking about why I run, who I run for, etc, and a small bit of running "with" all my blogger friends. I had quite a long conversation with Marathon Dude Bill, in particular.

Apologies that I haven't kept up with everyone lately - I've felt guilty about my lack of running and that's translated into guilt about reading about running. But I'm back on the roads, and online.

Week 8, Day 1: Breaking in

After far too long lazing about, I got back on the road this morning. I was also breaking in my new shoes, which I bought in the interest of alternating to give my feet/legs a breather, reducing the incidence of blisters, and making my shoes last a bit longer. I set out for the Islington 4-mile course I usually use, but you may recall I haven't actually run this course properly in quite some time. I actually forgot that I had done it for 4 miles before, and so I'd had the park in my head as a turn-around point, but when I got there, I was only at 1.6 so very clearly not to halfway. I carried on, winding my way through Hackney (my favourite borough!) without managing to get lost though at some point I stopped to look at the map and pushed what I thought was "stop" on the Garmin and it said "timer started" so somewhere in there I'd run for a while without either timing or following myself along. I'll try to recreate the lost miles somewhere and add my true total distance and route but in the meantime I'll just go with the reported time and distance. 4.2 miles, 47:32. But then I finished well over 4 miles and was still most of a mile from home, and in the interest of not overdoing it today and needing to rest/recover too much the rest of the week considering I'm 8 weeks out and took most of a week off, I decided to just walk home.

Which brings me to a thought on the training plan I'm using. It's a nice gradual increase, and considering it's designed to take you from barely able to run 3 miles to a marathon in 16 weeks, I see the wisdom of the approach, but there are NO CUTBACK WEEKS. I don't think I need it physically - the mileage is pretty low, overall - but the mental break is nice too and I think that's why I took last week off - because there wasn't a prescribed method for kicking back a bit. Lesson for next marathon.

Week 7, Day 1: I can't believe I've gotten this far!

Out in the grey London morning for an easy 4 miles. Yesterday's rest day did me lots of good, and I felt great today. 4 miles, 44:54.

How I wish I could go back and talk to my 18-year-old self and tell her, convince her, that she's fit and running is fun anyway. Somewhere around then I decided that if I couldn't be a size 2, I'd just do nothing. And now I'm paying for it. I miss the days when I could run 5 miles in under 35 minutes. I'll get back there someday, I hope. When I was a kid, I started playing volleyball. I was terrible, but over time I got better. My coach said to me, "No one told you you weren't an athlete, so you became one." I know she meant well, but I took it totally wrong and became convinced I wasn't an athlete. It took me until I was out of college to think about myself as an athlete again, even though I played volleyball, swam, ran in high school, ran/swim a little in my first year of college before I had my do nothing revelation, played rugby from college through graduate school. Only when I started playing rugby well did I learn to think about myself as an athlete again.

Shameless plug: One of my coworkers is running the London Marathon to raise money for the Spinal Injuries Association. I believe she's got a family member with a spinal injury. If you're interested in sponsoring her, I know she'd be thrilled.

Week 6, Day 1: Lessons learned

The short runs increase to 4 miles this week. Obviously nothing I can't handle, because I've done these mid-week before, and I ran 10 miles this weekend! Off I go, at a pretty good pace. I can feel the lactic acid in my legs, so I remind myself that the goal of this run is to work that out so I can have a good run tomorrow or Wednesday. I use my new mantra: "I am a marathoner. I love to run. I feel fit, and strong, and healthy. I always finish. I am a marathoner." I think about what I learned over the weekend: I can finish 10 miles. After, I will be hungry, and food will not seem to stay in my stomach. If I then start to drink beer or cheap champagne, I will be very drunk. But I will still feel amazing for having run 10 miles. And that gets me through 4 miles, 46:34.

Week 5, Day 1: It all adds up

I started out this morning by setting myself a "I can keep this up the whole way" pace. I didn't look at my watch, just did it by feel. I kept this pace pretty steady through the first 2 miles (even speeding up a bit), then right around the 2 mile mark I started to feel like I had settled in, and my pace (when I looked at it after the run) reflected this. I felt I could have kept going. I also noticed that, as of this morning, I've run more in January than I did in December (which I guess is easy to do when you're only consistent for 2 weeks out of the month). I think I've gotten over the hump, because it feels like this is getting easier. Someone please remind me of this on Saturday when I finish 10 (!) miles.

Fueling my obsession with statistics, I'm contemplating laying down the cash for Ascent, because I can't get the Garmin software to work on my work Mac (I can't install new programs, and Garmin doesn't work if you install it on the external hard drive which is what I usually do with personal stuff). Does anyone use it? Rants? Raves?

Week 4, Day 1: Start slow to finish strong

I made myself go out extra slow today because I was determined to run without any walking breaks, not even for the steep bits. I haven't figured out how to make my Garmin tell my my pace if I'm running a pre-established course (anyone?) but I was aiming for a 12:30 first mile. The enforcing of the "slow down" really worked - I actually slogged a 13:10 first mile. I kept picking up the pace slowly for the rest of the way, trying to catch my Virtual Training Partner. I was definitely running faster by the end, but the VTP still beat me. It was a little disheartening to be a tenth of a mile from home and get the message that the VTP had finished the course. On the other hand, I ran the whole way and was feeling really good, and that's a victory. 3.15 miles, 38:39.

Week 3, Day 1, v2: Resolved

Finally back out there, after nearly a month. So much for my resolutions to run while traveling. Oh well. It doesn't matter, as they say. Anyway, still plenty of time left before the marathon, so I thought it would be best to re-do week 3 to ease back into it. A slight edit to the 3-mile route since I've moved. I also got to play a bit with my new toy (aka the Garmin 205 I got for Christmas). Unfortunately I can't hook it up to my work computer so I haven't used all the features yet, but the one I'm looking forward to the most will be the Virtual Partner, so I can race against myself on routes I run regularly - I'll let you know how that goes on Friday (I know you're all waiting with bated breath). Anyway, it felt really good to run again. 3.18 miles, 38:37.64.

Week so far: 3.2 miles, 38:38.

Week 3, Day 1: running jetlagged 101

Ok, not really jetlagged - 1 hour time difference cerainly isn't enough. But entry level in running in a new country 7 hours after getting off the plane. A good warm-up for what's to come. Basel has the lovely Rhine flowing through it so I ran along it this morning. In the pre-dawn, its very quiet, but the big hotels along either side are gorgeously lit. A few other runners, but not as many as I usually see in London. Is it because I wasn't in the right place, or do the Swiss not run? I started out unhappy because the hotel didn't have a gym, so I had to run outside, in the dark, in an unfamiliar city, where the street signs are hard to decipher. But now I'm so glad - what a beautiful (if a bit chilly and drizzly) morning. It doesn't matter, indeed. 2.93 miles, 37:37:45.

Week so far: 2.93 miles, 37:38.

Week 2, Day 1: Tuesday 4 December

3 miles scheduled. Beautiful quiet fall morning - not too cold, though I was certainly glad I had long pants and long sleeves. It was hard to wake up, but this week's mental mantra is "it doesn't matter" and that really helped me to get going. It felt good to be running, and running well-ish. Certainly not easy, and I'm still not fast, but it doesn't matter how fast I run. What matters is that I run. And after Sunday's long painful slog, it was great to see that I could still run. Lots of other runners out at 6:45, though basically no one else, and I felt awesome being a part of the community of runners, even if we don't talk to each other or even say hello. Oh, and I saw a fox! Highbury fields to clissold park route. 37:15.

Week so far: 3 miles, 37:15.