C25K — Week 9 Day 1

Program: 5 minute warmup walk, 30 minute run.

Well, this would probably have been more of a milestone if I hadn’t ruined it by going ahead and running 30 minutes about a week ago… But I did it again!

The difference this time is that it was not hard! After running 30 minutes during week 7, my legs ached and my lungs were burning. Today I actually enjoyed the run, my breathing was regular, nothing in particular ached (although I was generally tired at the end). I just ran, daydreaming, for half an hour… It was actually really, well, peaceful.

Run Stats: 3.16 miles, 9min 17 sec per mil

C25K — Week 8 Day 3

Program: 5 min warmup walk, 28 minute run

This run was pretty unremarkable so there’s not so much to put in a post, instead I’ll talk about different things.

Today I decided to find out how quickly I could run one mile, and the answer is 8 minutes 43 seconds. Not so good, but then again not so bad either. I’m happy with where I am at the moment, and am sure that I’ll be able to improve this time over the coming weeks and months. My one mile run also served as a calibration run for my pedometer, which claimed that I had actually run 0.96 miles, so it was quite close to correct without even being calibrated correctly.

My running wardrobe is now fully stocked: one t-shirt, one long sleeved top (both made of whatever that stuff is that helps take moisture away from your body), two pairs of shorts and four pairs of running socks. As horribly shallow as it sounds I really do feel more confident running around now that I actually look a bit more like a runner and hopefully a bit less like a little tubby guy pretending to be a runner

C25K — Week 8 Day 2

Program: 5 min warmup walk, 28 minute run

Not a good run today. This is the first time I have ever really, really, really struggled with a c25k workout. Over the last five minutes I was within a hairbreadth of walking, but I just managed to keep stumbling along at an embarrassingly low pace, and felt like I was nearly dying. I didn’t actually walk, but I am not happy with my performance

I think this happened because I have had a terribly busy few days exercise-wise (my first swim in, well, as long as I remember, as well as long bike rides and a couple of ‘extra’ runs that I just did for fun) and social-wise (I went out and had a fair few too many beers the night before the run).

I really do need to listen to advice like “rest days are important for beginners”, I know I’m not doing myself any good by over-reaching like this, so today I’m going to write a note to myself:

Dear CMB,

You are not superman. Be sensible. Also don’t run hungover. Idiot.

Love, CMB

Oh well… Learning, right?

C25K — Week 8 Day 1

Program: 5 min warmup walk, 28 minute run

After successfully running 5k on Saturday I didn’t want to drop all the way back to doing 25 minute runs, so I skipped week 7 of the program. I also didn’t feel ready to do regular 30 minute runs, so didn’t skip all the way to week 9. That leaves, yep, week 8. Again, it may not be the safest thing in the world to go skipping big chunks of a training program but if I feel any abnormal pains (i.e. outside of the usual burning lungs, aching legs and sweat-stinging eyes) then I’ll immediately stop…

The run today was fun. It still sounds strange to say that, but it’s true. It was fun. Somehow I’m enjoying it. Two things to take away:

1. Nipples. Ow. Note to self: Sticking plaster.

2. I finally found a hill near my house, it’s pretty much the first hill I’ve seen in this city (indeed in the city the largest hills are pretty much the bridges). The flat landscape here is both a blessing (my morning bike-commute is easy and pleasant) and a curse (a flat, windmill covered landscape can only remain interesting for so long!).

C25K — Week 6 Day 3

Program: 5min warmup walk, 25min run.

Absolutely tipping it down with rain today, which suits me just fine. After a painful first couple of minutes my legs seemed to realize what they were doing and the rest of the run was fine, no panting breath, and at the end I ran a couple of sections at maximum possible speed because I was not tired enough. Feels great.

More good news about my pace. I ran today for the first time with my Nike+ pedometer, and was pleased to find that in 25 minutes I covered 2.58 miles (9min 46sec per mile pace), so I’m well on target to manage 3 miles in 30 minutes!

I also checked the calibration of the pedometer against the Google maps route planner and it seems really close to accurate.

C25K — Week 6 Day 2

Program: 5min warmup walk, 10min run, 3min walk, 10min run

After finding the last run quite difficult I expected this one to feel the same. Fortunately it seemed to be much easier, probably because I ran in the morning (7am ish), and it was quite cold and still a bit rainy.

For the first time today I really struggled to get out of bed, and very nearly didn’t make it. For some reason I couldn’t sleep at all last night, I think I’m worrying about work too much as I kept getting out of bed to check on computer simulations. I’m also doing the journal club this week, and have a short talk at the science day.

C25K — Week 6 Day 1

Program: 5 minute warmup walk, run 5min, walk 3min, run 8min, walk 3min, run 5min

After week 5 day 3 (20 minutes running with no break) I was expecting this run to be easy, but it turned out to be pretty taxing, and I was definitely feeling it after the end of even the first running period. I think it was so hard this time because it’s the first time I have run in really hot weather (it’s currently 26 degrees outside).

After the first run I managed to settle down and the final two runs weren’t too bad. According to gmap-pedometer and some very rough calculations I am roughly on track to manage 5km in 30 minutes by the last week, assuming of course that my pace doesn’t drop. This is good news because I was a bit worried that I would do the final days run and only manage 3-4 km.