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On running...
May. 15th, 2014 11:16 pmThe long story short is that getting to the point where I can run again has been amazingly frustrating and difficult. I think I'm finally making progress, but I don't know how that 5k on June 1 will go. I have, as yet, been unable to do more than a 10 minute run, and I'm guessing the 5k will take me closer to 38 minutes. (My mental goal for 'being able to run' is to be able to do a 5k under 35 minutes reliably.)
Last Saturday I ran my most successful training run this year. I made it around the inside loop of Greenlake in 33 minutes, for an 11.8 minute mile pace. Additionally, that was at minute 8 of my 10 minutes long interval, so I tacked on a little tiny bit of distance.
I have identified a few issues with my progress. One that I can't do anything about is my recurrent asthma - even when I'm healthy I'm needing more medication to keep the exercise induced asthma at bay. There are a few things I can do something about: The first is that trying to build ability on one day a week isn't cutting it, so I need to have more than one workout per week. The second is that I believe the couchto5k program isn't really cutting it for me.
Working out more than once per week is obvious, and something that I've know for a long time. It is obviously easier to implement when the weather is nice. My current goal is to be running at least twice per week, but I also think it is necessary to do some strength and stretching. I have an orthogonal goal to be riding my bike more, but that will also help increase my stamina and leg strength.
As to the Couch to 5k - I have identified some fundamental problems with the program. Fundamentally, I think its more like 'Non-running but fit to 5k'.
I have been following the first weeks based on the time values, not distance values. If you do this, the basic distance being covered is not sufficient to get many people up to a 5k.... the final week has a 30 minute 5k, and even at my best I was around 31 minutes. So on this go I implemented a fix for this problem. The idea is to augment all the workouts so I'm traversing at least a 5k in total... in the early weeks there was a LOT of walking to get this done, but, I did append extra short intervals, or repeat the requisite intervals multiple times. (I must admit, the basic premise is actually pretty easy for me to do, because I'm running at Greenlake. The walk down & back added to the 2.8 mile inner loop is more than a 5k. However, even without that, I think it would be reasonable to ensure that every workout was at least 35 minutes, or whatever your estimated goal time was.)
The other issue comes in around week 5, when you jump from doing a few short intervals, to this massive 20-minutes-without-stopping run. I haven't been able to do that 20 minute run yet, despite being at week 5 for over a week. As a result, i've given up on C25k for the rest of my training run, and plan the following:
I have a schedule set up that does a bunch of short interval runs (1 min x 1 min rest, 2 min x 1 min rest, repeat) and then a long interval (10 mins last week). My plan is to gradually remove an interval at a time, and lengthen the long interval so that the total amount of time is still my 35 minute goal time. I think its a reasonable plan, and we'll see how it goes. I expect that, eventually, i'll modify the short intervals, too, but not this week.
Anyway, there are only about two more training weeks until my scheduled 5k. Obviously, unless I miraculously feel quite strong, my program won't get me to a 5k by then. So, my goal is to just stick with it, and keep aiming at getting my base back. -- and maybe looking for a 5k towards the end of the summer to keep me honest.
Last Saturday I ran my most successful training run this year. I made it around the inside loop of Greenlake in 33 minutes, for an 11.8 minute mile pace. Additionally, that was at minute 8 of my 10 minutes long interval, so I tacked on a little tiny bit of distance.
I have identified a few issues with my progress. One that I can't do anything about is my recurrent asthma - even when I'm healthy I'm needing more medication to keep the exercise induced asthma at bay. There are a few things I can do something about: The first is that trying to build ability on one day a week isn't cutting it, so I need to have more than one workout per week. The second is that I believe the couchto5k program isn't really cutting it for me.
Working out more than once per week is obvious, and something that I've know for a long time. It is obviously easier to implement when the weather is nice. My current goal is to be running at least twice per week, but I also think it is necessary to do some strength and stretching. I have an orthogonal goal to be riding my bike more, but that will also help increase my stamina and leg strength.
As to the Couch to 5k - I have identified some fundamental problems with the program. Fundamentally, I think its more like 'Non-running but fit to 5k'.
I have been following the first weeks based on the time values, not distance values. If you do this, the basic distance being covered is not sufficient to get many people up to a 5k.... the final week has a 30 minute 5k, and even at my best I was around 31 minutes. So on this go I implemented a fix for this problem. The idea is to augment all the workouts so I'm traversing at least a 5k in total... in the early weeks there was a LOT of walking to get this done, but, I did append extra short intervals, or repeat the requisite intervals multiple times. (I must admit, the basic premise is actually pretty easy for me to do, because I'm running at Greenlake. The walk down & back added to the 2.8 mile inner loop is more than a 5k. However, even without that, I think it would be reasonable to ensure that every workout was at least 35 minutes, or whatever your estimated goal time was.)
The other issue comes in around week 5, when you jump from doing a few short intervals, to this massive 20-minutes-without-stopping run. I haven't been able to do that 20 minute run yet, despite being at week 5 for over a week. As a result, i've given up on C25k for the rest of my training run, and plan the following:
I have a schedule set up that does a bunch of short interval runs (1 min x 1 min rest, 2 min x 1 min rest, repeat) and then a long interval (10 mins last week). My plan is to gradually remove an interval at a time, and lengthen the long interval so that the total amount of time is still my 35 minute goal time. I think its a reasonable plan, and we'll see how it goes. I expect that, eventually, i'll modify the short intervals, too, but not this week.
Anyway, there are only about two more training weeks until my scheduled 5k. Obviously, unless I miraculously feel quite strong, my program won't get me to a 5k by then. So, my goal is to just stick with it, and keep aiming at getting my base back. -- and maybe looking for a 5k towards the end of the summer to keep me honest.
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