I finally completed W6D3! Geez, I never thought I would. Now on to seven! Woo!
One thing I like about running on an inside track with other people is that I get to see everyone’s style of running. People are so diverse! It makes me feel much less self-conscious that I’m doing it wrong.
I don’t know. Yesterday when I walked my kid to the bus stop (it was raining, so I was his umbrella carrier) a high school kid went loping by like a gazelle. Long confident, effortless strides. It made me feel like a shambling hulk. I think I’d need to lose at least 25 pounds before I could run like that again. And maybe about 15 years.
Yeah, that’s the thing about living in a college town - driving around you seem to see a lot of natural runners. People who just seem to have that really beautiful, efficient stride.
I can do that beautiful, efficient stride. Problem is I can only maintain it for about 50 yards or so. Then I’d either cramp up or my major organs would all seize up.
While having good form looks nice, it’s not essential. Emil Zatopek was described as looking like he was stabbed in the heart yet he’s the only athlete to win the 5000m, 10000m and the marathon in the same Olympics and was the dominant runner of his time. Where poor form is detrimental are things like over-striding, arms held too high and tight, anything that detracts from efficiency.
Well, I just got back from botching Week 6, Day 3. Sort of. I thought I was going nice and slow, but about half way I was really feeling it in my quads and towards the end I started to realize that I was running at a much faster pace (based on where I’d gotten back to) then I’d thought. I had to quit at the part where the DJ/Mod/Robert says “Day 3, you have about four minutes left”. I just checked my route on Google maps, and I ran 2.4 miles in about 21 minutes, or about an 8.75 minute mile pace. Which would be fine if I had it in me to finish. I would have got close to a 5k today. But my heart rate was at about the limit and I didn’t want to hurt anything. If I were running for distance I would have made it, so I might count today and just go ahead to week 7 next week. Hopefully I can go a bit slower.
Rent Spirit of the Marathon and watch the elite runners. They just go and go and go and go like machines. I can’t even fathom what your body has to be like to run a marathon in close to 2 hours. There’s a bit in there where the two top women are fighting it out in the last few miles and it seriously brought tears to my eyes, to see them at this point where there’s nothing more to pour on and they just keep running.
Sick. 102 degree fever. No race for me tomorrow. 
W5d3, done! I can’t believe that I did it. I did take a thirty second break around the seven minute mark because I could feel my calves tightening more than I’m comfortable with, so I wanted to do a ten second stretch for both of them, but I did the rest of the twenty minute run without stopping! Wow! This is awesome.
Brava, MissMossie!
As for me, I’m finding that running two times a week is easy. Running three times a week is hard. It just doesn’t fit into my schedule all that well. We’ll see how that changes in the new year.
It was kind of funny to see all the runners’ confusion as, at the spot in downtown Dallas where the website had said the 5K registration would be, there was, in fact, a hoarde of homeless people receiving food at some kind of an outreach program. Apparently, registration got moved to City Hall and nobody told anybody else.
I ran the 5K! Well, I jogged it. You couldn’t call what I did most of that time “running.” It was a noncompetitive fun run, so I don’t know my exact time - just that I was under 40 minutes. Which I’m happy with, since it takes 37 minutes on a treadmill - I haven’t ever done street running before - there were hills - I had no water - and I was dodging small children the entire time.
Congratulations Kerrigan! It sounds like you kept a pace similar to what you do on your treadmill, which impresses me. I’m another treadmill runner and one of my worries is that when I eventually run in the light of day, I will totallt screw up my pace and not be able to keep going for the same time or distance that I can do on a treadmill. You are an inspiration!
Great job Kerrigan!
Now that you’ve run a race, it’s time to get yourself a watch so you can obsess about your times. 
Congrats Kerrigan! 
Good job, Kerrigan!
Yay for races run; boo to being sick…
Back from a crappy run, on a nice (if blustery) day here. It’s about 40 out, but the windchill must be colder d/t the smart breeze cutting down the street. I only ran for 14 minutes total. My heel hurts and I’m sluggish as can be from yesterday’s gluttonish feasting on All Things Bad For Me (holiday party on top of post funeral food).
Oh, well–I did something. AND my dress pants from last year that I wore to the funeral ARE TOO BIG FOR ME.
Ha!
Week 7, Day 1 DONE!
The Girl and I did a nice job of embracing our inner turtle tonight. It’s a bit warm here, still mid 70s after sunset. We did 2.4 miles in the 25 minutes, a much more reasonable pace than what I went out at on Friday. It’s been maybe 45-60 minutes since we finished and I feel great. Didn’t feel great this weekend and was a bit worried this morning when I still felt stiff, but no problems on this run. Did notice that my quads feel the longer runs a lot more so stretched them afterward.
Still on week 5 of the pushups.
Completed day 2 (barely) on my second attempt.
I just tried day 3 and failed. It was pretty tough (13-13-15-15-12-12-10-30 with just 45 seconds between sets). It’s always the last set that finishes me off - I only managed 10. Still, at least that gave me a total of 100 for that workout. But not consecutive!
The running is still going fine (and it’s much easier than the pushups). I’m not increasing my distance, just sticking with my current runs. It seems to be getting slightly easier (my knee problem hasn’t recurred).
I’ll look at improving my speed eventually. One way (mentioned somewhere in this thread) is to do track running: run a quick lap, then walk for half a lap, repeat. It occurs to me that a more interesting way is to simply repeat the c25k program but do the runs faster. The only downside is that, by not measuring the distance, you won’t know how much faster you are going. But that seems pretty minor.
Captain Klutz, the best way to improve your speed is to just continue running. Interval training is training for racing and does not improve your overall fitness, rather your efficiency and lactate tolerance. Continue your running as you are with the following changes; one day increase your time by 5 min every other week dropping back on alternate weeks. (e.g 35-20-40-20-45-25-50-25-55-30-60). Work up to 60-75 min. Mid-week, do a tempo run-15-20 min at your lactate threshold. Calculator here. You might also consider some cross training 1 or 2 extra days in the week. Lactate threshold is running at the point you start going anaerobic.
For more trained runners, that is about the pace they would hold for one hour in a race. Since you’re not up there yet, comfortably hard is close enough. You should feel like you’re working hard but not all out.
Week 7, Day 2 done. I’ll be running throughout the holidays, so if anyone else is still running please chime in.