C25K W6d5

I just got back from my run. Today, Steph and I ran separately. She ran with the C25K podcast and says it went very well - - much better than W1d1.

I did 2 miles (as scheduled), starting at the .5 mile marker at the dam and doing the turn at 1.5. That uphill between 1.25 and 1.5 markers is a real attention getter - the course is so flat from Start to 1.25 markers, but gets a little more interesting after that. Oh well, a few hills are probably good for my training. We ran at about 10:30 this morning, instead of the usual 6pm. It was a LOT cooler, but didn't quite feel right - I guess I'm a glutton for dehydration. There was a lot more traffic this morning as well, mostly grandparents with the kids for the day. The traffic wasn't bad though, no speeders doing time trials on the roadway.

My left knee is still nagging me. It mostly cleared up with a quarter of a mile, and EVERYTHING loosened up after my turn, so the last mile was really fun. Just wish everything would sync up sooner. I just read a post about that very thing on the discussion forum, and apparently it's not uncommon to take a mile or more for all the body to get the message and relax into the pace. I'll continue to ice my knee tonight. I think I need to get back on an aggressive icing schedule again (20 minutes every 2 hours).


According to the 'program', I am now ready to run a 5K race - it feels like it, too. Next week is going to be several 3 mile days - I'm looking forward to those. I get to the point at about 1.25 miles that I just want to run all day, so I'll get to stretch my distance over the next few weeks. I need to start working on a post-Week 10 training schedule that will not over-stress my body before the Beulah race and the Midnight Express.

Next week looks like this:
Day 1: 3 miles (monday)
Day 2: 2.5 miles (tuesday)
Day 3: 3 miles (thursday)
Day 4: 2.75 miles (friday)
Day 5: 3 miles (saturday)

If I feel pretty good, I may add a little to Saturday's route, maybe 3.5, instead.

C25K W6d4

I just got back from my 2 mile run. I'll be running with Steph later this afternoon - I wanted to do my run first and see if it felt any better than running my route immediately after she and I ran her routine. I ran the standard route over the top of the dam. I started @ the .5 mile mark, and did the turn @ the 1.5 mile mark (2 mile total). I think the program has me doing 2.75 miles next week

I hadn't had any pain prior to the run, but during my warmup walk, I felt a little discomfort in the area on the back of my left knee, towards the outer area - it got a little more consistent as I started running, but subsided a lot within a 1/4 mile. After I ran, I stretched for a good long time, realized that I hadn't been doing my calve stretches for the last few days. I wonder if that contributed to my knee discomfort. It felt more like a soreness, rather than soft tissue damage, or a sharp shooting pain. I'm icing it right now, and have taken 400mg of Ibuprofen.

It was pretty warm and humid out there today (86*, Humidity @ 45%), so I did a lot of sweating.

Notes:

• I don't know what happened with the color of the text on the post yesterday, I never could get it all the same color. I wonder if it had anything to do with the insertion of the graphic?

Steph and I just got back from our run. We did 4 cycles of 60 sec run/90 second walk, which was a little over a mile, I think. It was very breezy - I wish it had been that breezy on my first run today! Also, the sun had eased up a bit, so it wasn't nearly as hot. My knee didn't bother me at all on this run, but we still took some time to stretch really well after the run. We went down near the water and enjoyed the breeze and the view while we stretched. I need to take the camera and post some pics of the running route.

I'll probably ice my knee again tonight and take some ibuprofen just to be safe.

W6d3

Tonight felt like a good run: no pains, just a little stiffness in my quads as I started, but it faded quickly. I ran with Steph again tonight, and we did 60 second/90 second run/walk sets. We wound up going a little over a mile, not counting the cooldown walk. After we ran, I took her home, and went back to the dam for my run. I figured the drive would be a little recovery period. The schedule was for 2 miles for my workout today and I completed that. However, my times for this week are progressively degrading - no big deal, probably a result of running 2 workouts in quick succession. I'm not even going to worry about time until closer to the Midnight Express.

I did a nice long stretch after my run, and didn't need to ice or ibuprofen when I got home. Today's run was so relaxed, but I still worked up an impressive sweat. That was probably due to the high humidity.

A few notes of interest -

• I found a nearby 5K that I'm going to run prior to the Midnight Express as a 'get my feet wet' race. It's at the Beulah High School (Wildcat 5K). It's on July 7, so I've still got a little while, and it will give me some time before the Midnight Express. I'm dot running so much for time, as to get an idea of how much the race-day-adrenaline will affect me.
• The picture on this post: No real significance, I'm just tinkering with the Blogger functions.
• Last summer I finished my deck and now we're getting to enjoy it all this summer - I'm blogging from my deck!!! Ain't wifi cool?!?!?!
  

Week 6 - Rest day

I didn't run last night (Wed) because it was a rest day, so I'm running tonight. I'll run with Steph again - I told her I'd run with her all this week to help her with pacing. After her run, I'll run my 2 mile route. I don't think I'll run the same route I did on Tuesday night. The traffic on that stretch of road is pretty heavy at the time of evening that I run. Also, there is a dog who seems to think he owns a lot of the ground I walk on - I may have to call animal control.

I wish that I had run last night...If I had run, I probably would have been less likely to eat so much at the church dinner last night.

C25K W6d2

I changed my route tonight. Instead of running across the dam, I ran from the park back to the house after Steph and I ran. She's on W1d2, and we did 20 minutes of 30 second runs and 90 second recoveries.

Afterwards, I ran my scheduled 2miles. My left quad was a little stiff until about .5 miles, then most everything loosened up. (kinda odd that it took until .5 miles into my run to loosen up - since I had ran/walked about a mile or more with Steph beforehand). After I got home, I stretched for about 10 minutes, and tried to stretch my quads really well, but it doesn't feel like I'm getting enough stretch when I do quad stretches.

I iced my knees and shins down a little when I got home.

C25K W6d1

This is the maiden blog post, so I'll go back to yesterday for a start. I am currently in week 6 of the Couch-to-5K program found on the Columbus Track Club Wesite. The program can be found here.

Yesterday, I ran at the dam and started my route at the 1.5 marker. I ran 2 miles (per my shedule), and went from the 1.5mi marker towards the West Point Entrance to the Park and did a 1 mile turnaround. The incline on the return trip is a BEAR!!!!. It was much harder coming back than I expected it to be.

This is supposed to be a week of cutting back a little bit, per the C25K program, so I'll only be doing 2 miles a day this week.

Steph is trying to get the C25K thing going as well, so I'll also run with her tonight (she's on W1D2) so I can help her set her pace a little better.

Post Run: - I did some stretching on the parking lot after my run, and took a couple of ibuprofen when I got home. My left knee felt pretty good during the run (no pain), but my quads where a little sore. I probably need to be stretching them a little better. I should have iced my knees and shins a little when we got home, but we wound up doing a lot of other things while we where out, and I got sidetracked.