Major’s Posterous

Couch to 5K & RunKeeper: Week 1 Day 4

Since last Friday's run was a little sub-par, I decided to re-do the first week of the Couch to 5K program.

Today's run was a little better, but I had some trouble breathing during the 2nd and 3rd running intervals. Once I made it past that, the rest of the intervals were relatively easier:

The total time for the first two miles (which included 5 minutes of warmup time) was 24:06, which was better than Friday:

Couch to 5K & RunKeeper: Week 1 Day 3

Today's run didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I made it through a little less than a mile of day 3 of the first week of the Couch to 5K Program and my stomach started hurt terribly.

I fought it into the second mile but eventually had to give in after about 1.25 miles:

My splits were definitely not as good as I'd hoped they would be:

I'm back to 25:35 for two miles and I couldn't complete the cool down. I didn't eat right today, and I haven't have enough water over the last two days, either.

I'm thinking about repeating week 1 next week to get myself more acclimated to all of this. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

Couch to 5K & RunKeeper: Week 1 Day 2

I started the Couch to 5K program last Monday and continued with the second day of the first week today. I had RunKeeper Pro at my side to keep tabs on my run. The routine was the same:

• 5 minute warm up brisk walk 
• 60 second jog/run + 90 second brisk walk (repeated 8 times for 20 minutes total) 
• 5 minute cool down normal walk 

What was different today? I found it easier to make it through the 60 second jog/run sections and I didn't strain as much. I was still just as sore as I was on Monday, and I started to tense up around the 18 minute mark, just as I did on Monday. My breathing was a little easier today, and I was able to catch my breath fully during the 90 second walking sections (I wasn't able to on Monday).

Check out the speed graphs - the first one is from Monday (day 1):

The next one is from today (day 2):

The speed is more uniform on the second day, and I figure that came from having a little more stamina.

The time splits also improved from Monday:

To Tuesday:

It's not a huge improvement, but the two-mile time dropped from 25:38 to 24:10, which is about a 10% improvement. I haven't been able to complete a two mile run since I was in high school (nine years ago), and my best time for two miles was 18-19 minutes. Of course, I was 25 pounds lighter back then!

So far, the program is working pretty well for me. I'm feeling more energized throughout the day and I'm more optimistic about working out.

Enjoyed a nice sunset while running

Couch to 5K & RunKeeper: Week 1 Day 1

I've been working to become more physically active, so I figured I'd try the Couch to 5K program. I heard about it on Twitter, and Mark Imbriaco inspired me to try it out.

Week one seems pretty simple. Do the workout for three days (spaced out during the week, I'm doing M-W-F) and then change it up for the next week. The first week stars a five minute warmup of a brisk walk. Next, do 60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking. Repeat that seven more times (8 repetitions total). I followed it up with a five minute cooldown, but that wasn't mentioned in the program details themselves. In total, you should be working out for 30 minutes (five minute warmup, 20 minute jog/walk routine, five minute cool down).

This is easy to set up in RunKeeper Pro. Of course, you could do the routine with RunKeeper Free, but you won't have the voice cues or the automated training routine (which takes a lot more effort from you to remember what you're supposed to be doing).

• To get started, press RunKeeper Pro on your iPhone. 
• Press Training on the bottom row. 
• Press the + at the top right and then enter a name for the activity. I called mine "C25K Week 1" for the first week. Press the green + next to "Add new action...", press Steady, press Time, and set it to 1 minute 0 seconds. Press the green + again, press Slow, press Time, and set it to 1 minute 30 seconds. Press Repeat, choose "7 more times" from the list, and press Done. 
• Flip Warm Up and Cool Down (optional) to "ON". 
• You should have a screen that looks like this:

 

 

• Press Save. 

I also switched over to the "Settings" tab to ensure that the Activity Type was set to "Running" and my favorite iTunes playlist appeared next to Music.

Once you've done all that, flip to the main screen and press Start. Listen to the audio cues and you'll always know what to do!

So, you might be asking: did you survive the first day?

In short, I did! About 18 minutes in, I started to feel rather bad. My back muscles tightened up and my shins were a little sore. I pushed through it and was able to jog through all of the 60 second long parts of the routine. Once I made it back home, I had to do a lot of stretching (5-10 minutes) to get rid of some of the soreness. After that, and a lot of water, I started feeling a lot better.

Here are some tips that might help:

On my first day, I covered 2.13 miles, so make sure you have that distance available to run. I prefer to run through my neighborhood rather than a track because I feel like a hamster when I run in circles.

Try to pick foods to eat during your running days that won't make you regret eating them while you run (I failed on this pretty badly). Also, don't skimp on your stretching or your warmup/cooldown walk. While I didn't do this today, I've made this error before and paid for it later.

Remember: if an out-of-shape nerd like me can do this, you can do it, too. Get out there!