Training Day: Week 8, Day 54

Goal: Run & Walk: Run 29 minutes, walk 1 minute - SUCCESS

Time: 30:00

Distance: 5.34 KM (3.32 mi)

Avg Pace: 5’37″/KM (9’02″/mi)

Weather: Clear and sunny

Temperature: -5 C (23 F)

The penultimate run of this 8 week program was excellent!

It was so good, in fact, that I was a bit surprised.

Starting out, it felt so-so. Wasn’t sure how quickly I was moving, because I felt a bit sluggish. However, I think I ran well the entire run, and was more consistent than ever. This was the first run that every KM was quicker than 6 min/KM. 

As you can see from the Nike+ Activity log below, there were a lot of ‘records’ smashed.

• Fastest 5K (this one surprised the crap out of me. I am going to be really aggressive with my race goal, now.)
• Fastest 1K
• Fastest 1Mi
• Farthest Run
• Most Calories Burned

With this run out of the way crushed, I just have one run left – 30 minutes straight.

Daunting? Exciting? Yes and yes.

It’s especially exciting because it gives me such an awesome point from which to grow. If I can run a good 5K and run 30 minutes straight at a decent pace, I will have a great springboard to reach more goals. Other ‘programs’ and goals don’t seem too difficult or unattainable now.

Speaking of which, I have been thinking hard about my next goals. 

As I mentioned before, I fail when I don’t set more goals. I am not good at ‘maintaining’ if I am not aiming for something. So, I’ve been brainstorming.

Having the race on March 16 is a huge help, of course, but I had to come up with a weekly plan to get me there.

I’ve got race goals, distance goals, time goals…It’s really cool, actually. Running is such a great thing to do and makes me feel great.

Sticking to a plan and writing about it here keeps me accountable and just goes to show how successful you can be if you stick with something and remain accountable. 

Looking forward to crushing my remaining original goal tomorrow morning! Run 30 minutes straight, without walking breaks. 

That seemed impossible just 2 months ago, and now I’m looking forward to going above and beyond!

Here’s another Nike+ screenshot:

Training Day: Week 8, Day 52

Goal: Run & Walk: Run 28 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 1 minutes - SUCCESS

Time: 30:01

Distance: 5.22 KM (3.24 mi)

Avg Pace: 5’45″/KM (9’16″/mi)

Weather: Overcast

Temperature: 1 C (34 F)

After deciding to forego yesterday’s planned run, I was really glad to come out strong today.

Last week, adding in an extra run didn’t seem to help me. The mid-week runs were great – consistent and quick – but by Sunday I was beat, and ended up having a crappy run.

I know I gave myself until Feb 1 to reach my goals, but I see that I am still right on track to hit my 30 minute (straight) run this Sunday. I really don’t want to jeopardize Sunday’s chance to reach my goal.

Today had to be a different day. Not sure why, but I wanted to try something new.

First new thing: eating breakfast before I run.

That’s a tough one. I’ll have to figure this out, especially for the March 16 race, because it’s in the morning, but not 6AM early.

Time certainly has to pass between food and run, that’s for sure. I waited about an hour after eating, but I think I could have waited 90 minutes or more and had more success. While running, it didn’t throw me off too much, but it distracted me here and there. A bit of sloshing here, a burp there. Not too pleasant.

So, we’ll iron this one out and probably end up eating a couple of hours before the race in March. At least.

The “trail” from today’s “trail” run.

The second thing was running at a local-ish park. It’s quite a decent sized park, with lots of different trails. We walk it occasionally, but I had never gone for a run there.

I decided to do the loop on the North side of the park, which is quite nice. The sign says that this particular loop is 2.3K. This was something else I wanted to try: how is running more than one lap of a particular route?

The path is gravel, except for the little bridges over the swampy/marshy bits. There are very few changes in elevation.

I really liked the run, actually. The scenery is always amazing, there are very few people there in the morning, and I liked the different feel of the gravel.

Doing multiple laps wasn’t as discouraging as I thought it might be. Getting to the ‘end’ of the trail didn’t crush my spirits, even though I knew I had about 1.25 laps left. Good to know that running this type of route isn’t terrible!

Other than the slight discomfort from having eaten, I felt good. I had to pull my right sock up at about the 2KM mark, because it had somehow stopped compressing, slid down my calf, and was throwing me off.

I think I’d do this again. In fact, I want to try a real trail run sometime. There are a ton of good trails around, whether it’s 5 minutes away or 45 minutes away. So much to choose from here!

Everything feels as it should. I am starting to prepare for Sunday’s run, knowing that I really could be running 30 minutes straight. How crazy is that?!

It’s been almost 8 weeks since I started running, and I’ve gone from dying after 3 minute run intervals to nearly running 30 minutes straight! Accountability, persistence, dedication, commitment and some hard work. It pays off. You can really get anywhere and accomplish anything, and it’s awesome.

Oh, a quick question: Do you think 27:30 minutes is a reasonable/realistic goal for my March 16 5K?

I think I can confidently say that if I ran a 5K tomorrow, I would finish in about 29 minutes, give or take 20 seconds (yes that’s a huge margin of error).

Please let me know below. I’m still not sure what goal I should set for the race!

Here’s another Nike+ screenshot:

Training Day: Week 7, Day 47

Goal: Run & Walk: Run 24 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 5 minutes - SUCCESS

Time: 30:00

Distance: 5.28 KM (3.28 mi)

Avg Pace: 5’41″/KM (9’09″/mi)

Weather: Raining

Temperature: 3 C (37 F)

This was pretty much the best run yet.

5.28 KM, fast pace, quickest 5K, fastest mile…all sorts of things went right today.

I woke up to my alarm at 5:45AM, knew I could get 15 minutes of extra sleep in before my second alarm went off at 6AM…and then accidentally slept till 7.

Sleeping in can feel great, but I am always ticked off afterwards, because I know I should have been up earlier, I have wasted part of the day, etc.

Today, however, I didn’t feel down on myself, because I felt quite rested. I thought okay, no matter, just get up and get out for a run.

So, while it was an hour later than usual, the run went swimmingly. I felt great throughout, didn’t stop to walk even after 2 uphills during my 24 minute run interval, and was able to go farther and faster than ever!

I don’t know if I will be able to replicate this tomorrow, but we’ll see! Wondering now if I should try to get the extra hour of sleep in and try at 7 again tomorrow. Probably not, because 6 really works for my schedule, and 7 seems a bit too late. Good thing it’s the weekend!

Anyways, a really good run today, seemingly out of nowhere. Really enjoying myself and seeing great progress!

Here’s another Nike+ screenshot:

Training Day: Week 7, Day 45

Goal: Run & Walk: Run 22 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 7 minutes - SUCCESS

Time: 30:00 (I missed the end run button so those extra 8 seconds are accidental. I probably walked about 10 steps in that time)

Distance: 5.05 KM (3.14 mi)

Avg Pace: 5’58″/KM (9’33″/mi)

Weather: Clear

Temperature: -4 C (25 F)

Well this is the coldest it’s been since we’ve been here, which is hilarious because it’s only 4 below.

I stayed very comfortable temperature-wise from about 3 minutes into the run. There may have been a few slippery spots, but nothing that would slow you down. I paid attention and was quite alright.

This was my first run since the actual ‘holidays’, and my first on my normal route for the past couple of weeks. Very happy to know I can hit 5K here, too. It’s not just a fluke on one route! I can solidly hit 5K in under 30 minutes.

Lots of work to catch up on, but had to make sure I got an entry in today. I’m staying accountable and haven’t yet missed a run nor a post. 

Here’s another Nike+ screenshot: