May 17, 2014

  • Couch to 5k progress

    Back in January, on New Year's Eve, my wife and I started the "Couch to 5K" running program, her idea being that we would sign up for a 5K in March and we'd go into it fresh off of having finished up this 9 week program. For those unfamiliar, it involves 9 weeks of 3 approximately 30-minute sessions a week at the end of which, you should be able to run an entire 5k race without stopping (side note, there are also options for distance, but time is easier to track for more people, so it's usually the option emphasized). Long story short, we fell short. There were times when we were short on time. There were times when one or the other of us had not been feeling well. In the end, we jogged for about a third of the 5k and walked the rest, having only completed four weeks of the program and barely dipping into the fifth.

    More recently, I decided to get back into it. I'm in rehearsals for Merry Wives of Windsor with Poor Yorick's Players in Monroeville. The theater is in the middle of a park, and I work about 15-20 minutes down the road, so I've been packing running clothes, showing up an hour early, and getting my run in. Last week, week 5, I fell off the wagon a little. I missed the first two workouts and went right to Week 5 Day 3 on my handy C25k app. After the five minute warmup, it told me 20 minutes of running, which was more than a little daunting. But I did it. I was slowing near the end and I was dead tired with my legs shaking, but I did it. As anyone who click through on that first link in the post knows, I erred. For the first 4 weeks, the three workouts are the same. For the fifth week, they change with it being relatively easy on the first day, harder on the second, and a solid run with no breaks for the third. I went right to that third.

    I'm debating whether I should go to week 6 for next week or to properly run week 5 for those three days. I think I will probably go for the latter. I was a bit sore in the calves last night, and my knee was aching for a bit this morning, so it's a good idea to ease back a little. Still, I'm proud of myself. I never really thought of myself as the kind of person who could run for 20 minutes at a time. Yeah, I know... I should be in better shape than that, but it really is an accomplishment for me.