FatManRunning - Couch to 5k (and beyond!)

Here's the skinny: I've been near 300 lbs. for years and need to lose weight. I'm married to a wonderful lady, and we have a family. One of our boys often asks if I'll run with him. I've always had to tell him, "No." In August of '09, my wife learned about a couch-to-5k running program, and I agreed to try it with her. This blog chronicles our progress on that training program. I hope I'll soon be able to surprise my son by telling him, "Yes, I'll go running with you!"

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Todays run 7/7/10

Currently Im working on a 5 week training plan to helps with improving your time for a 5k. So todays workout was a 5 mile run - 1 mile warm up jog, 3 miles @ 10:52 pace and 1 mile cool down jog.

I thought, hmm I normally run around 11mm mile pace, this will be pretty easy. Um yeah ... It wasnt. It didnt help that I forget my mp3 player, so 5 miles felt really really long!

I took 8/10 of a mile warm up walk as well. I wanted to see if it made a difference to my inside leg muscles. It seemed to help some, the jury is still out on that one.It was bright and sunny as I didnt get out til after 7 am. I did the first mile at about 11:58 pace, nice and steady. Then came the fun part. I discovered that I really dont run at a very steady pace at all. One minute, id be pacing at 10:01 and the next 11:20. I focused on keeping my pace sub 11, that was a little easier than focusing on the precise second.

I did 3 miles (using the lap feature on my garmin) in 32:55, which comes out to a 10:59 pace. Thats pretty close to where I wanted it to be. I did walk a tenth of a mile after the 3 miles, I was beat! Then I took up running again. I ended at 5.0 miles even and walked the last couple of blocks home.

I did 5 miles in 57:20, which comes out to an 11:28 pace. Not bad at all for 5 miles!! and I beat my previous 5 mile time of 57:51!!! Even 31 seconds counts. My heartrate stayed pretty well within range, at least averaged out to 153. i think during the faster portion it was closer to 160's.

My legs are definitely feeling the workout today and Im glad to know there is a 2 day break after this! I have another 6 mile run slated for Saturday. I might shorten it depending on how my legs feel.

Keep on running
Mrs. F
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1 comment:

  1. JenLoJuly 7, 2010 at 11:38 AM

    Great job on your run! Just a tip that I noticed on my Garmin (I have a really old model). Mine has a feature in the settings that "smooths" out the pace - I think that sometimes it is the GPS signal that causes the big jumps in pace, and not actually your running speed. You can also switch to a view that shows your "average" pace, which might be helpful.

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