DONE!

Day 18 : 5 m warm-up / 25 min jog / 5 min walk (added)

Total: 35 minutes - walking (10 min) / jogging (25 min)

I knew today was going to push me so I made sure to play my music this morning.  I have been running silent – no music at all – which is a bit odd for me anyway.  But with having to run 25 minutes straight today, I knew I was going to need some music to get me through the last 10 minutes.  

I did it!  woo hoo!  The last 5 minutes was tough.  I ran at my normal 3.9 pace.  I ended up with the highest cal burn at 627 but I also had the highest overall minutes at 35 so it balances out.  Next week the program changes and today’s run becomes the norm for the week.  Yikes… not sure about that.  But I’ll try it.

DONE!

Day 17 : 5 m warm-up / 10 min jog / 3 min walk / 10 min jog / 5 min walk (added)

Total: 33 minutes - walking (13 min) / jogging (20 min)

I went back to my original pace today.  After Monday’s speed change fiasco, I decided to just finish this first 9 weeks at the same pace I’ve been walking/running and just try to build up my endurance.  :)  So I stayed at a 3.9-4.1 running speed and 3.3-3.5 walking speed.  I still had around the same cal burn at 589 cal with a 2.15 distance which I’m happy about.  I guess from here to the end of this 9 week session, it looks like I’ll be able to hit at least 2 miles during each workout.

Friday is going to be hard… 25 minutes of straight running.  Yikes.  Although I can’t believe I’m here at this point and my shins aren’t killing me!  Yay me!

DONE!

Day 15 : 5 m warm-up / 5 min jog / 3 min walk / 8 min jog / 3 min walk / 5 min jog

Total: 29 minutes - walking (11 min) / jogging (18 min)

I finished the workout but I was not able to run all 8 minutes or the last 5 minutes. I changed my speed trying to get closer to the 10 min mile jog – which I’m not even close.  The first 5 min jog, I was running at 4.9 when I have been jogging at 3.9.  Big difference.  When I got to the 8 minute section, I walked 2 minutes of it but kept my speed at my jogging speed.  I had brought my jog speed down to 4.0 for those sections.  I walked one minute of the last 5 but again kept my speed the same.  Monday is hard enough – getting back in the groove after two days off – but then add a speed change… so not a good day as far as keeping my jogging up for the total time.  My time ended up being

Total: 34 minutes – walking 19 min / jogging 15 min- I walked an additional 5 minutes at the end.

BUT… my over distance and calorie burn had a good day.  I haven’t been getting over 2 miles in the 3o minutes – because I have been walking at a lower rate than a 15 min mile.   My total distance today was 2.15 miles which my previous high was last Friday at 1.84 miles.  Looking back at my first day of this program, I did 20 minutes with a distance of 1.1 miles.  So I AM improving and doing good.  My cal burn on that day was 346 and my cal burn today was a whooping 592!  I wear a heart rate monitor watch and try to check my pulse every 5 minutes or so. Some days I’m better at checking then others so there is a bit of play on my cal burn.

During the workout I decided to finish up these 9 weeks at my original pace.  Then I’ll repeat with another 9 weeks trying to get my speed/distance up.  I feel that I’d need to almost start over to be able to run at the 10 min mile pace.  I’m sooooo not there yet….  So I’ll just continue with this pace and then repeat.

In the ChiRunning newsletter today, they mentioned a beginner 5k and an immediate 5k class.  Ironic on the timing…  so going forward, I’m going to work off the premise that I’m running the beginner’s 5k program with the intention of repeating it with an advanced speed.

DONE!

Day 15 : 5 m warm-up / 20 m jog

Total: 25 minutes - walking (5 min) / jogging (20 min)

I went into today’s workout with a positive I CAN DO THIS attitude.  I was a bit worried I wouldn’t be able to do all 20 minutes.  The last 5 minutes – especially the last 2 – were tough.  Lots of hard breathing.  But I DID IT!  I jogged the full 20 minutes!  I walked an additional 5 minutes at the end to slow my racing heart rate. So my numbers were 10 minutes walking / 20 minutes jogging.

I am really more jogging than running.  Today’s workout was 20 minutes or 2 miles of running.  I am nowhere close to running 2 miles in 20 minutes.  I am so not running a 10 minute mile right now.  lol!  Closer to a 15 min mile which means I ran 1.5 miles today!!  Next week I may up my speed a little to get that up.

DONE!

Day 14 : 5 m warm-up / 8 m jog / 5 m walk / 8 m jog

Total: 26 minutes - walking (10 min) / jogging (16 min)

I was not sure if I was going to be able to do two 8 minute jogs today.  I’m glad I ran on Sunday because I wasn’t able to Mon or Tues.  But with having two days off before attemptingg the 8 min parts I thought I might not be able to keep it up.  Just last week I wasn’t able to finish the last 5 minute part on Wed.  But I did it today!  I am so proud of myself.  I added another 4 minutes of walking at the end today to bring my heartrate back down.  So I really had 14 min walking / 16 min jogging today.

Friday, however, I’m really not sure about.  It’s 20 minutes of straight jogging.  I think it might be to just test you out at this point – or push you so you have two days to recover.  Next week it goes back to the 5/3/8/3/5 and then works up again to a 25 min jog no walking for Friday.  Must be trying to get less walking into between the longer parts in the early parts of the week or building some recovery into it.

Another issue that I know is lingering out there is distance.  The program is either running time or distance and I’ve been doing time.  But the distance and the time isn’t adding up for me. It was 8 minutes of running or 3/4 mile.  I didn’t run 3/4 of a mile in the 8 minutes.  If you add up the distance, I should have had 2 miles total but I only got in 1.6.  I may up the treadmill speed some next week to help me catch up on the distance some.  But not for Friday though… just getting through the 20 minutes of straight jogging will be good enough.  lol!

DONE!

Day 13 : 5 m warm-up / 5 m jog / 3 m walk / 5 m jog / 3 m walk / 5 m jog

Total: 26 minutes - walking (11 min) / jogging (15 min)

I ran today because tomorrow will be a bit crazy for us.  I’m glad I went ahead to week 5′s format this week instead of repeating week 4.  I was able to do run all 5 min parts without walking.  woo hoo!  So I’m on track to have a good week.  Have a Happy 4th!

DONE!

Today I changed up my times. I really wanted to run that 16 minutes but I haven’t been able to get that last 5 minutes as jogging.  So I changed up the times and did it this way.

Day 12 : 5 m warm-up / 5 m jog / 1.5 m walk / 5 m jog / 2.5 m walk / 3 m jog / 1.5 m walk / 3 m jog
(original :  5 m warm-up / 3 m jog / 1.5 m walk / 5 m  jog / 2.5  m walk  / 3 m jog / 1.5 m walk / 5 m jog)

Total: 26.5 minutes - walking (10.5 min) / jogging (16 min) – yay!

With the structure this way, I was able to get all the jogging parts in.  At the end, it’s easier for me to say “it’s only 3 min you can do it” vs “it’s only 5 min”.  Right now, 5 min is still a long time for me running.   This structure worked better for me and I was able to complete the longer stretches when I was fresher.  woo hoo!  I may have been able to do it the other way with the 5 min at the end, but I didn’t want try it just in case.

I was planning on repeating this week’s structure one more week, but after looking at week 5′s routine, I’m just going to move ahead.  Next week is 5/5/3/5/3/5 – which to me is actually better – shorter time (running/15 min – walking/11 min)  But the running is all done in 5 minute increments and I think that is where the real change will come.  So I’m just going to move to week 5 with the idea that if I need to repeat a week, I’ll repeat week 5.   I’ve been very happy with how this has been progressing for me.