Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Back To The Program

Jill and I were able to get a little bike ride in, which was nice despite the nasty humidity. I'm contemplating adding cycling to my regular routine, though I'm having difficulties fitting running into my schedule as it is. I'm often guilty of trying to do too much to soon and then burning out before I get anywhere. I'm trying to restrain myself as much as possible with the running thing, because I want it to be a long-term activity that will help improve my health and fitness. I'd like to eventually be able to run a marathon and then a triathlon, but those goals are way off in the distance. For now, I'm just sticking with the coolrunning "Couch to 5k" plan until I can complete a 5k. I'll worry about what's next later.

4 comments:

PointSpecial said...

How do you like the Couch to 5k plan? Is it working well for you?

I threw one together from a couple of different websites that's on my own blog that I'm starting today, for a 5k on October 5th. It's a gradual progression (from nothing... like I'm doing now) up to the 5k. I may have it TOO gradual... I might be ready for more, quicker, but we'll see!

I want to get this to be a habit, because I'm starting to grad school in 3 weeks, and my wife is expecting twins in 1-2 months!

Michael said...

pointspecial,
The Couch to 5k seems to be working well so far, but I'd love to see your plan. I think it's very tempting to try to do too much too soon, so if you're going to err, err on the side of taking it slow.

It also sounds like you have a busy schedule coming up. I recently finished grad school myself so I know what that entails but twins are another story. Rest and recovery are big factors in becoming a better runner, so you may have to sneak in a nap or two at work.

Also make sure your wife is cool with how you schedule everything. Will your wife be running with you after the twins are born?

Michael

PointSpecial said...

Michael,

check out the second (?) post of my blog to see my running plan at
abelfarei.blogspot.com .

I've decided to modify it after my first real run yesterday... I had started out just walking, and while it was getting me off of my butt and doing stuff, it wasn't getting me to a place where I was really "working out." I'm definitely feeling it today, whereas last week, I wasn't.

I'm actually changing my plan based a bit more to what the Couch to 5k is. I read the plan for the first week, and it's much more realistic than my plan. According to my plan, I'm supposed to run 10 minutes today. That ain't happening. I'm lucky if I can get 2 minutes straight.

Last night, I did a walk/run like is in the Couch to 5k and it kicked my butt... but I can totally feel that doing THIS will help me a lot more than jumping back and forth from just walking to just running (if that makes sense!)

My race is 7 weeks from this Sunday (so, basically, I'd be on week 2 of the Couch-to-5k. I've gotta think about it, but I'm considering switching... or at least using many of the same ideas!

-John

PointSpecial said...

Oh, and re: after the twins... we really don't have any idea what it's going to look like 100%. I'm pretty sure I'll be working third shift so I can be home during the day when I don't have class, but we're still trying to work out all the details.