The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week eight, day three.

Program: 28 minute run.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 156 bpm and peaked at 167 bpm. I did 2.05 miles in 28:39 for an average speed of 4.3 mph (13:59 minute/mile).

Supposedly, the 180 step/90 stride cadence numbers I have been hearing about is the natural spring rate of the muscles and tendons in our legs and feet.  Since I have a metronome now, I decided to play a little with cadence during the workout today.  I had roughly measured my prior cadence at 82 strides/minute.  I know the ChiRunning recommendation is to get used to your natural stride first and then gradually increase the stride rate by +1 per week.  Today, I skipped that good advice and decided to see what 90 strides/minute felt like.  It went fairly well for the first one third of a mile.  Then, I reached the end of the block and turned the corner.  I’m not sure if it was the corner or the 90 stride rate but, just after the corner, my legs tensed up and I needed to drop my cadence a little closer to my natural speed.  I worked on relaxing my legs for a while and that helped.  On and off through the rest of the run, I turned the metronome on for a little while to check my cadence.  One thing I found difficult was trying to count the right, two, three, left, two, three while also counting my breathing, two in, three out.

I did my turn around a little past the mile beep of my watch, but before the half way point in time.  After the leg tensing I had at the corner, I knew I would be a little slower on the return trip.  I was right.  I did 13:32 in the first mile and 14:26 in the second.  One more workout down.  One more week to go.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week eight, day two.

Program: 28 minute run.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 156 bpm and peaked at 170 bpm. I did 2.10 miles in 28:40 for an average speed of 4.4 mph (13:39 minute/mile).

This was another difficult run.  My legs started aching right away again.  I also pushed just a little harder and increased my average speed just a little bit.  I did the first mile at 4.6 mph (12:55 minute/mile) and the second at 4.2 mph (14:15 minute/mile).  But, I also paid for the extra effort.  A little ways into the second mile, I began to deal with side stitches.  I kept going, pushing through it.  My heart rate was only 160 and I only had three quarters of a mile left.  That is something I never would have thought before.  The distance remaining was almost as long as my entire first workout.  Incredible!

It was nice to hear my watch beep at the first mile and see that I still had not reached the half way point in time.  I needed to go a little further before I could turn around.  I still need to increase me speed some more.  I hope to run a full 5K for my graduation run.  I would like the time to be a little closer to thirty minutes than my current pace allows.  There are just three more workouts to get ready.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week eight, day one.

Program: 28 minute run.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 150 bpm and peaked at 165 bpm. I did 2.00 miles in 28:14 for an average speed of 4.3 mph (14:06 minute/mile).

The workout went well.  I was quite tired at the end, but it was a good tired.  Though the humidity was over ninety percent, the temperature was nice, a little below 60F.  My calves and achilles did not ache this time like they did on the last workout.  They got tired, but didn’t hurt.  My arms got real tired also.  A few times, I had to remember to pick them up and not let them hang.  On reviewing the workout data, it was good to see the average speed go up.  I hope I can keep increasing it.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week seven, day three.

Program: 25 minute run.

Result: I completed the workout a little better than planned. My heart rate averaged 152 bpm and peaked at 168 bpm. I did 2.03 miles in 30:12 for an average speed of 4.0 mph (14:54 minute/mile).

When I woke up today, I was still running a slight fever.  But, I wanted to run anyway.  Right away, I knew it would be difficult.  With the first steps, the muscles beside my shins were aching.  I kept going just to see how far I could go.  When I reached the half-way point in time, I did a U turn and then took another look at my watch.  I had going 0.9 miles, only 0.1 short of a full mile.  I did another U turn and kept going.  When the watch beeped at 1.0 miles, I did another U turn and headed back.  To add just a bit more distance to make up for the prior U turn, I crossed the street and came back.

The run back was just a little slower than the outbound run.  Outbound, I ran at a 14:26 pace (4.2mph).  Inbound, I ran at a 15:19 pace (3.9mph).  As I neared my  house, I was expecting the watch to beep again at 2.0 miles.  I didn’t hear the beep and went past my house.  When I looked at the watch, I saw that it had already gone past 2.0 miles.  The run was over.  It is hard to believe that I ran for two miles.  Though my speed is still slow, it is also hard to believe that I ran for thirty minutes.  I wasn’t supposed to do that until week nine.  Now, I know I am capable of running the time.  I need to work on getting my speed up.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week seven, day two, third attempt.

Program: 25 minute run.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 149 bpm and peaked at 167 bpm. I did 1.69 miles in 25:20 for an average speed of 4.0 mph (15:00 minute/mile).

I was still running a couple degree fever, but needed to run anyway.  It had been too long since I ran last and the urge to run again was strong.  I also didn’t want to wait too long as I might lose some conditioning and would then have to restart at a lower level.  I definitely did not want to regress.  So, I ran.  But, this time, I had some pointers to follow.

I had been doing some research on various running techniques such as POSE and ChiRunning.  I liked the gradual progress of the ChiRunning and finally decided to try it.  I picked up Danny Dreyer’s ChiRunning book and have started to read it.  This provided many things I could think about while running.  For this run, I tried to focus mostly on BodySensing.  Am I landing with even pressure on my feet, left/right and front/back?  Am I maintaining my column, keeping my dots, head, hip, and ankles, in a line when landing?  When I first started, I could feel tension starting in my shins; time to lessen my lean.  About a third of the way into the run, I could feel tension starting in my achilles.  I tried to keep the foot relaxed, though I wasn’t too successful at it.  Later, I practiced focusing on a point of the sidewalk and keeping my eyes on it while running towards it.  Some time after that, I noticed the calf and achilles tension had reduced.  Perhaps focusing on the point released tension in my legs and let them do what they needed to.  I also did a rough check of my cadence, though I don’t have a metronome yet.  I kept an eye on my watch for when the seconds hit zero and started counting the landings of my right foot.  In one minute, it landed 82 times.  This is fairly close to the optimum cadence range of 85-90 strides per minute.

In addition to the above checking, for this run in my slightly degraded condition, I also needed an edge.  I needed to make sure I started slow so I would not burn out too quickly.  Something else must have clicked because this worked out also.  For the first mile, I averaged a nice, slow 3.9mph.  I ran out for 13:00 minutes before my turn around and increased my speed a little on the way back.  The 0.69 miles was done at an average of 4.2mph.  I am surprised I was able to keep it relatively steady.  But, it worked.  I made it through the workout and am back on track.