Today is Day #1

In an effort to really commit to the Pittsburgh ½ Marathon I have signed up for a fitness/runners training program. The program is 8 weeks long and begins today. It’s very reasonably priced. It consists of 2 training runs and 1 optional run a week. Without the optional run it’s only costing me about $16/session. I’m terrified and excited. I don’t feel ready at all. I walk daily and do some Wog intervals … see, there’s the problem. That word “some”. I’m not jogging or wogging daily or regularly. Some will leave me gasping, wheezing and not finishing the 1/2 marathon. May 2011 is going to be here before I know it.

So, here I go. Head first into the pool. I hope there’s water in it. I’m in a training program for the next 8 weeks.

My first Official Jog-Walk

I just did my first official jog/walk today during my lunchtime break.

I my legs felt very fatigued last night so I did not do the jog/walk interval I talked about in my previous post.

So, today at lunch I did my very first C25K Jog/Walk Interval. I'm very excited and proud to report that I ran 1.31 miles in 26:21 minutes. According to my Nike+ app on my phone that calculates as a 19.58 mile pace.

Two days ago I did the same distance in 30:14 minutes. My pace that day was a solide 21 min mile.

Just be doing short jogs I was able to increase by pace by 1.5 minutes. Wow!  That's seems like a big increase.

Today was a beautiful day for it too. I went back to Lake Accotink Park. It's a really pretty area to walk.

The temperature was grand. About 70F and sunny out. I forgot to take my before/after blood sugar to see the differences. I'm curious to see what kind of difference there is.

At points during the run, I felt like my calves were on fire. I can only take about 30 minutes during lunch so I doubt I'll go much further in distance during my lunchtime runs, but I'm looking forward to tracking my progress as I get better and better at jogging.

Couch to 5K Training

As I posted previously, I have registered to compete in the Pittsburgh 1/2 Marathon in May 2011.

This week I have begun my training. First goal. Run a mile. I can walk a mile but I can’t run or jog hardly at all. I found a site that gives a schedule for going from couch potato to 5K runner/jogger in 8 weeks. Basically you run/walk in intervals. It’s actually called Couch-to-5K or C25K.  The intervals go like this to start with.

Week 1 Intervals

• Five minute brisk warm-up walk
• 60 seconds of jobbing
• 90 seconds of walking
• Keeping this up for 20 minutes and then doing a 5 minutes cool down walk.

While that seems pretty simple, it is not. Well, not for me. I jog for a few seconds and can barely breath and end up walking the rest of the 30 minutes.

So, this week I have been upping my walking game. I’m walking for 30 minutes but trying to walk a faster pace. I’m using my Nike+ Sensor. Yesterday I walked 30 minutes at lunch and was able to cover 1.44 miles. That’s definite improvement on what I’ve been doing on the treadmill even.

I found another source that has a suggestion for moving from couch to 5K running. This came from a book by Jeff Galloway. I’ve never heard of him but I’ve seen his articles in several running magazines (yes, I’ve started reading them online and in paper). He apparently is the source and has been running and winning marathons for a long time. His run/walk intervals look a little easier to manage so today I’m going to begin doing his method of run/walk. Here is how his intervals go.

For a 20 minute mile

• Five minute brisk warm-up walk
• Run 30 sec/Walk 60 sec
• Run the last few minutes/miles of the race.

This sounds much more doable. I can certainly run for 30 seconds.  Not sure how many intervals I can do but I'm definitely going to give it a shot.

So, today after work we’ll be giving this a shot and see how things go.

Starting today, we begin training for a half-marathon.

It's a marathon!  OK... it's a 1/2 Marathon.  That's 13 miles.

OMG. What have I done? I must be crazy. You’d have to be crazy, right? Well, what’s done is done.

I signed up to run/walk the 2011 Pittsburgh Half-Marathon.

I’m excited. I’m freaked. I’m nervous – already?!? FCOL the race is 8 months away. I can do this, right? Right!

OMG – what have I done?

I’ve never done anything more than a 5K.  I haven't even done a 10K yet. Why am I doing a ½ Marathon?

I blame Kristin.  It's her fault.    :-)  One of my high school alums in The Burgh is doing it and we’ve been talking about it (via FB and e-mail) so I thought I would give it a shot. I currently can walk a mile in about 2 min. I don’t jog.  Not even a little bit.  The last time I ran, I was dreaming I was being chased.

I’ve got all sorts of training materials to help me get up to jogging – books, podcasts, e-newsletters, couch-to-5K/10K podcasts, nike sport fob (whatever that thing is called)– but I haven’t begun to use any of it. AT ALL.

The last 2 5Ks I signed up for, I slept in and skipped. (LOSER)

So, the deed is done.

No more excuses.

No more slacking.

Starting today, we begin training for a half-marathon.

Now, where did I putting my shoes?