Monday, June 2, 2008

2.5 Miles! Hell Yeah! (W10D1 - W7D1 revisited)

I just had my first 2.5 mile run and it was my best run yet! I kept a great pace and it felt amazing! I was pushing myself to go a little faster at each mile, but it did not feel like it. I finished strong and I even kept jogging at a slow pace a tad bit more to ease into the cool down walk because coming to a dead stop to walk from running at 12:25 is never a good thing. I think I finally learned to pace myself and how to set the watch properly to help me. I basically set up a workout with different pace zones for each lap so that I don't run too fast or too slow. It worked out great!

My splits:

Mile 1 - 13:29
Mile 2 - 13:08
Finish (.5) - 12:25
Total: 2.5 miles in 32:49 minutes, avg pace: 13:08
With the warm up and cool down walk, I covered a total of 3.32 miles

Now that I finished C25K by time, I was going to redo weeks 7-9 for distance but I may be altering that a bit because I want to start running 5 days a week. Here is the schedule I came up with, which is bound to change a ton of times before or after I start it =P

[SUN] long run: 2.75 - 3 mi
[MON] rest / yoga
[TUE] easy run: 1.5 mi
[WED] intervals at faster pace: 3 x .25 mi run / .25 mi walk
[THU] easy run: 1.5 mi
[FRI] rest / CT (walk / yoga)
[SAT] easy run: 1.5 mi

Each run would include an additional mile or so for the warm up and cool down at a brisk walk or very slow jog. The plan is to increase the long run distance by 1/2 mile every other week, then do the same for the other runs on alternating weeks.

I think I will finish this week running 2.5 miles every other day, then start this schedule on Sunday and see how close to 3 miles I can get. I'll shoot for 2.75 on Sunday and see how I feel after that and if I have that extra 1/4 mile in me. I think if I start slow and pace myself well like I did today, I can do it! I can't wait!

***

Now let's back up a bit, because the day did not start as great as it ended, which is why this is an even bigger win!

I wasn't feeling well last night or this morning when I woke up, so I did not get up early to run. I took a sick day. Around 10ish, I was feeling better so I decided to try to run. BIG mistake. It was supposed to rain today, so I figured it might not be so bad. It did not feel that hot when I left. I even wore my running skirt and just a sports bra to stay cool. After the 5 minute warm up walk, I ran about 1.25 miles before the heat got to me and then just walked a 1/2 mile home. I was drenched when I got done. I figured I'd run the difference tonight after dinner and then try again for the 2.5 miles on Wednesday.

As I was finishing dinner, it started to rain and the power went out. Things did not look good for running again tonight. The rain stopped around 8 p.m. and Jason agreed to come running with me. He urged me to try the 2.5 miles again and I warned him that meant I had to start really slow. He kept walking for a bit longer after I started running but eventually caught up with me and past me. I kept my pace and finally caught up with him at the end. He went home as I finished the last 3/4 mile and my cool down. I am SOOOOO glad I went out again and tried for the whole distance. Man this feels so GOOD!

2 comments:

Viviane said...

That sounds like a good plan. I might just come back to that later and follow it too.
I always run in the evenings even on days that are not that warm (only around 70°) because I don't like sweating very much (and trust me, no one would want to see me running in just a running bra and skirt or shorts ;)) and it is just easier.

Viviane said...

Oh I have a question... would the intervals on Wednesday also increase? Or just the Tue / Thu / Sat runs and the long run on Sun?
I am just converting this plan into km for myself and I was wondering about that.

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