Loyal readers may recall that I have four goals for this year, one of which is to run two 5K's. Less loyal readers probably didn't scan past the second or third line. Openly hostile readers are probably the ones that burned down my shed and spray painted "USE A SPELLCHECKER" on the side of my truck.
That's cool.
Although I hit the treadmill each time I go to the gym I never used to run - I would walk at 4.5 mph at a 10 degree incline. Thirty minutes usually, since half an hour of aerobics is really all the time I can afford after work.
An extremely brief Google search showed that 30 minutes is a good time for a first 5K run. Convenient, but 4.5 mph was obviously not going to cut it - it would only get me to 2.25 miles in that amount of time. I would need to hit an average of 6.2 miles an hour to meet the 3.1 mile goal. There was no way I was going to do that right out of the gate, and I am pretty sure I would have hurt myself if I tried.
I decided to use a walk-run-walk-run sort of method to work myself up to the target distance and time, since walking any faster than 4.5 mph or running any slower than 6.2 mph is pretty awkward for someone of my height (sort of like loping along on the moon or something).
I started with 5 minute walks followed by 3 minute runs and I have been reducing the walking time and increasing the running time since I started this. Obviously, that only works for a while - eventually I would have been taking one minute (or less) walking breaks if I kept that up, which would be idiotic. Besides, the idea is to increase stamina enough for at least 30 minutes of constant running.
Today was my first day blowing through some breaks, hitting 2.89 miles at the 30 minute mark. I am not sure how long it will take me to hit the 3.1 mile mark - it is definitely going to be longer than the 12 or so workouts the above graph implies. Maybe twice that if I am lucky. It's hard to say.
I think I saw a commercial for a St. Patrick's Day 5K the other day... I am hoping I will be ready for that one. We will see.
[P.S. I have updated the disappointing Wii BMI measurement in the sidebar. I guess my body is not immune to constant feasting and snacking around the holidays. Go figure.]
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