Eating the world
Today I finished the second week of my 9-week couch-to-5K run. This week's running was structured as below:
5 minute warm up walk
5 minute warm down walk
This week, as with last week's runs, I did my first two runs along flat track. There just happens to be one at the bottom of my street, which is rather convenient!
The third and last run of the week I use as an opportunity to go up to Mt Eden (the closest volcanic cone to me) and see how far I get. The "Mount Eden Loop" from my place, is a 6km loop, with 2km to the base of Mt Eden, 2km round the track to the summit and down, 2km home. The first 2km has a rise of 25m elevation over it's length. So it's uphill all the way, but quite gently so. It's a good way to see whether I'm ready for the following week's runs -- if I can do the third run uphill? I can do the first of the next week on the flat.
With last week's C25K, my sets were 60 second runs and 90min walks. I got to the road opposite the Mt Eden track entrance.
With this week's C25K, I crossed that road on my midpoint run and started up the hill -- which has a steeper incline, rising 50m over about 200m. I hit the hills just as the soundtrack to my C25K has a portion of song which has me running at 200 steps per minute. Doing 200 steps per minute up a steep incline was ... fun? Okay, not fun. It was challenging and my heartrate went sky-high. I must have looked hilarious taking fast mincing steps up the hill, though. Hehe.
My first run on the way back down the hill, though? My first thought was "I could eat the world. Just open my mouth and swallow it whole." I felt so good.
My second thought was "Why didn't someone tell me I could run?" I've spent my whole life cycling, walking, swimming, but not running. If I'd known all it would take was a decent sports bra and short bursts, building to longer ones, I would have done this much sooner. More accurately, if I'd realised I could be good at it and if I'd realised that I could do it without hurting my knees, I would have done it much sooner.
My third thought was "I'm no longer afraid of running downhill"
I ran/walked 4.2km in total. I should be able to get to 5km running without problem, I think, taking the rest of the program. Each time I run, I feel as though I could keep on running.
I've noticed that increasing my cadence (my steps per minute) while running has not only made my knees stop hurting, but it's decreased my bounciness considerably. On my final run, I let myself up the stride length to a comfortable lope and managed a pace around 4:13/km. It'll be interesting to see if I can hit that more regularly as I run further.
Next week's C25K is 5 min warmup, 90 sec run, 90 sec walk, 3 min run, 3 min walk, 90sec run, 90 sec walk, 3 min run, 5 min cool down.
Oh, one more thing -- I found that I was getting leg fatigue this week. Just ... picking my legs up felt like I was lifting double my usual weight. I don't ache, exactly, or get sore muscles - the distance and speed I'm running is very comfortable for me -- it just feels like all my limbs are super-heavy. So I increased my protein by 20% and it's eliminated the fatigue. Yay me!
5 minute warm up walk
- 90 second run
- 2 minute walk
- Repeat for a total of 6 runs and 5 walks, and after the last run...
5 minute warm down walk
This week, as with last week's runs, I did my first two runs along flat track. There just happens to be one at the bottom of my street, which is rather convenient!
The third and last run of the week I use as an opportunity to go up to Mt Eden (the closest volcanic cone to me) and see how far I get. The "Mount Eden Loop" from my place, is a 6km loop, with 2km to the base of Mt Eden, 2km round the track to the summit and down, 2km home. The first 2km has a rise of 25m elevation over it's length. So it's uphill all the way, but quite gently so. It's a good way to see whether I'm ready for the following week's runs -- if I can do the third run uphill? I can do the first of the next week on the flat.
With last week's C25K, my sets were 60 second runs and 90min walks. I got to the road opposite the Mt Eden track entrance.
With this week's C25K, I crossed that road on my midpoint run and started up the hill -- which has a steeper incline, rising 50m over about 200m. I hit the hills just as the soundtrack to my C25K has a portion of song which has me running at 200 steps per minute. Doing 200 steps per minute up a steep incline was ... fun? Okay, not fun. It was challenging and my heartrate went sky-high. I must have looked hilarious taking fast mincing steps up the hill, though. Hehe.
My first run on the way back down the hill, though? My first thought was "I could eat the world. Just open my mouth and swallow it whole." I felt so good.
My second thought was "Why didn't someone tell me I could run?" I've spent my whole life cycling, walking, swimming, but not running. If I'd known all it would take was a decent sports bra and short bursts, building to longer ones, I would have done this much sooner. More accurately, if I'd realised I could be good at it and if I'd realised that I could do it without hurting my knees, I would have done it much sooner.
My third thought was "I'm no longer afraid of running downhill"
I ran/walked 4.2km in total. I should be able to get to 5km running without problem, I think, taking the rest of the program. Each time I run, I feel as though I could keep on running.
I've noticed that increasing my cadence (my steps per minute) while running has not only made my knees stop hurting, but it's decreased my bounciness considerably. On my final run, I let myself up the stride length to a comfortable lope and managed a pace around 4:13/km. It'll be interesting to see if I can hit that more regularly as I run further.
Next week's C25K is 5 min warmup, 90 sec run, 90 sec walk, 3 min run, 3 min walk, 90sec run, 90 sec walk, 3 min run, 5 min cool down.
Oh, one more thing -- I found that I was getting leg fatigue this week. Just ... picking my legs up felt like I was lifting double my usual weight. I don't ache, exactly, or get sore muscles - the distance and speed I'm running is very comfortable for me -- it just feels like all my limbs are super-heavy. So I increased my protein by 20% and it's eliminated the fatigue. Yay me!