Running update – 5 mos. March 18, 2012
Posted by mareserinitatis in personal.Tags: running
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Given the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having, I decided to start doing some of my running outside. We’ll see how much I can handle without my asthma acting up. However, I managed a 45 minute jog outside today and felt pretty good afterwards. Two months ago, I tried to jog for 30 min. outside and nearly died. Of course, this time, I used my heart rate monitor and made sure I didn’t push myself beyond my normal workout heart rate, and that made a big difference.
I finished the bridge to 10k program and can therefore ‘run’ (using that word loosely, of course) for 60 minutes. However, my pace is pathetically slow, so I am not able to actually complete 10k in that amount of time. I have two months to increase my endurance to the correct length, and I may try to work a bit on improving my speed. However, that plan was stalled a bit by my trip to Arizona and my exhaustion and illness after the trip. It was about 3 days before I felt better once getting back.
As it turns out, my advisor is into running, and she told me about a cool app called RunKeeper. I downloaded it and gave it a try. I love it because it tells me every five minutes how far I’ve gone and my current pace. It makes it really easy to think, “I can keep this up for five more minutes.” And, after doing that enough times, I had my whole run in. I also like the fact that it keeps track of GPS, although I also had my GPS/heart rate monitor with me since I couldn’t get the HRM to sync correctly. Anyway, it’s a cool app if you’re into running.
My last comment is how much I’ve improved my health over the past year and a half. When I first got my HRM, I was having serious problems with asthma and finally recovering from some other medical problems. I was walking just over 2 mph, giving me a pace just under 30 minutes per mile, and couldn’t go more than a mile or two. Now I can ‘jog’ about 18 min/mi. Yes, it’s slow, and I would really like to be under 15 min./mile. (I don’t really know that it’s doable in the two months before the race.) However, I’m still impressed that I am getting close to doubling my speed, and I can easily go 3-4 miles.
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That’s fantastic! I have been pondering a 10K once again, I think of how I trained for it last time and was none too keen to start running in the same manner. Your measured approach seems really good though! Keep up the great work!
That’s awesome! You’re totally kicking ass! I had to stop running for awhile due toy anemia but I hope to start up again in a few weeks when my hemoglobin is back up to normal.