Just Another Runner

I DID IT! I achieved my first goal - to run continuously for 30 minutes! And I did it on the beautiful White Beach of Station 1 Boracay on the morning of December 28, 2009. If you were near Willy's Rock that morning and saw a big, sweaty, crazy man with a huge grin on his face, hands raised and jumping around, that was me. Finally, after several attempts, I can truly say that I am running again.

I did it! I was able to jog continuously for 20 minutes last Dec 22! What a feeling, when I heard on my iPod (via PodRunner) the end of the 20-minute jog. It's probably no big deal to a lot of people, but it's a big deal to me. This is the longest ever for me for decades. After the run, I was so excited, I immediately texted my wife about my achievement. It also gave me a lot of confidence that I changed again my training plan. By the way, I found my Complete Idiot's Guide to Jogging and Running book by Bill Rodgers. I changed to its 0-30 minutes in a month training plan. My week 4 fits right to its week 4 and I get to do my first goal of running/jogging continuously for 30 minutes in just a month. So my new schedule for the week was: Dec 22 (Tue) - 20 min. Jog. Dec 24 (Thu) - 22 min. Jog. Dec 26 (Sat) - 25 min. Jog. Dec 27 (Sun) - 30 min. Jog and GOAL! Well, I was able to do the Dec. 22, 24 and 26 workouts with no problems. For the Dec. 26 workout, I did it really early in

Week 3 went well, I was able to do all of the workouts for the week without a problem. Again, PodRunner was a great running mate. I'm a little worried about next Tuesday's workout. It's a continuous 20-minute jog. It will be my longest ever for decades. I hope I get to do it. Also, the family will be going to Boracay for a vacation from Dec. 26 - 30. Three workouts are scheduled on those dates. I hope I'll find the time and place to run.

As I mentioned in my previous post , I changed to the C25K training plan. This is how I laid it out starting with week 3 of C25K. All of these workouts have a five minute walk as warm-up before and a five minute walk as cool-down after. 2009 Dec 8 (Tue) - Jog 90 sec. Walk 90 sec. Jog 3 min. Walk 3 min. Repeat 2x. Dec 10 (Thu) - Jog 90 sec. Walk 90 sec. Jog 3 min. Walk 3 min. Repeat 2x. Dec 12 (Sat) - Jog 90 sec. Walk 90 sec. Jog 3 min. Walk 3 min. Repeat 2x. Dec 13 (Sun) - Jog 3 min. Walk 90 sec. Jog 5 min. Walk 2.5 min. Jog 3 min. Walk 90 sec. Jog 5 min. Dec 15 (Tue) - Jog 3 min. Walk 90 sec. Jog 5 min. Walk 2.5 min. Jog 3 min. Walk 90 sec. Jog 5 min. Dec 17 (Thu) - Jog 3 min. Walk 90 sec. Jog 5 min. Walk 2.5 min. Jog 3 min. Walk 90 sec. Jog 5 min. Dec 19 (Sat) - Jog 5 min. Walk 3 min. Jog 5 min. Walk 3 min. Jog 5 min. Dec 20 (Sun) - Jog 8 min. Walk 5 min. Jog 8 min. Dec 22 (Tue) - Jog 20 min. Dec 24 (Thu) - Jog 5 min. Walk 3 min. Jog 8 min. Walk 3 min. Jog 5 min. Dec 26 (Sat) - Jog 1

In my previous post , I mentioned my difficulty keeping track of where I was in an interval training session. In my research for a solution, I came across yet another running training plan for beginners, and it is called the The Couch-to-5K Running Plan by Josh Clark from the Cool Running website . It claims to have been successfuly used by thousands of beginner runners. So, again, this got my interest and did more research, and to my delight I found the PodRunner . In this site, a DJ Beatsmith created music mixes to be used in conjunction with the Couch-to-5K Running Plan (C25K). There is a specific mix for each of the sessions in C25K. So all one has to do is listen to the mix using his iPod or mp3 player and there will be audible prompts for when to slow down (walk) or when to pick up the pace (run, or shuffle in my case). Neat! The music's tempo or beats per minute also changes with the pace. He uses club music so you can really hear the beat and you can time your strides with

Week 1 went ok . I was able to do what was set out in my training plan . (BTW, my week starts on a Monday.) For my range 1 - walk, I set the treadmill to 3 - 4Kph. For range 2 - run, I set it to 4.5-5Kph. There's no range 3 yet on week 1. After my Monday set, I felt pain on my right knee, so I iced it for two days. I was a little bit concerned because my right knee already got operated on in Sept. 2007 because of a torn ACL due to basketball and badminton. So, I did a lot of research on the Internet on how to prevent injuries while running. A couple of the interesting stuff that I read where: Use the proper running shoes for your foot type. I actually am using a cross-trainer, not running shoes. Mid-foot strike. Whoa! I was taught before, that the proper way to run is to land on your heel and roll to the toes for push off. I spent a lot of time reading on this mid-foot strike school of thought and there's a lot out there on the Internet - Chi Running , Pose Method, Evolution

I mentioned in my first ever blog post that I will be using Chris Carmichael's Fit Man's Plan as featured in Men's Health's January 2008 issue. It is a kind of interval training that uses three ranges of intensity and one cycle takes 4 weeks to finish. For my initial cycle, my three ranges are: Range 1 - Walk Range 2 - Jog Range 3 - Run Theoretically, after one or two cycles, my fitness level will be better such that my Range 1 can be Jog, Range 2 can be Run and Range 3 can be Run Faster. We'll see. My schedule looks like this: Week 1 Mon - 20 minutes. 5 min/range 1, 5 min/range 2. Repeat 2x. Tue - 20 minutes. 5 min/range 1, 5 min/range 2. Repeat 2x. Wed - Rest. Thu - 20 minutes. 5 min/range 1, 2 min/range 2. Repeat 2x. 5 min/range 1, 1 min/range 2. Fri - 40 minutes. 10 min/range 1, 5 min/range 2. Repeat 2x. 10 min/range 1. Sat - 30 minutes. 5 min/range 1, 5 min/range 2. Repeat 3x. Sun - Rest Week 2 Mon - 30 minutes. 5 min/range 1, 5 min/range 2, 2 min/range 3. Rep

I have decided to try running again. This is actually the 3rd serious attempt in the past 3 years and hopefully this time i'll achieve some goals. I actually used to run before. An hour, around 8-10km, three times a week. I also once did a 10k race and did it at around 45 minutes. I still remember the great feeling of the long runs and I would really like to experience that again. But that was a long time ago, like 25 years and a hundred pounds ago, back when I was still in high school. Today, I rate myself as less than a beginner. I haven't had any kind of regular sports activity for the past several years and I don't think I can run for more than 3 minutes straight. My first try was when I got the book - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jogging and Running. It was written by Bill Rodgers, a 4-time NYC and Boston Marathon Champion, who inspired me back in the early 80's to start running. In the book, he had a 0 - 30 minutes in one month program, and that's what I