April runners!
 

I didn't start a new thread yet as I've been on vacation. I've been running but it presents challenges to run in a new environment with different weather and different terrains.

This morning, I just did not feel like running. I got dressed and went out thinking that I could walk if I didn't run. After a few minutes of running, I just didn't want to run but I just kept going. I ended up having my fastest mile (second mile) ever and fastest 2 miles ever. It is amazing that I had to force myself to run but had a really good run.

I am so glad you started the thread. I thought I was all alone...lol!

WTG for pushing yourself. ANd congrats on the fastest mile ever.

The same thing happened to me today I DID NOT WANT TO RUN. BUt I forced my self and ran my two miles (as usual) BUT I actually pushed to end up doing 3.5! By end of the first mile my legs were hurting so bad so I made it to 2 then walked a few minutes and did another mile and a half. I got off feeling accomplished!

Question: When running do you notice one leg in a little more pain than the other or working harder or something. This happens to me a lot but I just sort of push through. Is this a normal thing?

Oh gosh, I need to be an April runner; goodness knows I haven't been much of a March or February runner :o

2.75 miles for me this morning. I slept poorly last night, and it showed. A tough run, but I did it.

Desert is starting to bloom. It is nice to be out there.

Anne

Yay a running thread, just what I need to kick my butt back into running. I was all good from the last two weeks of Feb to the first two weeks of March, but the previous few weeks I have been slacking off my runs! Instead of 3 times a week, I only went once a week!

I promise I'll go for my first april run today, and I'll come back and post. Thanks nelie for starting this thread!

Okay one more question. Can I build up my endurance by walking my inital 2 miles ( i can do 2 miles now or a little more) and then walk a lap and then run another mile and then walk a lap and repeat until I get to 5 or 6 miles? Hopefully I can cut out the laps inbetween....


Lixxie - Okay now get that run in girlie :D

Edit: Uhm yes i did it i dit it! I ran my first full 5k non-stop with a time of 40:40. I am feeling great today. Felt good to get in my miles and in a reasonable time! YEsssss!!!!

Did my run yesterday and boy am I out of shape! My ipod ran out of battery so I couldn't track my run, but it was kind of like HIIT for 10 minutes then walk, cause I suddenly felt like throwing up. I think it was because I had too much for lunch.

Then the walking went on for some time, before I started running again... then walking. I'm so annoyed at myself, I hate having to stop running halfway, I feel like I've lost the momentum...

i'm trying to build up the running, but still do mostly walking. but got a mile in this morning.

I think there are marathon training programs where the runner is advised to run 5 minutes, walk one minute..... Sounds like your plan would be very similar....go for it! :)

I did a long run today and it whooped my butt. But, wow, I feel good now :)

I went out for my run but I only ran 1/2 a mile due to a nasty hangover! So I walked the other 2.5. But my legs probably needed a break form all the heavy running the last couple of days.

Kitty - Thanks.

Me4life - That is how I got up to 3 miles.. I started running one and then added a 1/4 mile about once a week. I think this is the same technique I will use to get to 5.

I need this thread too!! I'm registered for a 10km on April 19th AAAA!! I have been training, but still haven't done 10 kilometers yet I don't think. Tommorow's run is 5min warm up walk, 40min run (4.7mph), 1 min walk, 20min run, 5min cool down walk. Hard to believe two months ago the intervals were 3min run, 1min walk!!

Analeh - so in the 10K will you be running the whole thing? I have a 5k next month and then I want to a 10K before the end of summer. Do you plan on breaking midway during the race or is this just for your training?

i actually ran on the treadmill today and i hate running on the treadmill...i tried c25k and it was so boring i didn't do it. today i decided to see how well i could and i did a mile in 16:19 which for me in unheard of. before i ran at 4mph. this time i ran at 5 and even did a minute at 6mph (which i never thought i'd do) and i was sweating i need to push myself more outside cause i never feel like i worked this hard.

3 miles for me this morning. It was a nice, comfortable run. I'm just finishing C25K which believe it or not is a program I've always hated, and now that I'm finishing it, still hate. It's steps up just don't match the way my body wants to do it. But it was a plan, and I needed a plan.

me4life, I hate the treadmill too. Nice job on pushing through!

Anne

Wndranne - i love comfortable runs. And I think I like running outside better

me4life - WTG pushing yourself. It is how I haev built up. I started out jogging 4.2 then 4.4 and so on, I have been running for three months and now my comfortable pace it at 4.6/4.7 BUt I always doa few laps at 5 and 5.3 to push myself

Well my goal is three miles todya. DOn't care how I get slow or fast, all at once, or broken up....Just gotta get them!!!

i've been doing 0 incline on the treadmill thanks to shin splints. now that the legs seem much better, my goal is to be able to go consistently at a 2 so i will be able to run outside when it gets warmer. so far i've only been able to go about a mile or less at 2. i mean, able to go a mile while keeping my heart rate below the 160 area, which is my upper theshold.

I tried that 2 incline once and my calves burst into flames..lol. I have been running outside a bit, but I have been adjusting pretty well. Not too bad at all. Good luck with your incline...

i think i should probably also step it up from my 3 times a week thing, but i just can't seem to get in that 4th or 5th day.

cake- I'm going to try to run the whole thing, but walk at the water stations (I think there are 4 or 5). It seems kind of silly to run 40min and then walk 1min and then run 20more! But even the 1min walk totally helps me recover.

i did 2 miles today on the treadmill...i need a fan. my treadmill is in a small room with no air. although the plan is to run outside as much as possible its just harder to judge speed and distance the way i run outside...never same place.

WTG me4life! You are doing great.

analeh - i wish I could run six miles.

Wohoo guys I met my running goal and surpassed it! I ran 3.5 miles!

I totally didn't feel like going today. I binged last night and knew I needed to go. I also knew it would be hard because of the binge. I went. I ran the full deal today--just under 4 miles. I kept telling myself I was going to stop when I reached X but I never did. It was more like a jog today than a run. But I did it all the same.

I think I always jog :( but I run the toward the end.

Thighs - it doesn't matter if ran or jogged the point is you had anot so good night and then drug yourself out to jog 4 miles. That has to feel good. Oh and I do that too....I am gonna stop when I get to X and then go some more and do the same thing again. WTG for going anyway! Isn;t what makes us runners??? LOL

Thighs Be Gone, I usually have a great run the day after I overeat. I always figure it is because I'm adequately carbo-loaded for once. Glad you got out there.

I'm slower than snot, but I always say I run, or run/walk. Jogging always seems to describe a kind of easy excursion, where you could talk happily to a friend if one happened to be along. Even if I'm slow, that is for sure NOT what I'm doing, LOL.

Anne

COuldn't have said it better. I can not talk happily with a friend.

Gaol for today 3 miles :carrot:

ladies, i hate to dampen the excitement here because we are ALL doing such a fantastic job. i'm so impressed with all of your progress and dedication. however, according to pretty much all of the running resources i've seen, you ARE supposed to be able to have a conversation (albeit maybe short and curt) while running (unless you're doing short bouts of high intensity interval training). your level of exertion should be pushing yourself so you can still talk but you can't sing. i used to run at around 6.5-7 on the treadmill and my heart rate was up in the 170s or even 180s by the very end of my run. a friend of mine who is a personal trainer told me that with a heart rate that high, i am burning energy but not increasing my overall fitness level. i am now monitoring my heart rate and really trying to keep it below 160 (he told me to keep at 145, but i'm not willing to go that slowly). it has caused me to slow waaaaay down to about 5.5 or even 5 mph sometimes, but it keeps me in the target heart rate zone where my body is most efficiently burning calories. the hope is that over time, as my heart gets stronger i will be able to run that same distance at a faster speed while maintaining my heart rate.
do a google search for a target heart rate zone calculator and figures yours out. you might be surprised.

sws19 - I guess I am okay. Because I can talk and it is just that short and curt. a burst of sentences or something but there is absolutely NO singing in the rain :D. Thanks for the info. My HR is usually at 165, it started out at like the 180's and I recover very quickly too (well now anyway).

sounds like you're doing great, then! i mean, i don't think we need to be able to wax poetic on a range of topics while running, but yeah you should be able to at least have a somewhat normalish seeming conversation.
i am not able to make it to the gym today because of passover (which also means my calorie intake will be totally shot for the today), but i'm going to try and make it during the day tomorrow. and i'm trying a new strategy, just for now. instead of jogging for 50-60 mins at 0 incline, making sure to keep my hr more or less below 160, i'm going to ramp the incline up to 2 and do the same thing. i think this is going to result in my nearly having to slow to a walk to keep the heart rate down after a mile or two in, but i gotta start somewhere, right? i'm still trying to make up for loss of momentum by having to sit out the entire month of march thanks to doctor's orders.

I may be sick (or severe jet lag) and its been a couple days since I've run.

I wear a heart rate monitor when I run and our heart rates are pretty individual. What I found though is that my heart rate would get lower over time. I'm still doing walk intervals in my runs so my heart rate fluctuates a bit between 135-165 or so. I would definitely recommend a heart rate monitor for anyone though if you don't already have one, it is interesting to watch it over time.

I got my 3.1 miles in today at a new low! 39:50 Yay Me! :carrot:

I had a crappy run this morning. Only made it 1.25M. I am guessing since I have 7M over the last two days. Maybe I just needed a rest!

3 miles for me this morning, plus another half walking my warm up and warm down. Tough run this morning.

When you look at the running literature in detail there is a lot of debate on the "right" way to train, low aerobic HR all the time, higher HR to push your anaerobic threshold higher. Different techniques work better for different people. Different techniques work better to advance different running goals in the same person. There are many tried and true running workouts where you cannot and should not be able to pass a talk test, tempo runs, fartlek workouts, track repeats, hill repeats, and more rigid interval structures. I personally don't think you can expand your comfort zone, unless you break out of your comfort zone on a regular basis, and this is reflected in my training. You will hear many coaches talk about "junk miles" which is the short/moderate distance runs at an aerobic pace with no challenge. Others differ. Do what works for you.

Anne

i agree anne. I was tired this morning. I only pushed out a mile and quarter. boo. But it wasn't my normal time, did't get much rest and worked really hard past couple days.

Ran my three miles this morning--didn't have the best timing but I did it--even with the rain...


Happy Running 3FC Sisters.

i am hoping to push out 3 miles this afternoon! Maybe beat my last time...maybe not.

If I did a lot of miles at a pace where I could talk, I would be getting basically no exercise at all.

The talk test IMO is a valuable measure for early runners -- I see people who are pushing themselves at a crazy pace, with red faces, clearly unable to breathe, and they're not doing themselves any favors trying to push so hard. They should definitely take care to check that they are able to talk, so they aren't going over their aerobic threshold.

But as Wndranne said: as your fitness level improves, you have to push yourself harder, doing fartlek, doing distance, whatever. I can say things to my running partner -- short sentences, three words at a time. But most of the time we don't talk, most of the time we focus on where we're going!

Well ladies I got my 3 miles in. I think that will be my norm now. During my first mile or so I can talk....but very briefly and then I as get mile 2 and 3 ( i increase speed through to the end) I am totally not talking. However I recover pretty quickly.

ugh. just had a disasterous run for my easter 5k. think it was maybe the bunch of cigarettes i smoked last night and the 6 glasses of wine. think i might try again on monday.
could barely breathe and felt really nauseous afterwards. couldn't even do my situps or pushups after. sigh.

Finished my last C25K run today! For the record, I still hate that program and will not be using it again. Yet another tough run. I ran pretty soon after lunch, which is not really the best idea, but with two small children, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Going to Boston on Thursday. DH is running the marathon, and I'm doing the 5K the day before.

Anne