Picture taken about 45 minutes after I'd finished my run on Saturday...my face had stopped matching the color of my shirt by that point. And of course, I'm heading into Blue Baker - would you expect anything else?
Holy moly, my run on Saturday was a challenge. I'm doing the same route and distance every Saturday for four weeks (this was week 3 of 4) so I can compare apples to apples and hopefully see some improvement. My goal is to run the three miles with minimal walk breaks; for the previous two weeks, I managed to only take one after mile 1, and another after mile 2 - both for one minute in duration. But on Saturday, I pushed it on the pace and ended up taking walk breaks at mile 1 and mile 2, and then another one at mile 2.5 - not ideal, but I was struggling out there! Here's my handy-dandy chart, updated:
I'm not sure what I expected out of this experimental month of running. I'm more than halfway through it, and it's been harder than I anticipated in some ways, but not as hard in others. The hard part has been pushing my pace, hands down. I can handle it for a couple of miles, but tack on that third mile and boy howdy, is it ever a struggle! But I've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to ramp up to running a mile without stopping, so there's that.
Something has taken me by surprise in bothering me a bit, and that has been seeing how few miles I'm running each week. In case you're wondering, it's seven. Total. And while I was looking forward to not doing long runs, it feels really weird so see such low mileage. I think I might either add in another day of running, or bump up my weekday runs an additional mile. Or both, who knows?
I think this has been a neat experiment to follow along with! You make me want to do the same... now if we can just get it to stop snowing so I can get back outside 4 runs in a row! You've definitely got improvement there and there's nothing wrong with pushing, so long as you're willing to handle the red face syndrome lol.
ReplyDeleteI personally set a goal of running a minimum of 10 miles a week (for winter). Most weeks I do somewhere around 15 but if I hit that 10 I'm satisfied. Plus just having the goal makes me run even when I don't feel like it. Let's just say negative temps, temps in the single digits and ridiculous windchills make the motivation hard sometimes.
I can mentally handle pushing it because I know exactly how much longer I have to go with this route, which is nice. Although I'd like to get to the point where it doesn't take so much effort to get there...
DeleteI think having a miles minimum each week is a good idea. Seven isn't enough for me right now.
I like this concept. I've been following training plans were the mileage increases each week but when I get back to training I think I want to do something consistent like this so I can compare my runs like you said "apples to apples". Very smart.
ReplyDeleteThanks - it made sense to me, to be able to see if I was getting any real progress.
DeleteYou made definite improvement each week! That's neat to see. Devil's advocate here--if you ramp up your running, will that give you a reason to NOT go to they gym, if and when the spirit moves you to actually go to the gym? I guess I'm thinking about myself. I have a max amount of time I will spend on exercise, and I know I just won't get it done beyond that.
ReplyDeleteGood question. Right now the spirit is not moving me for the gym - I'm just grateful it's still moving me to run, LOL! And I'm willing to spend time on exercise, but I'm more willing when I have partners to do it with.
DeleteI know a lot of runners who have just one day a week of higher than normal miles, and it helps them with endurance, and in hand, faster shorter runs. I think your times are amazeballs!
ReplyDeleteThat used to be my Saturdays, until I started trying to run w/o stopping. I think I'll have to push that mileage up by an couple more miles...next week. :)
DeleteWow Speedy Gonzales! What a great improvement week after week, this is definitely working very well! I would do an extra mile on a weekday run instead of running an extra day but that's my opinion.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Shelley, very proud of you.
Less miles, but pushing yourself with faster times might equal each other out. Then you can get to the gym on the other weekday.
ReplyDeleteYou are awesome with your running. :)
Look at your pace!!! That's amazing!! I'm not too savvy with running but your improvement over 3 weeks is definitely inspiring :) I've just started following your blog because I plan to start running soon!
ReplyDeleteFeel free to read my blog when you have the chance :)
http://keepcalmandpoonon.blogspot.ca/