The runs have been going well. I haven’t had any ITB issues since I’ve started stretching before every run. I did 5 miles on Saturday at a S L O W pace and it felt great. Nice and easy run and I could have definitely gone further at that pace.
I think the slow running works well for me right now until I build up some decent mileage, then I’ll work on my speed.
I signed up for a half marathon that’s happening on Feb. 3rd, Super Bowl Sunday.
Now I really have to train.
Did the Nike 5 mile run about a month ago and it was pretty fun, I’ve been dealing with ITB issues but I think I have that taken care of.
Now, it’s just a matter of doing the runs and not over training. I have a 3x a week plan that I’m going to follow.
Progress reports to follow..
My calf cramped last night while I was sleeping and it woke me up.
It’s been feeling tight all day, so I finally did some research and these are notes to myself so I can look them up later.
What has helped so far.
Massaging the calf muscle hard, it’s painful but it has worked really well.
There are two muscles in the calf, the gastrocneimus (“gastroc” for short) and the soleus.
The normal flat foot, bent ankle, leg straight back and leaning forward stretch stretches the gastroc.
To stretch the soleus, it’s the same stretch but with a bent knee.
The soleus stretch has also helped a lot.
Summarized from this article.
http://www.ezpromotes.com/running-calf-cramps/running-calf-cramps-article4.html
I was going to do 5 miles today but I’m going to take the day off and let my calf relax.
I’ve been trying to go to the gym but work gets in the way a lot of times.
That being said, I managed to go twice this week already, I’m slow but just being there counts for something right?
I weighed myself before my run tonight and then weighed myself after.
I lost 2lbs! from my run, must have been all that water I drank all day. Amazing..
Been running on the treadmill for almost 3 weeks now. Ran/walked 3 miles on Friday.
The first attempt at running last year, it took almost 2 months for me to get up to 3 miles.
It’s still embarrassing though when someone older with a gut gets on next to you and outruns you.
I figure I’m building on up so that when Jan 1st comes and all those people with new year resolutions to work out come into the gym, I won’t be quite as embarrassed.
I told someone the other day, I run so that I can keep eating what I want to eat. Fried chicken after a run, Yum!
I’ve gone to the gym 3 times so far and as much as I hate to admit it, I like running on a treadmill. It lets me keep a constant pace, I don’t get cold and my eyes don’t dry out. It also removes all the excuses I used to have. The gym is right across the street from work, I can’t say that it’s too cold, or that I don’t want to run in the dark, etc.
It also makes it easy to run a defined time, I’ve been running 30 minutes and just seeing how far I go in that time. I’m not running very far yet but it’s better than the last time I started running.
I did something I never thought I would do. I joined a gym last Thursday.
I went tonight for the first time and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
It’s still a little bit surreal for me, it feels weird running in one place and watching all these other people using machines to work out. It doesn’t quite feel right but if it helps me keep on running, oh well.
It was also took a minute to get used to the treadmill and getting off of it. I’ve never ran on a treadmill before and after 30 minutes on it, I stepped off and the room felt like it was still moving. Treadmill vertigo I guess.
Late on the weekly summary for last week. Last week was when I decided I needed a plan to get myself faster so I started doing Fartleks and increasing my running from 3 to 4 days a week. I had actually planned on 5 but it didn’t end up happening. I think 4 days a week is good for now.
My average pace is still dropping quite quickly, running a 10min/mile feels pretty relaxed.
Went on a long run with Sean on Saturday, longest run to date for both of us. We had planned for a 5 mile run but we ended up going 5.6. It was also done in faster than a 10min/mile pace which was quite amazing to both of us. The run felt easy, I think because we got stopped at so many traffic lights, we got a chance to stop and catch our breath a little bit. We also stopped for about 5 mins at the half way point.
What’s so amazing is that the last time we ran together, a little less than 2 months ago and we did 3 miles at a 11min/mile pace and we were dying at the end of it.
Now I think of 3 miles as an easy run. What a difference 2 months will make.
How do I get faster? I feel like my running progress has hit a plateau. Ran 13.2 miles this week, 4 times a week, 2 short runs and 2 long runs. My pace has dropped but it hasn’t been dropping like it has in previous weeks. I’m just being impatient, I know I have much more improvements coming, I just have to tell myself to wait for it to come rather than rush out to meet it and hurt myself.
My running has been getting faster naturally. It’s still slow in the grand scheme of things but it’s faster relative to what I was running a month ago.
Ran 12.5 miles this week, 10:26 average pace.
I need to add another running day to my week, push it up to 4 days a week.
I also noticed today that my right foot tends to point inward when I run. Like duck feet but foot in this case.
If I made a conscious effort to point it straight, I was running faster and my right leg felt like it was taking less of a beating.