Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Cool, another run!!
I have just finished the C25K plan and am loving the running. I have started putting together my own weekly program which is just great fun. I get to decide what are the most important things for me and think about the way that I think my body is going to respond best to increasing demands. I am keeping within the 10% rule and continuing to run on time but I generally feel footloose and fancy free (except for the bit where I am actually running and I feel like a bit of a lumbering frankenstein monster, but short).
During the course of the program, I sometimes felt the requirement to rest between runs a bit limiting. I have a couple of days a week where it is really difficult for me to do any exercise due to other commitments so I tend to designate those rest days. If any other day is a writeoff for exercise, or if I have to switch around sessions, then it can make it hard to fit in all the things that I want to do in the week while allowing appropriate recovery time.
So between now and the Queen of the Lake, I have decided I want to prioritise getting my body used to running more than 3 times a week and used to running two days in a row from time to time. So for me this looks like slightly shorter sessions more frequently with one longer run per week. I figure that if I have to drop a session during the week, then I can easily absorb that time into the other normal runs.
At the same time I am gradually increasing my total running time per week. Hopefully the slightly shorter sessions will enable me to run two days in a row if necessary while still continuing the work of getting the body accustomed to being out there on the track at all. The flexibility should help me to fit in extras like the NRG and even Masters nights when they are on, without me having to reschedule my life.
Initially I thought that it would fill me with confidence to go out to run for 20 min knowing that I can run 30, but I went out on Monday with the goal to do 20mins as slow as I could (after the faster run on Sunday with NRG) and felt pretty ordinary throughout.
The best thing about this program is that there are simply more days in the week when I can come home and ask myself what my exercise for the day will be and have the answer be "running".
During the course of the program, I sometimes felt the requirement to rest between runs a bit limiting. I have a couple of days a week where it is really difficult for me to do any exercise due to other commitments so I tend to designate those rest days. If any other day is a writeoff for exercise, or if I have to switch around sessions, then it can make it hard to fit in all the things that I want to do in the week while allowing appropriate recovery time.
So between now and the Queen of the Lake, I have decided I want to prioritise getting my body used to running more than 3 times a week and used to running two days in a row from time to time. So for me this looks like slightly shorter sessions more frequently with one longer run per week. I figure that if I have to drop a session during the week, then I can easily absorb that time into the other normal runs.
At the same time I am gradually increasing my total running time per week. Hopefully the slightly shorter sessions will enable me to run two days in a row if necessary while still continuing the work of getting the body accustomed to being out there on the track at all. The flexibility should help me to fit in extras like the NRG and even Masters nights when they are on, without me having to reschedule my life.
Initially I thought that it would fill me with confidence to go out to run for 20 min knowing that I can run 30, but I went out on Monday with the goal to do 20mins as slow as I could (after the faster run on Sunday with NRG) and felt pretty ordinary throughout.
The best thing about this program is that there are simply more days in the week when I can come home and ask myself what my exercise for the day will be and have the answer be "running".