One Hour Runner, W1D1

Yesterday morning I did my first run of One Hour Runner. It was identical to the runs in the last week of C25K, so it was a pretty smooth transition. I set out a bit later than normal, so I ran after the sun was already up. This allowed me to see something I wish I hadn't:

When passing the canal that runs alongside the jogging path through Greenacres Park, I spotted something odd enough to make me stop and take a closer look. It appeared to be reptilian roadkill. There was no gore, just what appeared to be the remains of a rather large tail. Size-of-my-forearm large. I spent the rest of my run thinking that it was the remains of a baby alligator, wondering what could have done something like that to it, and wondering why there was no gore. I was nonplussed to see visual confirmation that there are, in fact, alligators lining the path that I run, but I took solace in the fact that this one was dead.

Then, on the way back, I took a closer look. I realized that it was not, in fact, an alligator tail. It was the shedded tail-skin of a snake. Given the size and diameter of the skin, I'd estimate the snake to be maybe 6-10 feet long. Probably a python. This means that there's a huge snake, now too big for its old skin, that calls my running path home. The path that I usually run in the dark. With overhanging trees. Suddenly a few spiderwebs don't seem so intimidating anymore.

Graduation Day

Well, I did it. I'm a Couch to 5K graduate. Again. For a third time, actually. Over the last 9 weeks I've seen the following changes:

1. My shirt collars fit more comfortably.
2. I had to switch to a smaller belt. My pants tend to fall down without a belt now.
3. I don't sweat as much when getting ready in the morning.
4. I don't feel the need to adjust the house thermostat down to sub-arctic temperatures all the time.
5. I dropped from 191 to 174 pounds.
6. I went from being able to run for 30 seconds to being able to run for 30 minutes.

Not too shabby. I didn't hit my goal weight of 167, but I'm not done yet. I'm going to continue on with "One Hour Runner" - the training for that is similar to C25k, with three runs a week, getting progressively longer over a 9 week period. It starts where C25k leaves off. The running schedule is as follows:

Week 1: Run 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes
Weekly total: 90 minutes
Week 2: Run 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes
Weekly total: 90 minutes
Week 3: Run 30 minutes, 30 minutes, 30 minutes
Weekly total: 90 minutes
Week 4: Run 30 minutes, 29 minutes, 35 minutes
Weekly total: 94 minutes
Week 5: Run 30 minutes, 32 minutes, 38 minutes
Weekly total: 100 minutes
Week 6: Run 30 minutes, 33 minutes, 41 minutes
Weekly total: 104 minutes
Week 7: Run 30 minutes, 34 minutes, 45 minutes
Weekly total: 109 minutes
Week 8: Run 30 minutes, 36 minutes , 49 minutes
Weekly total: 115 minutes
Week 9: Run 30 minutes, 38 minutes, 54 minutes
Weekly total: 122 minutes
Week 10: Run 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes
Weekly total: 130 minutes

I'm also starting a "200 crunches" sit-up program that's similar to C25k. Yesterday I took a test to establish my baseline. Based on the number of sit-ups I can do at present (about 20), I'm supposed to start right at the beginning of the program. That's fine by me. I'm using CrunchFu to keep track of my progress.

As for today's graduation run, it was pretty typical: There was a beautiful full moon lighting my way. A black cat ran across my path. I ran into huge spider webs not once, but twice. The threads of the webs stuck to my clothes and skin and floated behind me as I ran, like a race finish-line ribbon. All pretty much par for the course.

One Hour Runner: Week 1, Day 2 (x2)

One Hour Runner: Week 1, Day 2 (x2) - Okay, I'm off my soapbox and back on the pavement. This morning's run was very nice, despite getting a face full of sulfur-smelling sprinkler-water right near the end. The area above my left ankle is hurting a bit now (it was yesterday, too). It doesn't really feel like a shin splint, but it is tender to the touch. I hope its not the beginning of a stress fracture - one of my worries since I'm always running on concrete. It didn't hurt enough to stop me from running this morning, but I'll baby it today and tomorrow and see how it is doing when I run next on Friday morning.

The workout: 5 minute warmup brisk walk, 30 minute run, 10 minute cooldown walk.

One Hour Runner: Week 1, Day 1 (x2)

OHR - Week 1, Day 1(x2) - Last Night, an hour after dinner, I got back on the road again! Zoe and Stacy were watching "Cheaper By the Dozen" on TV, David was content, and Lila already was asleep upstairs. I was feeling relatively well, and when I walked Teddy outside I realized it didn't seem all THAT cold. So I geared up and went out for a run. I was a little apprehensive because I've heard people comment about how they feel slow when running after a meal, but it wasn't an issue for me at all. It felt great to be back out there! Among other things, for the first time in a week I was able to breathe through both nostrils at the same time. While it was cold out there at first, as soon as I got beyond the warmup walk stopped feeling the cold. It helped that I was wearing, for the first time, my long-sleeve running shirt and long running pants. I also wore my reflective vest thingy for the first time.

The vest, plus my headlamp, plus my red flashing left-arm LED, plus my solid neon red right-arm LED, plus the reflective surface of my left-arm cellphone holder, plus my reflective anklets, had me lit up like a Christmas tree. (One neighbor shouted "It's an alien! It's a UFO!" as I ran passed, in a voice that sounded just like Barney from The Simpsons).

This was a great run, maybe my best yet. Not particularly in terms of time, but just in terms of how I felt while doing it. I felt like I was outrunning my cold. Listening to great music, feet pounding the pavement, I quickly got into the zone and forgot all about feeling under the weather. I.Will.Not.Be.Defeated! (De-feeted?) As an extra bonus, when I weighed myself this morning I discovered that I was down more than a pound from the last time I checked. Yesterday, one neighbor told me that it looked like I am melting away. I'm almost at my goal, now, which is to be right in the middle of the yellow "healthy weight" range on the BMI chart on the right.

One Hour Runner: Week 1, Day 3

Week 1, Day 3: Today it was especially tough to drag myself out of bed, but I did it and I'm glad I did. It rained through the night but by 5AM there was just a cool misty drizzle and it was perfect running weather. Occasionally small frogs jumped out of my path as I approached. I'm not sure if they were scared away by the thudding of my footfalls or by the light from my headlamp. Either way, it made for a fun distraction while running.

The Workout: 5 minute warmup brisk walk, 30 minute run, 5 minute cooldown walk.

One Hour Runner: Week 1, Day 2

Week 1, Day 2: I decided to run this morning despite still feeling a bit under the weather. I'm glad I did - by the time I was fully awake and outdoors I was feeling much better, and I would have hated missing the opportunity for a rare daylight run. I did my standard through-the-park-and-back route. I didn't see many people since it was still early, but just as I was passing the canal on Pinehurst I did spot a bright red cardinal sitting on the chainlink fence. I didn't get a great look at him since he flew off as I approached, but I'm pretty sure it was a Malula. A pretty rare sighting for South Florida.

When I finished up my run I came back home, showered up, and crawled back into bed. Zoe and Lila made me breakfast in bed for my birthday. A perfect start to the day!





The Workout: 5 minute warmup walk, 30 minute run, 5 minute cooldown walk.


PM Update: It turned out to be such a beautiful day today that we all decided to walk to the park. We left home at about 5:15, spent some time at the park playground, and then followed the lake-route back home again. We arrived back home at almost 7:00 PM. I enjoyed being able to show everyone the route that I run. It was a nice leisurely walk, but I bet I'll feel it tomorrow because I had Lila on my shoulders the whole way home.

One Hour Runner: Week 1, Day 1

Back in the saddle again. This was my first "official" run for the One Hour Runner program. I'm not counting the treadmill run I did in Disney. For this morning's run, I did my typical run up Pinehurst and back. It was colder than normal so my eyes were tearing almost the entire time. I find that I really like running to my own music, but I need to weed out some of the slower tempo songs.

Skipping today

No, not that type of skipping. Since we got home so late last night from Disney, and since my step total yesterday was 17,000 (and the day before was 26,000), I decided to take today as a day of rest. Tomorrow, then, begins "One Hour Runner" in earnest.

Vacation Run

Today was my first post-C25k run, and it happened to take place away from home. We met up with my wife's college roommate and family in DisneyWorld. It was the first time we had seen them in about 7 years, and we all had a blast. Even though I knew I would be doing a lot of walking in the park, I still wanted to get a morning run in, and so at 6 AM I started my day in the hotel's fitness center on their treadmill. This was my first attempt at using a treadmill, and my feeling about it is mixed. On the one hand, it definitely was easier on my legs and knees. I wound up running for about 55 minutes (!) and I feel like I could have done more. The reason I ran so long was because I decided to go for distance instead of time, and it took me that long to go 5k. I'm not sure why my treadmill running was so much slower than my outdoor running, yet felt the same while I was on the machine. On the other hand, it was much more boring. Still, since this was my first run post-C25k podcast, it was the first time I got to listen to my own running mix, and that part was enjoyable. After my morning run, I had just enough time to shower up and get dressed and then we headed to the park. By the end of the day I had 25,607 steps (256% of my daily goal!). I tried to eat healthy while at the park, so hopefully I didn't lose much of my forward momentum. Since today was so unusual, I've decided not to consider it as W1D1 of the "One Hour Runner." Instead, I'll start that this week.