Not retreating; I'm advancing in a different direction

Last Thursday, my back started acting up, so I didn't run then. The affects lasted through Saturday and on to today.  And now the last vestiges of summer are making their final (hopefully) hurrah with 90 degree F temps. No, not running weather.

So, when it cools down a bit, or maybe later in the evening or early in the morning on Saturday, I'll try to get in a couple of miles. I never did sign up for either of the 5K's that I mentioned, so I don't have a problem skipping the one in Sept. I'll hopefully get it together for the one in Oct.

♪Running all the way♪

Ha ha ha!

So, the second day in a row of running is the progress day. The first day, after a rest day(or days), I feel somewhat fresh, rested, and ready to conquer the workout ahead. The day after that, I usually am a little sore, tired, and not so ready to get up for the workout ahead, and that is exactly why progress is made on the second day.

Today, I pushed a little further knowing I have tomorrow off from running and also keeping in mind that I was doing more on tired muscles than I did yesterday on fresh ones. Progress mentally and physically. Stretch that endurance muscle!

(In response to last post) I...do...

I did, however, run the entire two miles before the walk break, so I'm counting this as progress.  Also, I increased my mileage, so double progress.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 2.5 miles without a walk break (just like today was supposed to be), so, we'll see how it's going at the two mile mark. Maybe I push for just a tenth more, or cut the walk break short, or, (rainbows and unicorns best scenario) I run the whole thing! Stay tuned!

Who....needs.....walk (huff huff) breaks!

Full disclosure: I stopped at 12:22 to check in on a neighbor. I resumed 9 minutes later after taking a little bit to stretch while I was stopped.

Well, there you have it. A two mile run with no walk breaks. I think I might ditch the walk breaks and just work on getting my wind back. I'd love to finish my 5K on Sept 12th under 30 minutes, but I'm not going to hurt myself training to do that.

Now, I might hurt myself during the race to do it, but certainly not during training.

The one in which mileage increases

I was huffin' and puffin' at the end of that last .35 mile segment.  I don't think that .15 mile rest is enough for now, but I'm going to push on through with it.  I need to cut it out eventually, so might as well stay with the harder schedule.

Next run is the same pattern for 2 miles on Saturday.

Also, you've probably already noted that I've gone back to the old way of posting a picture of my excel spreadsheet instead of just copying/pasting from the spreadsheet. There are two things that I like about doing it this way: The colors transfer and I don't have to worry about getting the body of my post stuck inside a table.  So, there you go. It only involves two extra steps, so I'm ok with that.

Toughening up

	18-Aug
	Tue
Mile    .25	0:02:18
0.2	0:03:25
0.3	0:02:45
0.1	0:01:43
0.15	0:01:23
Time	0:11:34
Miles	1
Min/mile	0:11:34
Schedule	1 miles

During the day I spaced out 23 flights of stairs. After dinner, I walked a mile with Brandy and Meesha. And an hour later, I ran/walked. I should sleep good tonight.

I like my paces for my run portions -around 9:00 min/mile. I'm trying to shorten up my walk breaks, so look for them to disappear sometime in the near future.

I have two races I'm looking at to keep me motivated. One is on Sept 12th, so I need to stay focused if I'm going to have the endurance to run the whole thing. The other is Oct 17th and includes a long downhill at the start and a long uphill for the last mile or so. I might need to do some hill training somewhere.

A change to the schedule?

	17-Aug
	Mon
Mile    .25	0:02:24
0.25	0:04:16
0.25	0:02:18
0.15	0:02:33
0.1	0:00:55
Time	0:12:26
Miles	1
Min/mile	0:12:26
Schedule	1 miles

Yeah, so, I'm sure you've all figured out that I didn't really run a mile. I ran a half mile and walked a half mile. Oh, and I split that half mile I ran with a quarter mile walk.  Aaaaaand I counted that quarter mile cooldown.

So, when I say I ran a mile, I mean that in the weakest sense of the word. Anyways, today, I ran .6 miles with walks dispersed as shown.  The change referenced above is I was planning on walking the whole last quarter mile, but changed my mind on the fly and ran the last tenth.

Oh yeah, big changes makin' me the radical! I'll be running another mile (in the weakest sense of the word again) with all new walk breaks!  Stay tuned.

Begin again

	15-Aug
	Sat
Mile     .25	0:02:25
0.25	0:04:23
0.25	0:02:21
0.25	0:04:30
Time	0:13:39
Miles	1
Min/mile	0:13:39
Schedule	1 miles

One thing that you don't want to do when beginning an exercise regimen is to over do the start.  Maintaining a slow and steady increase to the length and intensity of your workouts is one of the keys to gaining confidence in your ability as well as minimize the opportunities for injuries.

So, I ran a mile.

In other news, I have jettisoned WoW from my life...again.