Well, I just wrapped up the first week of my couch to half marathon training. This week was very simple: a 5 minute warm up walk, alternate jogging for 1 minute with 90 seconds of walking for 8 reps, and then a 5 minute cool down walk. Because the weather has been cold and windy this week I had to do all three of my sessions inside. Two of the sessions were at the Westminster Rec Center jogging track which is right next to my work. The Rec Center is nice enough but the track drives me crazy. It takes 14 laps to go a mile so it almost makes you dizzy because you feel like you're constantly turning. The 30 minutes of exercise took me 2.21 miles with, extrapolated over 13.1 miles, would put me right at 3 hours. That's exactly what my initial target time was. I definitely feel like I could do this workout six times in a row so now I need to think about improving my target time. I do have to say that I don't necessarily trust the 14 laps = 1 mile so I look forward to getting in a workout outside so I can use my GPS to get an accurate distance. Plus, no race is on a completely level track so I need to get some hills in my training.
The training for next week shouldn't be too difficult either. I think it's alternating 90 seconds of jogging with 2 minutes of walking. The tough part is that I'm flying to SF for the week so I'll have to try to find time to exercise at the hotel. Theoretically I should be able to get up early (because of the time change) and do it in the morning but I never sleep well on the road so I don't like to get up early.
Not much else is going. Last night CSU won their first tournament game since 1988 beating Missouri 84-72. They started off hot and the game was never really in doubt which was nice for a change. Things get tough fast tomorrow as they have to play the overall #1 seed in Louisville. To make matters worse the game is in Lexington, KY. Hopefully there will be a lot of Kentucky fans there cheering on the Rams (or should I say cheering against the Cardinals.)
The Nuggets pulled off a miracle last night beating the 76ers 101-100 and extending their winning streak to 14 games. Without Ty Lawson in the lineup they had no energy at all and almost seemed OK with losing. They were down 5 with 10 seconds left until Corey Brewer hit a three and then, with 2.1 seconds to go, three free throws. Don't get me wrong, the 76ers are awful and had no business being in the game but it was a nice comeback to watch. I usually find the NBA hard to watch (although Angie will tell you I'm watching it all the time) because of all the one-on-one, clear out mentality but the Nuggets are really fun to watch. I'm not sure how far they can go in the playoffs without a go-to player but I'm enjoying the ride.
Snow and cold this weekend. Both girls were sick with colds and pink eye and now Angie is sick. Hopefully they will all start feeling better before I have to leave on Monday. Next update from Manteca, CA!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Couch to half marathon?
Hello there, it's great to be back. I was just looking over my last post from September 2011 (yikes, 2011?) and was thinking about how much has changed. First, and most important in my life, we had a new baby girl, N, born on February 12, 2012. Of course she's 13 months old now but she's still our little baby. She's not walking yet and still has rubber legs when we try to get her to stand up but we don't mind. She loves being held, especially by Mama, and we're lucky if we can set her down for 5 minutes before she tracks us down and wants to be picked up. Sometimes, after dinner, I set her down in the living room while I try to clean up and do dishes. If I'm lucky enough to set her down without her wanting to be picked back up, I'll be at the sink and feel someone tugging on my pant leg. There's little N with her hands up wanting to be picked up. I love it!
What else has changed? Oh, the Broncos traded away Tim Tebow and picked up some guy name Peyton Manning. I'm still not completely over the loss to Baltimore in the playoffs although the free agent moves this off-season (specifically the signing of Wes Welker) have me looking forward to football season again.
Last week I received an email from a friend (Angie's cousin's husband) with the subject "*Vegas." My first thought was "Vegas? I'm in!" and then about 0.5 seconds later I thought "Hmmm, why the *?" As soon as I opened the email I saw the reason for the asterisk. I need to run the Vegas half marathon in order to receive an official invitation. A half marathon. 13.1 miles. The distance I drive to work each day. Running.
My friend is contemplating a guys weekend in Vegas that will revolve around the half marathon. The good news is that the race isn't until mid-November. The bad news is that the race is only 8 months away. I've never been a runner. I've wanted to be a runner. As I drive back after going through the Taco Bell or Wendy's drive-through I see those attractive, thin, fit, seemingly happy people jogging along the side of the road and I think to myself (while stuffing french fries in my mouth) "I bet this cheeseburger, fries, and frosty would taste so much better if I had just finished a nice 5-6 mile run." That thought lasts until I get back to my office and start stuffing my face and is replaced by the thought "I should have ordered some chicken nuggets."
Anyway, I like to challenge myself (mainly because I love numbers and tracking stats) so I have decided to start the couch to 5k program using the Active.com mobile app. If successful I plan on moving to the 5k to 10k program. If that goes well and I'm comfortable running 6.2 miles, I will see how I feel about going to the half marathon distance. I probably could have skipped a few weeks but I decided to start at the very beginning and today completed workout 1 of week 1! I think I will like this program because the first 6 weeks basically combine walking and jogging and that's how I can see myself completing a half marathon. My goal right now would be to complete the half marathon in 3 hours using a combination of walking and jogging. If I were to alternate jogging a mile and walking a mile with an average pace of 10 min/mile (jogging) and 18 min/mile (walking) then 13.1 miles would take approximately 3 hours. I'm interested to see how these numbers change as I move further along in the program.
I'll try to update after every workout, or at least after every week, to let you know how it goes. I'm a bit nervous about how my knees will hold up as they both crack and crunch anytime I go up/down steps. If I can do it you can too!
What else has changed? Oh, the Broncos traded away Tim Tebow and picked up some guy name Peyton Manning. I'm still not completely over the loss to Baltimore in the playoffs although the free agent moves this off-season (specifically the signing of Wes Welker) have me looking forward to football season again.
Last week I received an email from a friend (Angie's cousin's husband) with the subject "*Vegas." My first thought was "Vegas? I'm in!" and then about 0.5 seconds later I thought "Hmmm, why the *?" As soon as I opened the email I saw the reason for the asterisk. I need to run the Vegas half marathon in order to receive an official invitation. A half marathon. 13.1 miles. The distance I drive to work each day. Running.
My friend is contemplating a guys weekend in Vegas that will revolve around the half marathon. The good news is that the race isn't until mid-November. The bad news is that the race is only 8 months away. I've never been a runner. I've wanted to be a runner. As I drive back after going through the Taco Bell or Wendy's drive-through I see those attractive, thin, fit, seemingly happy people jogging along the side of the road and I think to myself (while stuffing french fries in my mouth) "I bet this cheeseburger, fries, and frosty would taste so much better if I had just finished a nice 5-6 mile run." That thought lasts until I get back to my office and start stuffing my face and is replaced by the thought "I should have ordered some chicken nuggets."
Anyway, I like to challenge myself (mainly because I love numbers and tracking stats) so I have decided to start the couch to 5k program using the Active.com mobile app. If successful I plan on moving to the 5k to 10k program. If that goes well and I'm comfortable running 6.2 miles, I will see how I feel about going to the half marathon distance. I probably could have skipped a few weeks but I decided to start at the very beginning and today completed workout 1 of week 1! I think I will like this program because the first 6 weeks basically combine walking and jogging and that's how I can see myself completing a half marathon. My goal right now would be to complete the half marathon in 3 hours using a combination of walking and jogging. If I were to alternate jogging a mile and walking a mile with an average pace of 10 min/mile (jogging) and 18 min/mile (walking) then 13.1 miles would take approximately 3 hours. I'm interested to see how these numbers change as I move further along in the program.
I'll try to update after every workout, or at least after every week, to let you know how it goes. I'm a bit nervous about how my knees will hold up as they both crack and crunch anytime I go up/down steps. If I can do it you can too!
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