Week 2 of 23: Tuesday

Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2.71 miles
Average Pace: 3.61 mph
Time Spent Running: 27 minutes

Run Log: I walked 5 , ran 10, walked 2, ran 7, walked 3, ran 7, walked 3, ran 3, walked 5.

Today I felt pretty good. I got enough sleep last night and I admit to eating a bit more for dinner (I'm still losing weight well). Notice the bold above... I hit 10 minutes and was able to also run two more sets of 7 minutes. I also got my running time to hit 27 minutes!

This is a major milestone. Today I actually spent more time running than walking. I did this by reducing my run pace .2 of a mile. I think I've found my base line and plan on keeping it here for a bit as I work on increasing endurance.

My knee was creaking away today. I'm no doctor, but based on some information online It seems to be runner's knee. This is actually a problem with the surrounding muscles and not the knee itself (although it can wear away at the cartilage a bit). Its treated with ibuprofen, ice, compression and leg elevations. Today I was able to do everything but the elevation and compression. I plan on doing it a bit tonight too. I have to say that I'm noticing an improvement. It's now 3 hours after working out and my knee is much less stiff and achy.

Anyway, big day for me, I hope all you other runner wannabes are also seeing this improvement.

Week 2 of 23: Monday

Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2.70 miles
Average Pace: 3.60 mph
Time Spent Running: 21 minutes

Run Log: I walked 5 , ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 2, ran 3, walked 7.

I took a long walk on Sunday. I kept my heart rate reasonably up (although it was at the lower end of my fat burn zone) and walked three miles.

Today was a bad day. I was tired (didn't sleep well thanks to no less than two cats thinking I made a comfortable bed) with about 5.5 hours of sleep. I had no energy, and an inner voice kept telling me to work on the elliptical today because that was easier.

I forced myself onto the treadmill with a little trick I call "idiocy." Today you may notice that I ran 21 minutes which was 1 less minute than last Friday. This was a conscious decision on my part, let me tell you why:
1) Friday was a hard day so I didn't really expect to keep pace with that day.
2) my knees were creaking in a gross, uncomfortable manor.
3) I was literally quite beat.

so I decided to work on endurance today. I did 3 minute runs with two minutes of rest. The good thing about this is that historically I was not able to keep up a three minute run near the end of my time on the treadmill so this was still a day with an achievement. I think I'm going to stick with this method for most of this week and get used to it. Use it as a starting point for a gradual reduction in rest time.

Week 2 of 23

Welcome to the second week!

last week was a lot of fun. I did not meet my weight lifting goals last week and I am determined to try better this week. This week I'm going to work on my endurance.... build up the time I can jog without having to rest.

My knee took a beating, but I'm taking extra special care of it. Today there was some notorious creaking going on down there. It sounded really gross. :)

Anyway, there's only 21ish more weeks left, and I'm excited to see if I can do this. I have to say that my motivation was down right low today and I did not want to run today. I'm tired and I keep trying to rationalize with myself that I can loose weight on a low impact elliptical. My only response to that evil little voice is that this way I have a definite goal that any reasonably fit person can be proud of. And that means I can be proud of it.

So this week lets step up the weight training a notch! Also lets interval train with larger running times vs. rest periods.

Week 1 of 23: Friday

Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2.82 miles
Average Pace: 3.76 mph
Time Spent Running: 22 minutes

Run Log: I walked 5 , ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 1, ran 2, walked 2, ran 2, walked 2, ran 2, walked 2, ran 2, walked 5.

Today I did something different. It was supposed to be my big hard day so I decided to to intervals. You'll notice I basically walked 1 minute and ran 2, then walked 1 etc... except near the end where based on my heart rate recovery time I felt I needed 2 minutes of walking.

I remembered to stretch today which is amazing, but, man, I feel beat. I'm proud of myself. I've increased my running time to 22 minutes! An amazing achievement for me.

My knees have been giving me problems. nothing painful, just tiny squeaks letting me know that they aren't used to this punishment. I spent some time today warming them up before the run and I have to say that I feel like I notice a difference. I also spent some care stretching my quads and such (the aches are at the top of the knees).

The very last minute of the last time I was running was very difficult. I really wanted to give up, but I pushed on through. I mean, what's a minute?

Anyway I'm looking forward to my day of rest, but honestly I'm really glad I'm running.

Most people I know say they don't like to run, but if they took it slow (like I am) and worked up to running, it really is enjoyable. It's tough, but I really like the improvement I'm seeing. It alone is reason enough to take up running. Reaching new heights, hitting the next milestone, and constantly seeing my body improve its performance.

Good luck to all you other beginning runners out there. Take it from me, you can do it!

Week 1 of 23: Thursday

Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2.64 miles
Average Pace: 3.52 mph
Time Spent Running: 19 minutes

Run Log: I walked 6 , ran 5, walked 2, ran 5, walked 5, ran 3, walked 4, ran 3, walked 5, ran 3, walked 4.

Hey, hey, hey! I jumped up another minute today. I'm even happy to say that I decreased the time needed to recover (see bold above).
I was even able to run a bit longer in my last couple of stretches.

I felt stiff today. I wonder if it's because of the rest day. I also forgot to stretch after the work out. I know! I had to hustle back to work and it completely skipped my mind for the next hour or so.

Man, 19 minutes. I'm weeks ahead of where I thought I'd be... :)

Week 1 of 23: Wednesday

Today is a rest day. I was reading the book Marathon Training for Dummies, in which the author was saying he thinks a small work out can do wonders on rest days. That getting out and doing something would only benefit the training runner. I'm not sure I'm at a point physically where I can handle an "active" rest day, but I think it was good advice. I think when I've lost some more weight I will try to add in some light walking or a fun bike ride on the rest days.

Speaking of bike riding, my fiance is trying to get into better shape. She doesn't really want to run, but biking is something she's interested in. I'm going to try to turn my long slow Sunday exercise days into biking days. I'm not sure how that might affect my running program so I will keep an eye on my progress.

Week 1 of 23: Tuesday

Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 2.62 miles
Average Pace: 3.49 mph
Time Spent Running: 18 minutes

Today was a great day. I had eaten well last night (some chicken wings, salad, .5 of a large hamburger) and I think that that had helped me recover from yesterdays run. Last night after the run my right knee was giving me some real problems.... no real pain, just a constant ache. This morning, however I felt great.

The downward plunge of my weight has slowed considerable. I still lost weight yesterday, but no wear near as much as I had the previous day. I'm actually quite happy with this, because I want to do this as healthy as possible. And I definitely want to keep the weight off after I get it off.

Tonight I plan on eating my leftovers and a large salad.... and tomorrow is a scheduled rest day so I'm looking forward to that.

In my 45 minutes today I walked 6 , ran 5 , walked 3, ran 5, walked 5, ran 3, walked 3, ran 2 , walked 4, ran 2, walked 2, ran 1, walked 4.

You will notice that I ran a total of 18 minutes! yesterday I could barely run 2 minutes my third bout.... today I was able to run 3 and then add another 3 minutes onto the day. Granted since this is Tuesday and the day before my first weekly rest I'm supposed to push myself..... I'm just happy that I was able to.

Good luck to all the other runner wannabes out there.

Week 1 of 23: Monday

Distance: 2.55 miles
Average Pace: 3.4 mph

I was on the treadmill today.
Running felt really good , I ran much more than I was able to last week.
I did:
5 min walk, 5 min run, 4 min walk, 5 min run, 7 min walk, 2 min run, 5 min walk, 3 min run, 9 min walk.

the bolded 2 minute run above was my most difficult. But I was able to scrap together some energy for the final push of a 3 minute run.

I'm glad because I was able to hit my 15 minute running goal, which is FAR better than I had expected. I was also to work on my pecs for a bit. I didn't have a spotter with my free weights and the last rep I hurt my right elbow a bit.

I'm doing the fartlek (yea, I know... I said fart) method of training (or at least a slightly modified version of it) so I'm stagering my running. I plan on slowly increasing the duration of the running to the point where I'm running the entire workout. Also when I slow down to a walk the walk is still brisk with my heart rate elevated to about 60-75% max heart rate.

This style of work out helps to build endurance suposedly. As a new runner my "run" is really more of a jog and I'm not going very fast at all. My brisk walk pace is 3.0 mph and the jogging today was at 4.2 mph.

Week 1 of 23

This week I'm getting serious. I've been walking / jogging for two weeks now to ease into this program, so I feel relatively confident in starting to pick up the pace. I've been on a relatively successful diet lately, and I'm concerned about getting the right balance of nutrients to keep the weight loss moving, but also keep my running goals moving. You see, I was keeping to a low carb diet when I wasn't exercising, but now I'm re-introducing the carbs to give me some running fuel.

I've also been eating smaller portions lately, which is a very good thing. I didn't gain weight because I like to eat snacks or candy, I gained weight because I like to eat large portions of normal food. (sitting at a computer 8 hours a day then not exercising didn't help either)

So the goals for this week:

• Run 15 minutes of a 45 minute work out.
• Rest on Wednesday and Saturday.
• Lift weights at least three days this week.
• Work on the ab crunches.
• Slowly increase carb content of diet.
• Stay with the small portion sizes.
• Keep the momentum going on my weight loss.

Wish me luck!

And So It Begins....

Welcome to my journey.

I started this blog to detail my exploits as I try to become a runner. Like most Americans out there I am over weight, love large meals, and don't run. I'm trying to change that one mile at a time, and to cement my commitment I started this inter-tube blogosphere thingie.

I'm hoping that making my progress public will motivate me to keep going with this.

I have 23 weeks (starting from today) to go from a fat computer potato to a runner. Specifically I have 2 goals...
My primary goal is to run a 5k race (doesn't matter which one) all the way through (speed doesn't matter but I want to at least jog, if not run, the entire distance).
If I can accomplish that, my secondary goal is to do the 5k in under 30 mins.

Anyway, I've made a commitment to these goals. I think I have a chance at them if I work hard and change my current lifestyle. So if you are interested in my story, come back and check my progress.