My progress tracking thread

zorbaru

Hi All,

Im going to post my progress in this thread. mainly a way for me to have quick access to all my runs, but feel free to chime in any time.

Started last night with W1D1. Managed to keep my average running pace under 6min/km (my goal pace for 5km in 30mins) and managed to punch out my final running interval at under 5min/km

likitisplit

Great job! Remind me...you've done the C25k program before? Was it last year?

zorbaru

ive started it before. twice i think, never got past week 3. always had an excuse

i did do a bit of running prior to that without using any program. was able to do the 5k without stopping but no real pace.

this time im gonna do it by the book

likitisplit

How are you doing during the runs? Even for people who finish the program with a 10 minute mile, you're going a little fast for the early days. I'd slow down and keep it fun.

I stalked you a little bit. You have been doing this for awhile.... Keep to conversational pace or slower.

zorbaru

stalk away.

i dont have a "conversational" pace. if im running, i have to shut up. thats why i like to run alone.

my "burst" fitness isnt too bad. have done a lot of martial arts which is all about explosiveness so i dont think its too much of a stretch to run at that pace. when i get to the longer intervals ill probably slow it down a bit, but for 60s its fine.

i wasnt even as sore as i thought i would be the next day.

likitisplit

But 5k+ is a "long distance run" so right now you're building straight endurance and learning to pace yourself.

zorbaru

i can burst a lot faster than 5 - 6min kms 6min km's will be sustainable if i slowly build up how far i go with them.

in MA we put everything we have into about 15 - 20s, so for me that would be a 100m sprint. i was doing 180m in the 60s interval so it is quite a bit slower

zorbaru

w1d2 today. put less effort into the run and more into the walking side. still kept all my running intervals at around the 6min/km mark but kept all walking intervals under 10min/km

also kept my two goals of having a longer 2nd half and my final run interval to be sub 5min/km

likitisplit

Great job!

joedfro

Good job zorb and please charge your phone!

zorbaru

haha, it gets charged everynight, if you see the time you can see that it wasnt far off being plugged in.

likitisplit

Nice. I HATE IT when my phone loses power in the middle of a run.

zorbaru

did w2d1 today. yes, i skipped the w1d3 because the 1st 2 werent testing me and i really wanted my d1's to be on monday.

so i began my run thinking there were 5 intervals. didnt push out too fast in the 1st couple of run intervals and gradually increased pace each interval. go to the 5th interval and i put a good effort in to be below 6min/km (the goal of below 5min/km for the last run is out the window, who would have thought an extra 30s per run would make that much difference). so doing what i thought was the final walk interval before cooldown, and also thinking that the app stuffed the halfway marker, the damn thing tells me to run again.

well, i managed to maintain my goal of having my last run interval my fastest and went quicker again. also maintained my goal of having a longer return leg (i run till it says half way then turn around, my aim is to make it past my starting point before the session ends). happy with my progress so far.

zorbaru

a bit of a debacle tonight. i got a new battery for my HRM that i havent used in probably a year. brilliant, i can track my calories properly now.

after spending 20 minutes figuring the *kitten* out (i dont have the manual any more) i was ready to go. so i head of on my warm up walk when i realise i still have my glass on, at about the 40m mark. so i turn around, put them in the letterbox, restart the run and go off again.

now running in the dark i have to press the light button to see the readout on the watch. but it seems that everytime i look at it, its not receiving data from the chest strap. what the hell, ok maybe my earbud cord is interfering (i run it inside my t-shirt). so next walking interval i take it out and run it outside. still not working, bugger it.

next running interval the buds fall out my ears and are dragging on the ground, so while running im trying to find the cord to pull them back up and put them back in my ears within the 90s so i dont miss my prompt. SUCCESS. next walking interval i decide to put the cord back inside the t-shirt since it made no difference. i happen to look at the watch under a streetlight without needing the watch light and its working perfectly. hit the light button on the watch and it pauses. PAUSES!!!! the freaking thing pauses when the light is on.

so anyways, the first half of my run was interesting to say the least. however, the 2nd half was much better, so even tho my 20min run was shorter than the previous one, when you include warm up and cooldown i actually went a little further. and my return trip was my best yet and my final interval was faster than the previous ones final interval.

all in all i was pretty happy cos i could have done more if it werent for the issues above and the fact that my shorts didnt have a draw string so i constantly had to pull them up.

likitisplit

I have had runs like that and I feel for you. Looks like you still got a good run in.

zorbaru

did week 2 day 3 last night. i nearly let the excuses get the best of me because my phone was flat. but in the end i borrowed the mother in laws phone, dl roundouble and away i went.

however, thats about where the fun ends. i did the 1st 80m with my glasses on, had to double back and put them in the letterbox, so there goes being able to easily tell if i did a longer return run or not.

warm up finishes and i start running. 90s later i get my pace. 9m40s ish. im like what the hell, i normally run close to 6m. then it gives the distance: 0.16 miles. OH CRAP i forgot to change it from miles to km, so now i have no idea what im running. i figure 10min mile is the same as 6min km so that is my goal, and i manage to keep it the whole run. then coming in to my final run interval i realise i havent turned strict mode on so i will miss out on my final 2min walk interval. all i know is that i did 1.55 miles (2.49km) in 19 minutes. now i usually average 10m kms in that last 2 mins so i would have done an extra 200m which would take my distance to 2.69 for the 21 minutes which is 10m better than my last effort.

finally it isnt linked to my rundouble page or my facebook so i cant upload it, its not synched with my myfitnesspal and its a samsung not a htc so i didnt know how to take a screen shot. so i uploaded it to dropbox as per the options in the app and all i get is a text file that says "I completed C25K Week 2 Day 3 (1.55 miles), in 19:00, pace 12:15 min/mile, with @RunDouble http://bit.ly/nkhPg3" and the link takes me nowhere

likitisplit

That's so frustrating. It sounds like you rocked the run regardless.

zorbaru

FInally, a run with no incident. Set out on my warm up for w3d1 a bit tentative about the 3 min runs in this leg. a) i havent ran a block like that for over a year b) i only ran w2d3 yesterday and hadnt run 2 nights in a row for a long time and c) i had spent the weekend weeding and tidying our back and front yards (a hell of a job let me tell you). plus my hayfever has been terrible and i couldnt take anything for it as i already had a tablet for it this morning.

1st run interval comes and i decide to take it easy, its only 90s but i dont want to use up my energy before the "long" one. interval finish and the girl comes on my headphones "last interval pace 5:52" (per km). "wow" i think to myself, sub 6min and i wasnt even trying.

now comes the first of the two 3min runs. anything between 6:45 and 7min i'll be happy with. well the interval finishes before i know it and i hear "last interval pace 6:24". YEAH. so i push out the 3 min walk and hear "start running now, you are half way" so i about face and head off on the second 90s run. interval over and im at 5:43 awesome. now the final 3 min run is coming. i realise im not going to uphold my "last interval the fastest" but im determine to not go slower than the first one. mind you, the way home had a strong head wind, but is also slightly downhill, but the wind was stronger than the gradient advantage, if that makes sense. i pound out the last 3 min run at 6:08 so i was pretty stoked with that.

so its swimming tomorrow followed by a rest day then im going to attempt to get my 3min runs under 6:00.

and now i present the anticipated screen shot, ah the joys of using your own equipment.



Legend for notes section as shown

c = calories burnt as per HRM
m = maximum heartrate
a = average heartrate

likitisplit

Yay! Great run, great tenacity!

zorbaru

ok, its been a while since ive put a report up, so lets catch up

Week 3 Day 2:

No equipment issues for this run which was a nice change. I set out on my first 90s run at what i thought was a good pace, but not too hard. When the announcer came on and told me that I did a 6:18 I was disappointed. I thought I was much quicker than that. Then my first walk interval was over 10mins, DAMN. So bugger it, I'm going to really go hard for the rest of the runs, and i did. My first 3 minute run for the week I did at 5:48, which was awesome. Walk 2 was 9:49 which i felt was average. Next 90s run was 5:44 then a walk at 9:30, so both of those intervals were really good. Then comes the final 3min run. Im pretty knackered by now and know im not going to break any records but I'm still going to push it out. I come in at 5:56 so im stoked that I kept it under 6mins. Final walk was also under 10min.

Ended up with a record average pace of 7:21 so was really happy



Week 3 Day 3.

With the serious running coming up in week 4, where the running out weighs the walking, I decided today was going to be an exercise in pacing myself. It was also really cold and i have been sick so that was another reason. First 90s run I took it really easy and came in at 5:53 which I felt was dead on what i was trying to achieve. I had in my mind of doing the 3min run at about 6:20 to 6:30 and I came in at 6:41 which was a little underwhelming.

Attempting to keep my next 90s run to 6m in ended up at 6:11 and my last 3min run at 6:41 again. I guess what that means is that im not able to judge my pace at this stage. I guess that will come with time.



Week 4 Day 1

Wow, that is a hard one. going from 9mins running and 9mins walking to 16mins running and 8 mins walking is a big step. This was the first week that I really struggled to finish. But I did finish, which is the main thing. So i can progress to week 4 day 2 next time and hopefully it will be easier (im sure it will)

I also had a few other things to contend with. I hurt my back in the morning to the point where i didnt think i would actually be able to run. but by mid afternoon it had really calmed down and by dinner time it felt pretty good, yet still not 100%. I knew that i wouldnt be trying for any speed records tonight so i figured it would be ok. I also am still not 100% healthy with a bit of a viral bug going through our house, im still coughing quite a bit. Also, it was still really cold, which is very odd for this time of year where i am (Adelaide, Australia). But i wasnt going to let myself have something for the Post your excuse thread so i hit it up.

The first 3 minute run was ok at 6:25. I wasnt going to push it out quick knowing what was ahead. The legs felt heavy (id only completed week 3 the night before) but nothing too hard. The big challenge was getting up and going again after only a 90s rest and knowing that it was going to by 5 mins. I really wanted to be under 6:45 for the 5 min runs. i pushed it out at exactly that so was pretty happy with it. I turned around to start the return leg, thinking "wow, i thought i would have gone much further by the half way point". I do the 2m30s walk and the announcer proudly states "you are half way". CRAP, i turned around 1 interval to early. I head off in the 2nd 3min run hoping for another 6:30 but was only able to manage 6:50. 90s later it was time for the final 5 min run. I had no expectations of pace, but secretly hoped to be under 7. I managed to drag my sorry carcass down the road at 7:14. But the main thing was that i got it done.

likitisplit

Getting it done is the critical thing. As long as you're getting out there, you're going to get better. Be careful with the cough, though. The recommendation is that you hold off running as long as you are coughing.