Return to running

Having abandoned my Learn to Run class due to injuries, I've been back at the gym doing the Learn to Run intervals on the treadmill. (Although I did a weird half-run on Saturday outside with my wife - I walked a good chunk of the way, and then sprinted to catch up to her as she ran, and then after doing that for a while, just ran along side her for the last couple of intervals, all while not hurting myself.)

The treadmill running has been going quite well. I can pretty consistently do at least one more set than what the Learn to Run manual asks for, and keep up a pretty good average pace of 4.4 or 4.5 mph over the course of the walking/running intervals.

Last night I did the four sets of four minutes running and one minute walking, plus an extra four minute run just for fun. In total, it was about 2.25 miles in 30 minutes and a few seconds.

I'll be back at it tonight. Next week's intervals move up to three sets of five minutes, plus a two-minute run (for a total of 17 minutes of running, which is one minute more than the four sets of four). I'll tackle that on Thursday night.

In the meantime, a couple of weekends of dining out (a date with my wife, and then a wedding) have played havoc with my weight loss. But I'm still consistently in the 178 lbs. range, which is better than the 180 to 183 lbs. range I'd been stuck in for most of the summer. My short-term goal is 175 lbs., and then on to 170 lbs., a weight I have not broken the south side of since I've been married.

Meanwhile, back at the gym ...

Having basically given up on running outdoors, I went back to the gym tonight and proceeded to run 2.25 miles in 30 minutes. That encompassed the five sets of "walk one minute, run 3 minutes" that the Learn to Run class is doing, plus one set of running 4 minutes, and a final set of running 6 minutes.

Running Night (Final part)

Well, after injuring myself AGAIN last night doing the running clinic, I think I'm done. It's no longer fun. I ran on the treadmill at the gym for 12 years without ever once hurting myself, so I think I'm going to drop out of the class and just go back to the gym. I'm brutally disappointed, but my body just can't handle running outside.

Running Night (Part 7 of a continuing series)

After taking a couple of nights off from running due to my shin splint, I resumed running tonight. Slowly. Very slowly. I was passed by snails at one point. But at least I got through 30 minutes without major pain (or minor pain, come to think of it). I did all my running on grass, which seemed to help.

Monday we move up to 5 sets of walking for 1 minute and running for 3 minutes. It will be interesting to see how my injured left leg holds up. Oh well, I know the number for 911...

Running Night (Part 6 of a continuing series)

Well, I managed to give myself a shin splint last night, which I'm not terribly happy about because now I have to take some time off to heal.

See ... this is why I run on a treadmill. I don't hurt myself on that. Concrete is a different story entirely.

Running Night (Part 5 of a continuing series)

Despite (or maybe, because) the fact it's a long weekend, I have to say I am not looking forward to doing the running clinic tonight. Part of it, I'm sure, is that our trip to the Lacombe Corn Maze resulted in a lot of walking, and tired me out. The fact that I utterly hated yesterday's run doesn't help, either. We're moving up to the "walk 1 minute, run 2 minute" intervals tonight, and while I can normally do that without any problem, I struggled mightily yesterday to do six sets of those in the coldest weather I've ever run in.

So my strategy tonight is "survive."

Running Night (Part 4 of a continuing series)

Week 2 of our running class went fine last night. It was 20 degrees and threatening to rain, which was a decidedly different night than our first week, when it was 35 degrees and threatening to incinerate us into ash on the sidewalk.

Our class has moved up from 2 minutes of walking and 1 minute of running to 1 minute walking, 1 minute running. Last night we covered just under 2 miles, and the group kept up a pretty good pace. The next practice run is tomorrow (Wednesday) and we should be able to make it (assuming I don't get stuck at work until 6 p.m. like last week) for that. We're taking tonight off to recoup from a Saturday-Sunday-Monday running stint.

I weighed in this morning at 178.8 lbs. Considering I was 183 lbs a couple of weeks ago, I'm pretty pleased. I still want to break south of 170 lbs. That would be a huge accomplishment for me.

Running Night (Part 3 of a continuing series)

Week two of our Learn to Run class goes tonight. So far, it's been hugely successful: I clocked 25.7 miles last week in 7 hours and 50 minutes of walking and running, and managed to drop about 2.5 lbs. in the process. I'm now slightly below 180 lbs., which is a good start.

In total, my wife and I went out running five times this past week, including Monday night's class.

Tonight, we're doing one minute of walking and one minute of running, at 10 reps.

Running Night (Part 2 of a continuing series)

We're back from our first Learn to Run class, which took place in 35 degree heat and resulted in several of our new classmates spontaneously combusting into ash on the sidewalk.

Which reminds me: Could someone please explain to me the concept of women running outside in 35 degree heat in full makeup?

In all seriousness, though, the first class went very well. It's a good group of people, and I look forward to the practice session on Wednesday night.

Running Night (Part 1 of a continuing series)

My wife and I start our Learn to Run course tonight. It's a 10-week course, and the goal is to be able to run 20 minutes when you're done.

Personally, I hope to lose some weight (my metabolism appears to have shut down entirely of late) and improve my distance running.

Updates over the course of the 10 weeks.