Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Training Plan

I think I've made it clear that I am NOT a great runner. But just in case, I was not clear enough...let me point out that I have had to start out s.l.o.w. The first few times I ran, my goal was to run 2 minutes, walk 2 minutes, repeat for 30-40 minutes. And running for a solid 2 minutes seemed nearly impossible. That's how foreign running is to me. It's not something I can just leap into and go for miles without stopping.

Now, I am running 3 minutes, walking 2 minutes (repeat). I want to build the running time until I get to running 8-9 minutes, walking 2 minutes. Eventually I hope I can run for a solid 30 minutes. That seems really far away right now, but it's amazing how my body is already responding to this training. Running for 2 minutes is really easy now, and running for 3 minutes is getting easier. Soon, I'll be moving up to 4.

I was using a stopwatch to time my running and walking minutes, but this week I had a flash of inspiration. I searched through our itunes list for songs that were 3 minutes and 2 minutes long. It's really amazing how many songs are right at 3 minutes! I made a playlist alternating six 3 minute songs with six 2 minute songs for a 30 minute workout. Instead of staring at the stopwatch I knew to run one song and walk the next.

Here are some of the awesome 3 minute running songs I used:
Brown-Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
Hard to Handle by The Black Crowes
After Midnight by Eric Clapton
Get Off of My Cloud by Rolling Stones
Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix

There are tons of songs about 3 1/2 minutes or 4 minutes long so when I am ready to run longer I can make a different playlist to use. When I get up to running 6 minutes at a time, I can run for two songs, walk for one.

While I'm typing I might as well admit that it's embarrassing for me to say that I am only running 3 minutes at a time. I tend to compare myself to others and wonder why I can't run for a solid 3 miles when it seems so easy for someone else. But when I start to think that way I try to remind myself that I have only been running about 5 times...after a decade of no exercise. It is already getting easier, so I just have to be patient with myself.

2 comments:

Kaitlin said...

The hardest part of running for me is looking at the timer and seeing that I still have so much more time to go. I think the song timer is great! I love reading all your running updates. It is making me want to run...except for I have a million other school things to do...and I'd rather do that than run at this point. Maybe another day :)

Lynn Leaming said...

small progress is still progress. That you are trying at all is amazing to me. Walking is still great exercise, so give yourself a big hand and don't let the voice of defeat speak to you!