Monday, April 5, 2010

Next?

I still have miles and miles and miles of work ahead of me (and just under 6 months to go!) before October, so my huge accomplishments so far now sort of feel like a tiny drop in the bucket. So, now that I've finished Couch to 5k, what's next?

My last workout was a struggle. I'm still calling it finished, but I was really dehydrated, feeling sluggish and icky, and stopped to walk 3 times for about a minute. So first, for my remaining workouts this week, I'm going to repeat my 30 minute run. Just to get the confidence I need to move on.

Then, starting next week, this is the plan:

Sunday: Running for distance: a long, slow run (add ~1/2 mile each week or 2)
Tuesday: Running for time: shorter, speedier run (i.e. trying to get further in 30 minutes each week)
Thursday: Recovery run: Not sure how I'm going to structure this one yet, but as of yet there won't be concrete goals involved.

My main goal now is to run a 5k. Not a race, just 3.1 miles on any given day. See, even though I finished the Couch to 5k program, the longest I've ever run so far is just over 2 miles. Couch to 5k should really be called Couch to 30 minutes... unless you can run 10 minute miles (no chance for me at the moment), you're not going to be running a 5k when you're done. I believe the assumption is that once you're able run 30 minutes, you can finish out a 5k on a race day with adrenaline, etc.

I'm still the tortoise, at about 2 miles in 30 minutes. Working on my endurance rather than my speed is definitely the priority at this point. When I think of how far 13.1 is, it freaks the s**t outta me. But I'm hoping that having that speedy run on Tuesdays will help with strengthening to build my endurance as well.

In other good news, I've been doing much better with my physical therapy exercises lately! I know that's key to staying strong on my feet. I can credit this improvement to Andy, who recently started seeing the PT I used to go to and now has similar exercises of his own to do! Doing it together and keeping each other accountable is huge. Works wonders, really.

I'm not sure how my relatively arbitrary training plan is going to work, so I'm definitely planning on flexibility and modifying it along the way. At some point I'm going to have to look at a calendar and see what I need to do over the coming months in order to be ready for October. Eek!

3 comments:

  1. hi Amy! your running blog is so cool and cute. The Disney half sounds like a ball...and its very impressive that youre already up and running in such a short time!!
    I also have some dumb idea to run a half marathon this year ( i decided to train before i sign up since I still have my doubts i can bang it out, but working toward it!)
    anyway, i also do a long run on the weekends and im doing yoga every monday at lunch- im loving this little cross training bit... its like a monday treat to be able to stretch out the legs after the agony of the weekend! thought id share some running insight.. are you excited you get to train all over california soon? :-)

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  2. Hi Amy,

    I'm inspired!! This is so great . . . can't wait to keep following your progress. You go, girl!

    Cheers,
    Sandy (@Eat_Real)

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  3. Great job! I started running at the beginning of the year too and hope to run the ButteToButte in July. Just curious- do you listen to podcasts? I have found listening to podcasts while running to be a lot more helpful than music because it really gets my mind off of the running in a whole different way. A new running friend of mine told me she's listened to many a book on tape while running. Keep up the running... and the cooking!

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