Week 4 of the training plan put together by my coach has ended and I’m now running intervals of 5 min running and 3 minutes of walking, repeated 4 times. My pace is slow around 11:00 per mile but the coach would like me to go even slower, more like 11:35 per mile. Looks like by the end of next week I should be running 7 min straight with 2 minute walk breaks. Who knew? Caroline, my coach, hasn’t really told me anything I didn’t know except I actually DO what she says. On my own, I tend to do too much too fast. Following Caroline’s directions, each run has been enjoyable and nothing hurts. My recovery periods are less than 24 hours and I really want to run each time I’m supposed to.
The full body strength training and stretching that she has included in the plan really do help. I’m not as diligent in completing those activities, but I do see the benefit.
I turned 55 this weekend, and the Chicago Marathon is next weekend. I’m totally bummed that I’m not going to be running it but with Caroline’s help, I’m starting to dream about 2013.
For my Birthday, Peter bought me a Nike+ GPS watch. It really is quite stylish and I’m enjoying the ability to more closely match the pace that Caroline has prescribed in my running plan. I love coming in after a run, plugging the watch into the PC and watching it draw at my route and give me different statistics. I’m really surprised that the watch makes such a big difference in my running but it does. Thank you Peter!
Running allows me to see the sights of my neighborhood. Like geese and an egret in the neighborhood pond. I bet I’ve been to this pond 5 times in the last 24 years and I saw it twice this weekend on my runs. Good to be outside and running like a child. OK, maybe not that fast, but carefree.
