Damn this view...

From Saddle Mountain

Achieving a goal is like climbing a mountain and then seeing all the other mountains ahead. On the one hand, it's nice to make it to the top, on the other hand... I'm not going to run out of challenges here. Not for awhile, at any rate.

I started the couch to 5k program not worrying about any kind of pace. Blithely, I assumed it would all work out. After about 5 weeks of doing the program, I started doing the math.

The couch to 5k program is based on the assumption that you're running a 10-minute mile. Now, there are men out there who will expand their testosterone-filled hairy chests and boom that this is absurd, only girly-girl types run that slowly, 'real' men need to run a 6-minute mile, damn it!

Bless their beady little hearts.

I've been living the vida sedentary for years. I'm overweight and my knees like to remind me of this fact. (Plus, I want to go on record that I do not have a hairy chest.) The only way I'm doing a 6-minute mile -- or better -- is on my bicycle. (That's one thing I love about cycling: even someone as out-of-shape as I am could do a mile faster than an in-shape runner.)

I estimate that my starting pace a few months back was something in the neighborhood of a 17-minute mile. I can't tell for sure, I'm just guessing, but I'm definite that it was close to a walking pace. This doesn't strike me as bad; it was enough that I had the stamina to run for over 20 minutes continuously without having to stop.

Having achieved that goal, now I can see that it would be good to try to stretch things. My knees can take this much, maybe they wouldn't mind if I pushed myself a bit and ran at a faster pace? That's the new goal, anyway. I'll try re-doing the couch to 5k, this time with feeling.

Exercise du jour: The schedule was derailed by the holidays, so today is the last official day of my original couch-to-5k program.

If the friggin' ice will melt off the friggin' sidewalks, I can run outdoors and get an actual number as a baseline for the 30 minute run.



Think warm thoughts, 'k?



Done! Running 30 minutes definitely improves the mood. To say nothing of saving on the heating bill. Maybe in a couple of days the snow/ice will go away?