day 12

Got the weekend sorting a party and house guests- so I've done another fullish day.

Obviously couldn't push myself as far what I could do yesterday- but that's okay, I wasn't expecting to. ran 400m before getting knackered, then did 3 repetitions of 90 seconds running 120 seconds break.

TLDR:- 400m run
3 X (90 second run + 120 second walk)

Day 11

Think I've pushed myself too hard - got in from the run today and fell onto my bed, then the walls started melting. on the other hand, not too bad a result :).

Decided today I'd try to get into a running plan- I'm simply not fit enough to get any decent results out of heart rate training. So I've gone back and looked at this one - which i was linked very early on by a friend of mine  http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml. Week one looked a bit easy so went for week two, except I've read it wrong and did something closer to week 3 instead(oops), so that puts me on track with those guys, even if the plan is only for 5k, that'd give me half the time again to double it up. Sounds do-able again all of a sudden

TLDR:  90 seconds running with 90 seconds walking between - 5 reps

Day 10

500 meters in 2 minutes 40 seconds, gives me a finishing time of 53 minutes 20 seconds for 10 kilometre, which is my goal time so now know how fast I need to go, its just a case of doing it 20 fricking times over what I can currently manage.

TLDR:-
Ran 500m 2:40
travelled: 2.5km

Day 9

Feeling really unmotivated today, before I even went outside my heart rate was up to 110.

After stretching, managed to run just 400m, finished 500m in 3min 20 seconds. So not only am I slower, if I got ten times fitter, I'd still finish slower than an hour. Finished off the exercise by walking around, got bored of the football pitch circuit so I went a wander, Lots of nice scenery very close to my house, but that's never really been my thing. My feet are killing me or I'd have stayed out longer, hopefully I'll get out a bit later on.

Ran : 400m
Walked: 2.3km
Calculated 10km finishing time: 66 min

Day 8

I think because I've been intoxicated from my last run until now, I hadn't realised how sore my legs are. Limping everywhere and stairs are a big big deal... Definite day of rest again before walking tommorow.

Day 6

1pm
Woke up this morning tempted to do at least a walk today, despite skipping the last few rest days. So I put on my shoes and loaded up the MP3 player I've dug out; bright pink unfortunately- My personal one is hard-disk based and I don't think it'd cope.
Before I get out the door I'm invited to run with some of the people I'm going to run the race with, So from a rest day to a running day, I'm so good at this taking a break thing.

Managed to dig out a heart rate monitor a little while ago, part of the configuration is setting your weight/height/age. The scales scared me, 214 pounds, I think that's the heaviest I've ever been, how did that happen? Even woke up this morning and everything felt flat and nice. It's far too early in training to say its muscle. I'm going to have to go the whole hog, set up a good diet to go along with this. after bbq.

6pm
Set out for a good run shortly after arriving at York, Route plotted out at a mile. Managed to run half of it trying to keep up, nothing like competitiveness to motivate myself. Although I most definitely lost the run, and the short sprint near the end (just didn't have the reserve energy to go full speed), I'm happy because compared to day one, 500 m with a break, 800 and being able to at least walk is a huge boost over a few days training.

Afterwards it felt like my face was smeared with hot jam, and my legs still hurt(writing this the morning after), And I had to give in on a party I was really enjoying at 11 just because I was so tired. Extra rule noted, No hard exercise on the days I have to stay up. I'll hopefully be able to put times for the run on here later on.

Day 6 TLDR

Weight :- 214 pounds
Running :- 800m(ish)  at 12min/mile
Traversed :- 1.6 km

Day 5

Today I was still feeling sore from pushing myself yesterday, while I was laid in bed last night it felt like I was wearing fat pants around my legs, that and some sort of increased gravity field affecting any place below my
waist. (is it normal for your leg muscles to feel rock solid even with no weight on them?)

I was expecting this, I've been well above my normal activity level after all, so I'm expecting a lot of stress on my muscles and joints as they get used to moving properly again.

So I didn't want to slack completely today, but I really don't want to pull anything and be forced to miss out on a  few days of training, The plan was to walk, I had a route marked out that was a kilometre long, Finished two laps, took about 21 minutes, but I totally cheated and jogged the last 50 meters or so. no new aches, and now I have good data for how long it's going to take me if I only walk, if I use a running day to figure out my jogging speed, I can figure out the minimum amount I have to run to make my (current) goal time. Sounds lazy, but I need something closer to motivate me properly.

This weekend I'm at two BBQs, fortunately my separate liver training is complete, but I'll probably have to wait until Monday to run again, unless I manage to sneak in a bit on Sunday. At least my legs will have a good rest.

Day 5 TLDR : 1km 21 minutes

Day 1-4

Day 1

So after I've decided I'm going to do this, first thing I do, since I fallaciously assume myself to be a thinker and have a good scientific thinking progress, is to test myself to see what I can get up to. Upon hitting the field near my house, and running most of a lap around some football pitches, I do some maths based on average football pitch size, and come up with being able to do run 1km(with a minute of full stop resting on the goalpost).

Not too bad as a starting point, Since I'm expecting to be able to triple that, and be able to keep walking in-between long enough to recover fully and do it again during the race. No Timer used.

Day 2

A day of rest, Since I believe I'm on track, and I keep hearing it's best to run alternate days. Read a post on the forums I go to about someone being unhappy about managing two miles in 23 minutes, I replied by saying I'd managed something similar and at this point, it looks on track for a good time. (also played lots and lots of portal 2)

Day 3

Endurance training! Having picked a good initial goal as halfway down the list of last years finishers, I have a goal of 53 minutes to finish. Being lazy however, I decided to just do as many laps as I could in half an hour and extrapolate from that. Fairly quickly my feet  begin to hurt because I'm using shitty shoe that lets me feel every pebble and bump I stand on, finish early after 5 laps and decide to go into town the next day and get some proper shoes. Very out of breath. (also to find the stopwatch and not rely on a damn kitchen timer)

Day 4

Day of rest. Disaster, Because of the big margin of error in my current measure of my circuit based on average pitch sizes (there is no hard standard) today I got curious and plotted the four corners on google maps and found out my circuit is dead on HALF of what I had thought. Not only am I not on track, I think that makes me the least fit out of all the gaming nerds (Don't take offence, I'm one too) at my forums.

I'd gotten my new shoes and decided the best thing to do was start pushing harder, so I went to the pitch and stretched, But before I was at the first corner I felt soreness running up on the inside of my legs. pushed myself to do a lap and came home.

New plan, Alternate days between running and walking, only occasionally taking full rest days.

Day 1 TLDR:- 1 Kilometre  500 m sprint, No time recorded, and a rest of 2-3 minutes before the end.

Day 3 TLDR:- 3 Kilometre  1.5km Walking/running  25 min.

Day 4 TLDR:- 500m stumble, no time recorded

My bio

Should be first post. [reserved for later] i'll make a temporary new blog post with a pointer to here when i'm finished writing.