20-minute run: Day of Reckoning

Yesterday, my congestion came back and I was miserable for the afternoon. But I did get a lot of rest, so I'm feeling better today. Since my physical activity has been down in the dumps due to my head cold (if not being able to breathe dampers the will to exert oneself physically, the complete lack of energy and cotton mouth pretty much kill it). But this morning, I was sick of being sick. Plus, I was curious. At the 5k on Sunday, Harley ran the whole race without walking once. When I first heard her say that I pursed my lips in deep thought. It never occurred to me to just run as long as I could run. I'd always done intervals. My gym teacher had taught me intervals when I was an obese 5th grader trying to run the mile in gym class (ironically, doing intervals I was able to pass the presidential fitness test while obese in both fifth and sixth grade). I'd also run intervals during my long training runs at the beginning of the soccer season every year in high school. Intervals was the only way I had ever been able to finish any running challenge because I AM NOT A GOOD RUNNER. I am slow and awkward and -- you get the drift.

"Well, crap," I thought. "You're running now. So best start trying to figure things out."

I thought I'd just join up with the Couch To 5k program that everyone else is doing, but I also know that I've been running intervals for a while and doing my best to exercise every day. So I wondered how far I really could run, if I didn't have a watch beeping at me to stop and walk.

This morning, I decided to give it a go. Week 5 Day 3 of Couch to 5k is a 20-minute run (I think I have that right). I've never run for 20 minutes straight.

I'm guessing most of the people on the program look at this day as some kind of day of reckoning. The other issue was that I have to get 45 minutes of high intensity PA today. So, I have to keep going after the 20 minutes. I decided to run as far as I could run and then to do intervals the rest of the way, like it was a normal run day.

The other extra challenge today was that I left my watch at home. Instead, I had a New-to-Me Toy -- the Nike Plus sensor that Apple gave MacTroll in some goodie bag at a conference a year ago or more. It's been sitting in a drawer collecting dust. I ordered a little pocket pouch for it for $5 and attached it to my shoe and plugged in my iPod and off I went. It dutifully counted down every 5 minutes for me by quieting my music to make the announcement. I liked it. I felt somehow less leashed to something on my wrist. And with the rain on my glasses, I couldn't really see the display on my armband to see how much time was left.

At 10 minutes, I was feeling pretty good. At 15 minutes I thought, "Mmmm, maybe I could push it to a 25-minute run." At 18 minutes, I decided, "Don't be stupid, you have a cold and you're already doing a really hard thing." So at 20 minutes I stopped and walked. I got some props by a woman in Prairie Fields who was leaving her house for work on my recovery walk. I <3> Savoy.

So here is my Nike+ chart (I hope this works).

It's actually pretty fun to chart. I'm hoping that one day soon I'll be able to run my entire path.

A huge part of my fitness goal and weight loss success depends on accountability in my program. So, if you visit my blog, you'll have to see these charts from time to time. And if you don't see them -- you can certainly ask for them -- to keep me honest. I'm also going to use the iPod for my walks.

But my 20-minute run is done. I guess I just need to work on some speed. So off I go to the Nike web site to visit their training area and see what info they have. I did just realize that the weight on my iPod was set to 114 lbs... so um, the calorie count is a bit off today. :-) I also just learned that I could adjust my graph... so it'll have more points and look a bit more even for future graphs.