Here’s the thing, I can ride a bike for three or four hours at a time and get off feeling a little sore and a little tired. I can’t run for toffee. So, a few weeks ago, as moral support for someone I took up running…

I’m following the couch25k program which aims to get you running for 30 minutes straight at the end of nine weeks.

Week 1

From my apartment in Vaucluse we plotted a quiet route around near the foreshore. 60 seconds on 90 off for twenty minutes. It highlighted how much I suck at running, but it wasn’t too bad. I even managed to get up at 6am Tuesday and Thursday for pre-work runs (after work is riding).

Week 2

For the first day of week two we headed for therunningcompany in Potts Point for a proper set of shoes (week one was done in my rather knackered and worn Asics Mexico ’68s). After a few runs on the treadmill, first in bare feet, then in a variety of shoes I wound up with another set of Asics, but these ones feature rather more in the way of support and cushioning.

 

The runs were 90 seconds, two minutes off for twenty minutes along with a five minute walk each end. Fortunitously this roughly equals one lap of Centennial Park (like I don’t do enough laps of CP anyway!). Again not too difficult, still trying to work out pacing and technique for some decent efficiency. The second and third days of week two were the same, again I managed to rise early for dawn running. My route coincides with the route of one of the popular early moring rides, so I have seen a few nice bikes out on the runs too.

Week 3

Day 1 of week three should have been Sunday evening, but the weather was foul so we postponed till Monday evening when we could run in Vaucluse. This week things ramp up slightly with two repeats of 90 seconds run, 90 seconds walk followed by three minutes running and three minutes walking. The three minute legs seemed long but not too bad, I had to check my watch a few times though as RunKeeper had paused during a week 2 session leaving me running for way too long before I realised. For the last run of week three I took my Garmin along so I could capture HR and pace data, hopefully it will make interesting reading once I have a few more runs in.

Week 4 starts tomorrow with three and five minute runs. My knees are a little sore but I think they will hold out.

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