C25K: Larry Is too Cool for School

Week of 6 of the  C25K program is in the books.  Only three more weeks to go.  Here’s how this week’s workouts looked:

Larry: If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed the lack of Tweets related to the C25K program this week.  No it wasn’t a Twitter failure.

Judie: And if you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed the same lack of Tweets; that was not a Twitter failure, either.

Larry: I was all set to follow this week’s plan until I ran until my old marathon training buddy at my neighborhood’s swimming pool over the weekend.  He suffered a stress fracture last fall and like me was easing himself back into running slowly.  The difference was he’d already been running 4 miles and wasn’t doing any walking.  When I told him I’d been doing the C25K he laughed.  “There’s no way you should be doing that” he scoffed at me.  “Walking, come on!”

It wasn’t long before he’d goaded me into meeting him in front of his house Monday morning for a 3 mile run.  It looked like I’d be taking the C25K graduation test a few weeks early.  We met at 6:10 AM and set off for an easy 3 miles.  1.5 miles out and 1.5 back.  We hit one large hill at around the 1.25 mile mark and that took some of the wind out of my sails but with him there I wasn’t going to quit.  We finished 3 miles plus a five-minute cool down.

I felt a little guilty that I’d “read-ahead” and completed the full 3 miles early but now there was no turning back.  We planned to meet Wednesday for another 3.  I got to be late Tuesday night and my alarm clock failed me.  I was supposed to meet my partner at 6:10 AM but woke at 6:23.  I looked out my window but he was gone.  Determined I set out on my own and completed the same 3 mile route we’d done earlier in the week, this time over a minute faster.

I made Friday graduation day.  My partner was once again out, he’s traveling on business.  I set out on a different course, still full of hills and completed a full 5K (3.1 miles) of running at a faster pace than both previous workouts this week.

So the C25K plan has ended for me three weeks early.  I felt a major change in my endurance this week.  Running became much easier, almost effortless, like it used to be.  I’ve lost a good amount of weight over the last few weeks and plan on continuing to diet to lose more.  As for running, next week I’ll begin building my miles, just a little bit.  Adding weekly mileage is a tricky thing and it’s important not to add too much too fast.  The best rule to follow is to not add more than 10% of your previous week’s mileage to the next week.  10 miles one week, 11 the next and so on.

Judie: I was in San Francisco all of  last week; we just got home last night. While there I briskly walked 5k several days, but because I didn’t run I didn’t count them. Today I did week 6 Day 1, and although I was contemplating combining weeks six and seven this week — basically running back to back days — Larry convinced me that I should just “redo the week”. I really hate being behind on anything though, so we’ll see if I am able to leave it at that.

I do want to mention that after doing a 20 minute run last week, the choppiness of the day one workout was weird. Stopping to walk when I was resigned to a run so many times seemed a bit much, but the next two days in this week’s workout should compensate for that!

Larry: For this week’s tip, I wanted to share something that’s helped me over the years.  It’s always tough to figure out what the appropriate amount of clothing is for runs.  Many times I’ll put on too much and end up being hot, other times too little and I’m cold.  The Runner’s World “What To Wear” calculator is a great tool that assists you in selecting the proper amount of clothing based on your weather conditions and how you like to feel on your runs.

I’ve used this tool before races and morning runs and it’s usually spot on.  Another rule which seems good to follow is to dress for weather that’s 10 degrees warmer than what’s actually going on outside.  So if it’s 60 degrees out pick out an outfit that you’ll feel comfortable in when it’s 70.  Layers are always a good option too since it’s easy to start with a long-sleeved shirt that you can take off and tie around your waist when you get warm (providing you have a short-sleeved shirt under it of course.)  But I personally don’t like to carry anything I don’t have to when I’m running.

Judie: The temperature never seemed to be above 75º while we were in San Francisco, which was great for brisk walking; regular street clothes and at times my SCOTTEVEST Fleece 5.0 were perfect. Now that I am home and dealing with 100º temperatures again, I am thankful that I live in a secluded and private area as I’ve been running in a Patagonia performance suit — which is basically a glorified bikini with a bit of extra coverage and less “slippage”. I also wear my SCOTTEVEST Tech cap, Vibram Five Fingers Sprint shoes, and a pair of sunglasses. I top all this off with sunscreen … lots and lots of sunscreen. Running in this get-up may look ridiculous, but it has kept me cool. 🙂

Larry: You can check out the Runner’s World tool here.