Update on Running

SteveFoerster — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:00:00 GMT

“Run like hell and get the agony over with.” — Clarence DeMar

Last month, I wrote about my new running program. My goal was to progress steadily from being a complete couch potato to being able to run for thirty minutes straight over eighty days. The idea was that I would go out for thirty minutes, alternate between running and walking, and slowly add running time and subtract walking time until there wasn't any walking time left. I drew up a schedule for how quickly I would convert walking minutes to running minutes, so that after eighty days there wouldn't be any walking minutes left and I'd be running for thirty straight minutes.

Well, it turns out that I didn't stick to my schedule for adding running minutes. I was on track for the first five weeks or so, and it was a renewed challenge every time I upped the pace. But one day, maybe three weeks ago, I had reached the two and a half minutes when I supposed to go back to walking, and I just didn't want to. So I kept running, and that day I added five extra running minutes, and never consulted my schedule again. From that point I pushed myself to do as much running as possible. This wasn't without consequence, in that I got blisters on both insteps, but that was as much from wearing the wrong socks as anything else, and they've mostly cleared up.

So anyway, after that point I added a few running minutes every time I went out. A few days ago I ran for twenty-two minutes, then walked for three, then ran for five more, so when I set out yesterday evening I was hoping that I'd be able to reach my goal of thirty straight minutes, and I did!

I realize we're all pressed for time, but I'd really encourage anyone who's trying to balance work, family, and elearning to consider doing something active like this. Spending just thirty minutes didn't really knock any gaping holes in my day, and the increased energy I've felt has more than made up for the time I've spent. Moreover, my family tells me that that I'm less stressed and disagreeable since I've been running, and that's important considering how much I need their support to accomplish everything I've set out to do.

So the next question is where I go from here. I've lost a little weight doing this, although not a whole lot, just ten pounds or so. I plan to keep running thirty minutes at least every other day, while doing a better job of watching how much I eat, something I've also tried to do during this period of time. It's really good motivation to pass up that snack when you know you're going to have to carry it around with you the next time you run! Hopefully with a few months of that I'll have gotten rid of enough excess baggage that I can just worry about maintenance. I certainly hope so — I can't imagine too many people would listen to a porky doctor of health education!

Next up, I look at another way to deliver distance learning.

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Around the Neighborhood in Eighty Days

SteveFoerster — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:38:00 GMT

“We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.” — Jules Verne

Working parents who go back to school have a lot of demands on their time, and often personal fitness is one of the things that falls by the wayside. When you have a bunch of kids around, a boss to please, and you're running out of time to submit that assignment for class, it can be really tough to find time to go jogging or cook a healthy meal. Even when you're vegan!

I know this one all too well, as I went back to school to finish my Bachelor's in 2004 and I'm still a student five years later. I was never great at monitoring my snack intake, so this prolonged period of relative inactivity hasn't been great news for my waistline. (Or rather, it's been great for my waistline, which means it's been bad for me!)

Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and do something about it. I saw a number of web sites about going from no running at all to running thirty minutes at a stretch, and that sounds pretty good. But there are two issues with the way those sites describe their approaches on this. First, they all advise to run three times a week, and it seems like they're only doing that because you need a day off after running, but if they say "every other day" it won't fit into a seven day week very well. Second, they boost the amount of running every week, in some cases pretty aggressively. I want to make some progress on this, but competing in a 5K by the end of the summer isn't my goal here.

So I considered both of those issues and have designed my own schedule. I'll run every other day, and add slowly to the amount of running every eight days until I've gone from only a little running to being able to run for thirty minutes straight. More specifically, during the first eight days I'll run for six minutes and walk for twenty-four. They'll be split evenly so that I'm running for a minute, then walking for four, and repeating that sequence six times. In the next eight days, I'll run nine minutes out of thirty. The eight day period after that, I'll run ten minutes out of thirty. From there, I'll add two and a half minutes to every eight day period until after eighty days I'll be running for thirty minutes straight. Perhaps a table would help:

Eight Day Period	Minutes Ran	Minutes Walked
First	6	24
Second	9	21
Third	10	20
Fourth	12.5	17.5
Fifth	15	15
Sixth	17.5	12.5
Seventh	20	10
Eighth	22.5	7.5
Ninth	25	5
Tenth	27.5	2.5

And after those eighty days, that means running for a thirty minute stretch. Or at least it looks good on paper. I did my first run today, six sequences of one minute of running and four of walking, and it went all right. Throughout all this, I'll only run every other day. On the opposite days I'll walk for thirty minutes, so tomorrow I'll walk for thirty minutes. And I'll take it from there and see how it goes.

Next up, I quit my job, but it all works out very well thanks to UltraLearn.

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My A.T. Still University Experience : fitness

Update on Running

Around the Neighborhood in Eighty Days