Week 6, Day1 - Movin' right along

Week 6, Day 1
Monday, March 30, 2009

Brisk 5 minute warm up followed by:
Jog 5 min
Walk 3 min
Jog 8 min
Walk 3 min
Jog 5 min


Theory...

My theory about jumping back to small runs, building up to one long run on Friday is two-fold. The first part of my theory is that the short runs is equivilant to doing less reps with heavier weights. I heard a long time ago that when lifting weights, you could do a LOT of reps with less weight and get leaner muscles more inclined to endurance. But if you did LESS reps with heavier weights, you would get bigger more defined muscles inclined to more strenghth, but less endurance.
I think this is where the program is headed. Since we only have 9 weeks to complete the program, I think the small runs are designed to give us more strength. The endurance is worked on during those last few long runs, but the strength is being built up through the first six weeks. Since I've determined that it's always harder the first few minutes, I think the program (today for example) is making you rest a little between runs to get your heart rate back down, only to get it back up again. Kind of like reps.
The second part of my theory is just to give you more rest between the first long runs. Friday was the first time I have been a little sore after (more stiff than sore) the run. But it's the first time I've felt like I had an actual workout the day after.

Looking Ahead...
I see that if every thing goes as planned for the next 19 days, I will have cut 4 days out of my plan.
When I ran 20 min and 1.5 miles that equates to about a 13.5 minute mile. At that pace I would be at right over 40 minutes for the 5K. Keep in mind the plan only goes to running 30 minutes (That would only be about 2.25 miles for me).
If I go as scheduled, I'll be up to 28 minutes in my plan. So I need to figure out to find a way to make this gap smaller.
I can include my 5 minute warm-up walk into the actual race. That will give me a little less running time, and since my body is used to that, it would be a good thing to do.
But that would probably only knock about 2 minutes off my running, leaving me with 20 minutes that I'm not prepared for.
Option #2:
Accelerate the plan. I have 8 workouts left. I could do this:
1) Jog 22 minutes
2) Jog 25 minutes
3) Jog 28 minutes
4) Jog 30 minutes
5) Jog 32 minutes
6) Jog 35 minutes
7) Jog 38 minutes
8) Jog 40 minutes

That's looking pretty good to me. I could still do my 5 minute walk at the beginning of the race, to ensure I'm properly warmed up.

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Update: I only ran 15 minutes yesterday, followed by 4 min walking, followed by one more lap (1.5 min)

I don't know if it was the heat, or the track. But I was bummed.