running redux

Since we've sorta, kinda, almost-definitely decided to do the half-marathon in January, I figured I should probably find out a little bit more about the race than its date and time. So I went to the Houston Marathon website, and I came across two things that concerned me.

1. 7500-entrant limit per race. I don't think this is going to be an issue for the 1/2 marathon, but we should sign up early all the same. Of course, I have no concept of what 7500 people look like all in one place, or whether there's even a chance they'll have more than that many entrants for any of the races. I know there were about 5000 at the last Space Race I participated in, and that was a lot of bodies. It took us 15 minutes to go through the first mile with all those bikes packed so closely together. Which brings me to...

2. The 4-hour time limit for the 1/2 marathon. That's between 3.2 and 3.3 mph, my normal walking pace. I've never even watched a marathon, so I don't know if the same sort of bunching applies in one of these, where you have a hard time getting going among the throng of bodies. Even if that's not the case, I'm sure there will be need for potty breaks, water, etc. I also need to take my aversion to being dead last into consideration. I don't just want to make it to the finish line in 4 hours...I want to by-God beat someone to it. Even if I'm 7499 of 7500, that's fine by me. So this means I either need to sustain a faster pace than what I currently can, and for longer than I've ever walked, or I'm going to have to learn to jog/run a little.

Because of #2, I've been giving some more thought to starting a runner training program. I've read about the Cool Runnings Couch-to-5k plan before, and I think that's what I'm going to end up doing at first. I've only lost 5-10 lbs. since the last time I tried to run, and that time my knees did not take kindly to it. But I also didn't have any kind of system...I was trying to run too long of an interval.

Rob and I were talking about my plan this morning (before I actually had a plan), and I told him I was going to try some jogging on the treadmill today and asked what interval I should use. He suggested 30 minutes @ 2:30 walk/:30 run, which sounded good to me.

I just got back from trying it. Not bad at all! I did the same machine rotation I always do--alternating treadmill and stationary bike. I started out on the treadmill at no elevation, 3.3mph. After 2 1/2 minutes, I upped it to 4.0mph and found that was a little too slow to jog comfortably. I kept going until I was at a natural slow-jog pace, which ended up at 4.5mph for me. I stayed there for 30 seconds, and was surprised at how easy it was. I repeated that sequence 5 times, and still felt good at the end of it. Stretched, did the bike, came back and did 2:15/:45 intervals. Still fine! My right knee started to complain in the last minute, but it was not nearly as bad as the last time I tried to run. My heart rate never got over 170, and if I wasn't so anti-social and/or there was anyone else in the room, I would have been able to talk the entire time. I think the next time I try this, I'm going to do the recommended 90/60 second intervals for the first week, and follow the 9-week schedule from there.

I guess maybe I don't hate running anymore.

Congrats on the running Joy! Just take it slow, the 9 week schedule sounds great :)