here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again...

I started the Couch-to-5k plan again. What's this, my 3rd time? 4th? :) Here are the stats from my four laps on the 1/2-mile track today, according to the stopwatch on my ipod:

Total time: 30:26
Shortest lap: 7:02
Longest lap: 8:22
Average lap: 7:36

Lap 1: 7:57
Lap 2: 7:02
Lap 3: 7:03
Lap 4: 8:22

Not such a bad start...though my heart was pounding a little more than I would have liked. I didn't have the chest strap on today, so I have no idea what my HR actually was, but I'm betting that I was flirting with the anaerobic threshold on every run interval. And they were only 60 seconds! Hopefully, that will improve over time.

With 21 weeks between now and the duathlon, my plan is to do each week of the plan twice before moving on to the next one. After I finish the 9-week program (in 18 weeks--kind of reminds me of my college career), I'll just keep running 5k's 3x/week until the event. Or I may bump it up to 4 miles in those last couple weeks, since that's the full duathlon distance. I read somewhere that your body doesn't know the difference between 10 minutes of exercise 3x a day and 30 minutes all at once, so maybe I need to be preparing for 4 miles straight to ensure that I'll be ready for two 2-mile runs. Or maybe I'll suck so bad at the first few weeks of intervals that I'll decide to do a third repeat of some of them. Whatever the case, I'll have plenty of time.

I'm also trying out the Couch-to-5k podcast (itunes link) that someone mentioned in the comments the last time I tried running. I was a little skeptical at first, because I'm not a big fan of the style of music he uses. It's the same problem I had with the cardio coach workouts...I like my music with words in it. However, I ended up really liking the workout...his instruction is minimal and not irritatingly perky, the strong beat of the music was good for keeping me motivated. My one minor complaint is that there were a couple run intervals where he didn't explicitly say "go", which was a bit confusing. Still, when he didn't say anything else for 5-10 seconds after the "ready?", I caught on that I was supposed to be running. Also, what kind of jackass complains about a free product, anyway? :) All in all, I think this series is going to be a good companion to the running program. Thanks man!