Run, Walk, Repeat
At this point in my training, one week in, the pattern that I seem to be following is run, walk, repeat.
After some stretching, I start out each run by walking about one to three minutes to warm-up. Then I’m off running.
This week I was supposed to run 1.5 miles each time I ran. At this point, although I’m doing my best to push through because everyone at Team Playmakers tells me it gets easier the further you run, I can’t seem to get through an entire run without a bit of walking.
It can be discouraging. Having to slow down and walk for a bit, after being on a roll and running for a good half mile, does put a damper on my running spirit. I know things will get better though and soon enough I’ll running straight through two to three miles without having to slow up the pace till my run’s over, after a bit more training that is.
Although I’ve had to slow up the pace a few times, I have yet not to to finish a run. I’m proud to say that I’ve completed the distance, 1.5 miles, that I was supposed to and even a little more. Depending on how much I walked, I ran further to make up for it.
So even though I do find myself running, walking and then running again, I do try to make sure I run a total of the distance I’m supposed to, according to my training chart.
It was Saturday at the Team Playmakers formal group run that I starting to break out of my rut. I was happy to meet up with a woman, JoAnn, who I ended up hitting the trail with. She was just starting to train with the goal of a 5K as well. Running being new to her too, we were a great match.
Each loop around Hawk Island Park is 1.5 miles. JoAnn and I started out our first loop with about a one minute walk and then off we went. After making good distance we walked a bit, then following my pattern for the week, took of running again, walked awhile and then finished off the loop by running into the rest stop for some Gatorade.
JoAnn was friends with one of the trainers, Cheryl Hansen, and wanted to get a loop in with her. So while we waited for her to get a break from working the rest stop, JoAnn and I walked the loop to keep our heart rates up.
The third loop around was when my pattern started to break. I don’t know if it was Cheryl’s good karma, as JoAnn mentioned during the run, but we made it a good mile around the loop before I slowed the pace a bit. But it was only about 45 seconds and I was off running again, making it all the way to the rest stop before stopping after that.
I left Saturday feeling pretty proud of myself. For my first week of training, 4.5 miles of running/walking on a Saturday morning, in my opinion wasn’t too shabby.
I’m looking forward to what improvements my next week of training will bring. Stay tuned for the details.
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