Danika on Halloween

She loves those clip on earrings. I think this is the first Halloween that she's old enough (almost 4) to enjoy.

C25K W4D2 (injury)

The knees are still bothering me quite a bit; throbbing at end but managed to do all runs.

Did 2 repetitions of the following: run for 3 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, then run for 5 minutes, and recover with a 2+1/2 minute walk == running and walking for a total of about 23 minutes. Finished up with a 5 minute cool down.

C25K Skipping to Week 4

I found the Couch to 5K program and will use it to continue with my quest to become a runner. I looked at the program and considering what I've done with the 4Wto1M, think I can start at week 4.

Will be using the podcasts to time my intervals.

Did week 4 of the c25K program. OC Bally's Track. Did well. Cardio-wise, was easy but knees still bothered a little so did not go as fast as should. Feels good. Tech 4O watch seems to work well. Did a modified version since misheard the cues: walked 5 min, jogged 3 min, walked 90 sec, jogged 3 min, walked 2 min, jogged 5 min, walked 90 sec, jogged 5 min.

The intended program was as follows:

• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

4Wto1M - Last Day! (injury)

Did the last day of the 4 week to 1 mi training! Was able to run for 10 minutes on the treadmill nonstop. OC treadmill at home. still sore knees; ice and ibuprofen.

Yeah!

4Wto1M - Week 4 Day 3 (injury)

This was supposed to be the last day of the program but I'm going to repeat it once more.

Got to Bally's LB around 5:10 am. Ran 10 min but not sure since mp3 player got turned off mid-run (forgot to place a hold on it).

You see, the mp3 is like a usb key, small and light. So I run with it tucked in my sport bra; no need for armband or cord tangle! Except I forgot to engage the hold button this morning and, ahem, guess my jiggling turned the player off. I didn't want to break my stride and restart the player so I guesstimated the time.

Will repeat the run later this week. Very sore after the run. Ice and ibuprofen.

4Wto1M - Week 4 Day 2 (injury)

Did day 2 of week 4 of intervals in the morning. Knees still achy but felt good for the run then was really sore afterwards. Difficult to walk; ice and better. Day 2: 6:15 min. run, 45 sec. walk, 3 min. run Excited that I can run the 6:15 min without stopping. Can do the 10 min next time but kinda worried about the pain.

From my Tech 4O watch:
1.48 mi
4.02 mph (~15 min mi)
ave hr 116 bpm (64%)
max 170 bpm (93%)

No Running Day

Rest day today; knees still sore.
The Tech 4O Accelerator Pulse Watch arrived today. Yeah! Got it on clearance. Sorta an early self-birthday gift. Reviews were mixed but I think it will be fine for what I need, esp. the heart rate monitor.

4Wto1M - Week 4 Day 1 (injury)

Woke up still sore; did not run in the morning but did do treadmill in OC home at night ~9 pm.

Week 4 interval day 1! Day 1: 4 min. 30 sec. run, 45 sec. walk, repeat x2 Was pleasantly surprised I was able to run the full 4.5 min. May need to speed up next time but did well at 3.8-4 mph. Knees were fine during run but were killing me afterwards. Ice, elevation, and borrowed compression tights from Dad. Took ibuprofen. Could barely walk; both knees achy but miraculously fine (or rather better) the next morning.

Did some more research and guess I've been over training and needs to build up muscles around my knees. Looked over the log and can see that I've been doing some running, even if only 20-25 minutes, almost everyday. Not good. Supposed to have rest days.

4Wto1M - Week 3 Day 5 (injury)

REST day yesterday. NO running. Fell asleep at 9 pm and got up at 4:30 am but stayed in until 5:20 am. Ibuprofen since still sore knees.

Was still a little sore this morning so waited until the evening to do the Treadmill at home. Still doing week 3 since maybe sore knees are sign of not being ready for week 4 yet.
2:15 run / 45 sec walk 4 times. Knees still hurting -- almost bruised feeling but managed thru the workout. Ibuprofen and ice.

4Wto1M - Week 3 Day 4 (injury)

Sore still. Ibuprofen helped more than Tylenol. Went to LB Bally's in the morning (got up 4:30 am and got there 5:06 am); managed to do week 3 intervals 2:15 run/ 45 sec walks 4 times. Felt good; knees were ok towards the end of the run. They hurt in the beginning during the warm up but were better when I started to run. But then oooohhh, the soreness came rushing back as soon as I stopped running. Hobbled back to work. Think soreness is from weak quads etc... will take rest tomorrow.

4Wto1M - Week 3 Day 3 (injury)

Got up at 4:30 am and got to Bally's in LB by 5:10 am but knees were hurting too much to walk/run. Walked for 5 min and stretched. Decided to see how I feel later and may do a short run tonight.

7 pm got home; knee slightly sore but not painful. Did week 3 interval on the treadmill; did very well; did not try to run too fast, kept at 3.8 to 4 mph for the run portions. Did 2:15 run / 45 sec walk4 times. Feels good. Iced knees after and took tylenol just in case.

4Wto1M - Week 3 Day 2 (injury)

Got up around 5 am and went to the gym for day 2 of week 3: run 2 min 15 sec / walk 45 sec; repeat 4 times. I was tired but managed to run the full 2 min 15 sec.

Drove to Torrance Bally's to try out their Pilates group class. It was great. My first pilates class; was a lot harder than I thought. Those poses and stretches were hard.

May have overdid things. My knees were sore tonight. Not sure if from the running this morning or the pilates. Researched the running forum and think it may be my quadriceps.

Solution: need to build up muscles around my knees. Not an uncommon problem with new runners. Ice.

4Wto1M - Week 3 Day 1

Started week 3 of the program today!
2 min. 15 sec running / 45 sec walking; repeat 4 times

I did the workout on the treadmill since I was too late for the gym. Used the treadmill at my parent's place. The nice thing was I then cooled down with a 20 min walk with my mom around the neighborhood. Mom was happy with the extra mom-daughter time.

Excited that I did the 2 min 15 sec run but will even be more excited when I do the run on a track.

4Wto1M - Week 2 Day 4

Even though the program says to do each level 3 times a week, I'm doing day 4 of week 2 instead of going to week 3.
Still doing 90 sec / 90 sec intervals 4 times.

I was a little late this morning so I skipped a little of the 5 minute warm up and cut the 5 min cool down to 2 minutes and didn't do the stretching.

Ouch. Paid for it this evening. Stiff and sore.

4Wto1M - Week 2 Day 3

Skipped yesterday (Friday) as I got up late at 5:30 am and didn't have enough time to run and make it to work on time.

Did day 3 of week 2 today in the evening on the treadmill. First time I ran the treadmill. Was ok but I think it's a lot easier than running on the track or street. The treadmill did not have an incline so feels too easy. Not sure how I feel about treadmill; it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. It's boring but there's something nice about being able to daydream while I'm running and not have to worry about traffic or cracks on the ground or muggers.

4Wto1M - Week 2 Day 2

Not as early as yesterday; got up at 4:30 am. Did the day 2 of the second week. Nothing exciting; focused on breathing to get through the 90 seconds running.

4Wto1M - Week 2 Day 1

Got up at 4:15 am today and made it to the gym by 5 am. Ran the track for Week 2, Day 1.
Week 2: 90 sec run; 90 sec walk; repeat 4 times

Whew. Those 90 seconds seem long when I'm running and too short when walking!
Feels good. No pain. No soreness.
Actually felt mighty proud of the early start.

4Wto1M - Week 1 Day 3

Did Day 3 around Gillespie Park. It was easier to do the 45 seconds run but still not feeling comfortable running. Feels a bit like I'm pretending to run, you know? Got some sport bra so a little more comfortable running now :)

One of these day, maybe when I feel more like a runner, I'll splurge on a real running bra. Those are expensive. Can you believe some are over $40? For a bra? And to think I want to be a runner because of the low overhead!

4Wto1M - Week 1 Day 2

Decided to do today's workout at Mile Square Park. Thought it was 1 mile around the park. Turns out it was 1 mile each side so was actually 4 miles around the park. I did the first side to the workout (45 sec of running alternated with 2 min of walking; repeat 4 times). I walked the rest of the way back to my car. Took me over an hour before I made it full circle back to the parking lot.

So much for a quick walk around the park! So sore but I feel good. It's nice to be active. I Bengayed my legs and took some Tylenol. Did some stretching. Hopefully not too sore tomorrow.

4 Weeks to 1 Mile

I want to be a runner.

Not sure where the idea came from. I've always admired athletes and artists. I tried to be an athlete but just did not have the competitive streak in me --- tried basketball in junior high, tennis and badminton in high school. Didn't work out. Tried art and music, have the drawing kits, the woodcarving kits, had the flute and guitar --- but couldn't seem to eek out any drop of talent.

So I decide I'll be a runner. Not a competitive runner, 'cause we all know how that would turn out. But a runner for myself. Something just for me. Not for my family. Not for clients. Not for patients. For me. Though I guess all of them will benefit from a healthier, happier me.

So I bought the 4 weeks to 1 Mile podcast from Amazon for $3.96 --- may well turn out to be the best $4 I've ever spent (Edit: this was before I learned of the C25K program but I'm still glad I started with this one because it was an easier start).

I did the first day today:
Week 1: 45 sec. of running alternated with 2 min. of walking; repeat x4
45 seconds did not seem that long but I was out of breath after each interval. I had downloaded the mp3 into an old SanDisk mp3 player; it worked well enough. I finished the workout out of breath but not like I'm about to die.

A good start.