The first real challenge

[davidn]

It's a rather big day at the gym today - after spending five tiers of the plan alternating walking and running for gradually longer stretches of time to build up my endurance, the target for today's session is:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.

This is a bit of a daunting task - there have been noticeable leaps before, but this one beats them all. Previously, the greatest amount of non-stop running time required by the plan was eight minutes, though when testing myself I managed one entire mile (just over 11 minutes) without stopping. This suddenly introduces a marathon session (if we discount the fact that a marathon is thirteen times this for a moment) that at my pace should last about 23 minutes - nearly three times what I know I can do comfortably.

Still, I have this to fuel me - it is apparent that the cafe on the corner next to us interprets "Crab sandwich" as "Open a tin of crabmeat and make your best effort to jam its entire contents between two groaning slices of bread".



Tonight is going to feel either really amazing or really sore.

Comments

[kjorteo]

Ah, yes, you're on that one.

Actually, in my experience, it ended up sounding incredibly daunting but being actually-not-so-bad when I did it. By then, the 8-10 minute stretches made me used to "this is what it feels like while I'm running long distances for long periods of time," and there was surprisingly little difference in putting up with that feeling for a little bit longer. If I could do it for 8-10, then I could do it for 20 ... and if I could do it for 20, then I could do it for 22, 25, 28, or 30, and suddenly I've graduated the program. :)

It is rather intimidating before you jump in, though, so best of luck with it!

[davidn]

I'm glad that it wasn't just me who thought that it was a surprising jump! Usually the level of... endurance has increased very gradually, from 1 to 1:30 to 3 to 5 to 8 minutes... to go from 8 to 20 was very sudden. And as my pace is slower than yours, for me it was about 23 minutes this time - I went for the higher of the two goals, as by the time I had been going for twenty minutes, I could just about push myself for a few more.

But like you, I found it... well, I found it possible! It was definitely harder than the last time, but I was surprised by how long I could just keep going, looking at the timer after a couple of songs. It might be placed there to intentionally surprise you with how long you can run for, now - a few weeks ago, I think that I would have regarded running two miles as a comically unreachable goal.

I'm rather glad that the next session is an easier one, though - and to think I'm saying that about running for 5, 8, and 5 minutes. The rest of that tier probably goes "run for 2.5 miles, wrestle a minotaur".

[kjorteo]

If I had to guess, I would guess that the main motive behind including this kind of jump is a combination of that (there is definitely something to be said for that "I never thought I would have been able to do this when I was first starting out" sensation) and to teach you that you've sort of been doing something like this all along anyway, only with interruptions; if you can go 8r/5w/8r, the next step is to realize that maybe you don't need that five-minute walk break in the middle as much as you thought you did.

Anyway, congratulations are definitely in order for conquering this one. This is probably the biggest psychological leap in difficulty in the entire program, and if you conquered this one (which you did--congratulations) then you're clearly unstoppable. :)

[davidn]

Couch-to-5K: X1.

I already felt that I didn't really need five whole minutes in the middle, as I felt completely... reset and ready after about three, but I never thought that it would be possible (not... 'comfortable' yet, but possible!) to eliminate it entirely - and then go on for another five minutes afterwards. As ever, thank you very much for your encouragement :)

[xaq.livejournal.com]

Good grief. I've seen less crab than that on an episode of Deadliest Catch. O_o;