I've told you before about my iPhone and how much I love it. It's my camera, my phone, my messaging device, my weight loss tool, my connection to the Internet (esp when I break my laptop), my Twitterer, etc.
One of the apps I have on my phone is called Couch to 10k. They have other ones, for 5k and 25k, but it's basically a training program to help you get from the couch to running a certain distance. You start the program, get your music going, and the voice will tell you what to do. "Start Walk Now" or "Start Run Now". It is similar to a running clinic I took years ago, where we would start out by walking for 4 1/2 minutes, walk for 30 seconds, and repeat until we hit an hour. Do that three times a week, and each week increase the run segment by 30 seconds until you are running for the whole hour by the end of it. It's good. I have run two 10k races from that sort of training.
I think I mentioned before I'm on the relay team for Knits by the Sea in the Edge to Edge Marathon in June. The track starts in Tofino and ends in Ucluelet, a few hundred meters from our house. I don't know yet which leg I'll be doing, 8k or 10k, or if my segment will be hilly or flat, but I'll be training around here (which means hills). I'm actually pretty excited about this. The last time I raced was ten years ago, and on the same day I took a softball in the face, requiring 12 stitches in my upper lip. Not that running is dangerous, but I was on a softball team and half our team ran the 10k and then went to play our weekly game.
Okay okay I'll tell you what happened. I was playing first base. There was a girl up to bat, she hit the ball not very far, and the pitcher caught it. He threw it to me and, for some reason, my glove didn't get there in time. The next thing I knew I was on the ground facing the other direction, blood spattering from my face. The Ump was there in seconds with his first aid kit and put the big gauze pad on my face. I felt my teeth - my teeth were fine. I felt my nose - my nose wasn't broken. It was then that I realized my upper lip was split wide open. I needed stitches. One of my team mates whisked me to the nearest walk-in clinic a few blocks away (knowing that a trip to emerg would result in hours of waiting), and I had stitches in my face within 45 minutes. I swelled up with bruising later, and it was really hard to eat for the following week, but I was back at playing ball two weeks later.
Anyway, that was a side story. I had a crooked smile before I got whacked in the face. There is a faint scar on my upper lip now, and a very prominent seam on the inside of my lip. It's gross, but if you really want to see it, I'll show you. Only in person though, I am totally not going to take a picture.
Where was I... right, running. I love running. I haven't really done it in a while. I had a few incapacitating surgeries years ago, and then I was living in a place where it was neither safe nor fun to go running, so I just hiked the regional park. Since we've been here in Ucluelet, I have made a few half-assed attempts at starting to run again, but it didn't take because I was too heavy.
No excuse anymore, I've lost 20 pounds now and I'm stoked. There are so many great places around here to run, so many trails. If I can steel myself against pelting weather, I can do this. I can train for this marathon and get a cool T-shirt. 2011 is turning out to be a great year.
One of the apps I have on my phone is called Couch to 10k. They have other ones, for 5k and 25k, but it's basically a training program to help you get from the couch to running a certain distance. You start the program, get your music going, and the voice will tell you what to do. "Start Walk Now" or "Start Run Now". It is similar to a running clinic I took years ago, where we would start out by walking for 4 1/2 minutes, walk for 30 seconds, and repeat until we hit an hour. Do that three times a week, and each week increase the run segment by 30 seconds until you are running for the whole hour by the end of it. It's good. I have run two 10k races from that sort of training.
I think I mentioned before I'm on the relay team for Knits by the Sea in the Edge to Edge Marathon in June. The track starts in Tofino and ends in Ucluelet, a few hundred meters from our house. I don't know yet which leg I'll be doing, 8k or 10k, or if my segment will be hilly or flat, but I'll be training around here (which means hills). I'm actually pretty excited about this. The last time I raced was ten years ago, and on the same day I took a softball in the face, requiring 12 stitches in my upper lip. Not that running is dangerous, but I was on a softball team and half our team ran the 10k and then went to play our weekly game.
Okay okay I'll tell you what happened. I was playing first base. There was a girl up to bat, she hit the ball not very far, and the pitcher caught it. He threw it to me and, for some reason, my glove didn't get there in time. The next thing I knew I was on the ground facing the other direction, blood spattering from my face. The Ump was there in seconds with his first aid kit and put the big gauze pad on my face. I felt my teeth - my teeth were fine. I felt my nose - my nose wasn't broken. It was then that I realized my upper lip was split wide open. I needed stitches. One of my team mates whisked me to the nearest walk-in clinic a few blocks away (knowing that a trip to emerg would result in hours of waiting), and I had stitches in my face within 45 minutes. I swelled up with bruising later, and it was really hard to eat for the following week, but I was back at playing ball two weeks later.
Anyway, that was a side story. I had a crooked smile before I got whacked in the face. There is a faint scar on my upper lip now, and a very prominent seam on the inside of my lip. It's gross, but if you really want to see it, I'll show you. Only in person though, I am totally not going to take a picture.
Where was I... right, running. I love running. I haven't really done it in a while. I had a few incapacitating surgeries years ago, and then I was living in a place where it was neither safe nor fun to go running, so I just hiked the regional park. Since we've been here in Ucluelet, I have made a few half-assed attempts at starting to run again, but it didn't take because I was too heavy.
No excuse anymore, I've lost 20 pounds now and I'm stoked. There are so many great places around here to run, so many trails. If I can steel myself against pelting weather, I can do this. I can train for this marathon and get a cool T-shirt. 2011 is turning out to be a great year.
Good for you! And congrats on the 20lbs. I don't want to attempt running like this until I lose some weight too. So I am doing Machine cardio, and weight training to get the metabolism going first. Then I might try this style of running training.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the KBTS marathon!