Hiding her head, she says, “3.5mph.” i have learned from past experience that I need to start very slowly…truly jogging (barely more than walking), not running. As a former sprinter, I can honestly say I’ve never been very fast at a distance longer than 100 meters. There was nothing I hated more than early season training which required long, cross country type runs. However, my goal is to work towards a 12 minute mile - I think that’s possible, someday!
No reason to hide your head here! We all started somewhere! When I started “running”, glaciers moved faster than I did.
My group has a tendency to start out too fast and we run uphill at the very beginning, so breathing is a challenge for me too. Unlike abasket, I find concentrating on taking deep breaths and fully exhaling enables me to keep my pace a bit slower. The transition from treadmill to outdoors can be a challenge as well. If you feel yourself getting short of breath, remind yourself to breathe. Count your steps on the treadmill for a minute and see if you can carry that over outdoors.
I know I’ve said this before – my running playlists have songs I’ve selected solely for their beats per minute. When I run, I run to the beat of the song. I have a “slow run” playlist with slower BPMs and a “fast run” playlist with higher BPMs that I use for races.
If it weren’t for these playlists I couldn’t run. I tend to run much too fast, and so get out of breath immediately. Running to songs with specific BPMs slowed me down and allowed me to run for longer times as a result. Honestly, I am only a runner because iPods exist – I can’t calibrate my speed in my head. When I started running, I did my own C25K by having playlists that alternated running and walking songs.
I used the treadmill to help me select songs. I ran on a treadmill to different songs, and noted which ones had the right beat for the speed of the treadmill. Then I found an app that calculates the BPMs for all the music on my iTunes.
I was also going to suggest choosing a couple songs that promote a good pace for the beginning of your run. Sabaray’s suggestion of counting steps for a minute also might help.
Pace is never anything to worry about! It’s your race to run. 
It’s not how you get to the “finish line” - be it a 3 mile run, a 20 minute run or a 3 min run - but that you DO get to the finish line. 3.5 is obviously comfortable for you now - so that’s your current good pace - appreciate that you have found it!
Do allow yourself time to adjust to moving outdoors. Many of us of course PREFER outdoors! - but it is different. If you do one of your C25K days outside and you are not satisfied with how it went, just repeat it the next time out - you can do that - because “it’s your race to run”.
Waving hello to everyone! We are officially at the beach “for the season.” My gym membership here actually did kick in on May 1 as scheduled – color me pleasantly surprised! @C3Baker - We have a great deal of “location flexibility” since H works from home. As long as he has high speed internet, a phone and a convenient airport, he’s good to go.
Something I did for the first time down here is join a golf club. H plays golf once in a while, but not enough to justify a family membership, so I joined as a single. Monday I met my assigned “mentor” to get the lay of the land, so to speak. We have very good friends who joined this club a couple of years ago and have really enjoyed it, so even though it’s about a 40 min drive from our place, I decided to try it out. I’m playing in the Tues. morning Ladies’ League, which started yesterday. So much fun! Everyone I met is very friendly and welcoming. The course is beautiful, and almost everyone walks the full 18 holes. So, yeah – I will definitely meet my daily step goal on Tuesdays this summer! Nest week the Women’s “Nine & Dine” groups starts on Wednesday evenings. That may or may not involve bar beverages with dinner …
5.13 miles running this morning – which RunKeeper tells me is a new distance PR. Then off to Home Depot to pick up 4 bags of Turf Builder for H. Slinging those bags around was a workout in itself!
PS Yes, I just this morning read about the cause of Dave Goldberg’s death. I will definitely be taking a closer look at the safety stop lanyards on the treadmills at the gym. I know they’re there, but usually they’re wrapped up around the hand grips to keep them out of the way.
^^^^SOOOOO jealous…awaiting our first trip to the cottage - how great to be able spend the season there!
I doubt that the safety lanyard would have prevented his fall. I suspect he stepped on the front panel or one of the side panels while the belt was moving and lost his balance. Who knows?
This is likely the case. It may turn out that the injury was not survivable under any circumstances, or perhaps had he been discovered after the fact a little sooner, he might have had a chance. Lying there for hours unattended surely didn’t help, though.
Hot yoga class today plus a short walk (30 minutes) on local conservation land trail–went with a friend who is doing rehab for a knee replacement. She had surgery 4 months ago and it’s taken her longer than she expected to get back to her previous level of fitness.
Sad to read about the Survey Monkey exec. I use the treadmill fairly often at the gym–not even sure if there’s a safety lanyard. I do know there’s a red stop button.
Some of the treadmills in hotel gyms aren’t that great. H and I stay at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia when we’re visiting our D and the fitness room in that hotel has a few treadmills/ellipticals that are definitely older models.
Hotel inspectors (is there such a thing?!) should require fitness equipment evals just as they probably have to check fire extinguishers, etc. Safety first. And I’ll agree that I’ve been to plenty of hotels where you’re lucky to find one piece of equipment that actually works right.
Well, I got a request from Mr. to stay away from my treadmill while he is out of town (not a big issue in the summer, but it would be tough to do this in winter). I had a couple of wipeouts 100% due to my own negligence (the cats confirm that they had nothing - NOTHING! - to do with that). The belt stopping feature is a good thing. It prevented my skin from being sanded off by the rough surface of the fast moving belt when I fell nearby, but had I fallen off backwards and hit my head, it would not have mattered. Just wanted to add that I hate, hate, hate it when AFM and similar shows feature treadmill accidents - not funny.
It is interesting that the quality of exercise equipment does not correlate with how posh the hotel is. Resorts are especially bad; I suspect that is due to the fact that many vacationers don’t care how good the resort’s gym is.
At my Philadelphia Ritz the equipment was fine, but the room itself was small and stuffy. My former running coach (and company CEO) in Dallas used to say “hotel equipment COMES broken!” That was before fitness was as big of a thing and you couldn’t really even count on there being ANY equipment.
Completely agree - I don’t think there’s anything funny about people injuring themselves at all.
My regular walking route earlier today and making a mental note to self to work out this afternoon or evening as it may be.
Due to be traveling somewhat in MOWC’s region in the not too distant future. Warm, perhaps a little chilly in the evening? Wondering as always whether rain will be a factor as I contemplate packing. Not the seasoned traveler some here are. Goal will be one suitcase and still manage to fit in stuff for running, etc. Ha! Should be interesting!
Please let me know if you are close by. Would love to meet up. This time of year can be very unpredictable weather-wise. Right now it is very hot- well above normal. It was 84 today and will go down to about 60 tonight. There can certainly be rain. Check the 10 day forecast before you have to pack. I would bring light layers but plan on fairly mild or warm temperatures.
My streak is at 201 days. I missed 200 yesterday!
You may have missed the day, but not the running time. Impressive, as always!
Nice 3+ mile loop tonight. Warm, but beautiful!
One dreaded Airdyne is gracious plenty!
I had an awesome afternoon. Hit 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Low humidity. Went over to nearby Pawtuckaway State Park and did a 6.2 mile loop up and over North Mountain. Not much of a mountain, but it had enough up and down, enough terrain, and enough distance to be exactly what I was looking for. I had thought about Monadnock, but thought I needed one longer hike for “training” as Monadnock is a really butt-kicker with steep elevation for the first “longer” hike of the season.
This was perfect. The trees are starting to sprout leaves. Trail was dry. Hawks circling overhead. Shorts, tee shirt, and bro-cap for much of the hike. First bug spray of the year!
After a long winter, a few hours of good exercise couldn’t be more fun!
Heading out soon for a 4 mile walk to my partner’s house for our weekly partners’ meeting. It’s a hilly route and I feel it will be good for my stamina. Have any of you struggled with the frustration of ramping up the exercise but having the scale stuck at an unacceptable number? I’m feeling like I need to go back to carefully tracking calories/intake to get the numbers moving in the right direction. I’m not crazy overweight, but the over-50 creep is taking it’s toll. I know the exercise is good for my BP and also rising A1C, but it would sure feel good to drop some weight as well. Anyway, whine over, off for a nice walk on a gorgeous day. Best way to start a workday.