andy’s place…

I’ve said before, I’m not a runner. But I’m still trying. Why? I’m an idiot… and I’m trying to throw new things into my workout routine to vary it and hope I can get slimmer, faster.

So with the nice weather we are having, and being tired of walks, I decided to head to the gym for a heartbeat monitored workout. All I’m doing is busting cardio and staying in the proper zone. So after 30 minutes on the bike and some time on the AMT, on the drive home, I just got a burr in me. And I turned towards the executive park in town and started running.

Now, as always, I’m fighting a head win part of the way. And I got a phone call at the end. So I didn’t finish the full 1.1-1.2 miles in the course. But it looks like I was roughly on a 9 minute mile pace, maybe 9:30. Last year, I was at about 11-12 minutes for the same distance.

I’m not in the Couch to 5k thing, but the same way that you run for a while, then walk, run, walk… I’m doing that. Not in a standardized 20 minute workout, but it’s a start.

I’m getting there… going to be a long road.

You know the expression “When the going gets tough..” etc…  well I have my version.  When the going gets tough, the meek get desperate.  And by meek, I don’t mean Michael

As I think I mentioned a while back, I started up another little diet contest with my older brother.  It’s coming to an end.  Not by a time period, but by the fact that both of us are approaching our goals.  I think I have only about 3-4 to go, he’s got about 6-8 to go… I think.  We aren’t really telling each other what we are at.  Either of us could be lying to the other.

Well, I started digging into my routine a bit more, and I found some information on the whole interval training concept.  I’ve spent most of my time just dieting and doing “static cardio”.  Started with 30 minutes of biking or a 3 mile walk (sometimes both, sometimes two of one/both in a day).  Not sure I want to stick with that, as it’s slowing down.  Need to vary my routine a bit more…  so I hit the gym for a brief bit of weights today (not too crazy)… and then you dang people and your 5k’s somehow convinced me that I should try to run a mile.  Now, I’ve never run a mile.  It was always canceled in gym class when I was a kid, and I just never did it on my own.  I hate running…  esp in a circle.  I get nowhere but tired.

I tried it anyway.  Found the executive park in town and decided to give it a shot.  Didn’t have my stopwatch, just my mp3 player and the Blackberry.  Knowing the thing is about 1.1 miles, I took off.  And while I did shave off almost 2 minutes from my AMT machine mile time, I still didn’t break the time I was hoping to.  And it wasn’t a total run.  Run, walk, run, walk, run, walk, walk, walk, run… you get the point.  Imagine me running next time you do a 5k and think what it would be like if I beat you.  Never let that happen.

But I finished the mile, and walked a bit, went to the car, drove home.  That was a mistake.  No water in car, and not enough cool down.  10 minutes later, I’m done with the post-run cough…

Oh, did I mention it’s a 25 mph wind day and half my run was into that wind?  That doesn’t help my cause.

If you guys are still doing 5k’s in say.. 2 years, I’ll join ya.  Maybe seth’s couch to 5k thing will help if I keep going.  But if I get another post-run headache like this, screw running…