Day One
I hit the three mile mark at 27:50
At the 30 minute mark I improved on my distance by .02 of a mile
For the last minute I decided to revisit my old challenge of sprinting the last minute of the run and this time around I managed to push the pace up to 10.5 mph
My BPM was at 166 at the end of the sprint
Running at that pace is possible for me but not at a consistent rate. I was able to lock in on that pace for about 15 seconds before I started wavering up and down. By the time the minute was up I was in the mid 8 mph zone. I'm happy for this though because that means that the pace I'm running at is good enough for me to maintain for more than just 30 minutes. If I can sprint after 24 minutes of running then I can run at that pace for a while longer. I'm glad I chose to do this program because I'm moving in ways that I never thought possible!
Time: 35 minutes total (25 minutes of running and walking along with a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cool down)
Distance: 3.56 miles
Day Two
I hit the three mile mark at 27:07 (An new record!)
At the 30 minute mark I had run 3.39 miles (An new record!)
Again for the last minute I pushed myself into a sprint and I consistently ran 10.5 mph. There was no slowing down this time around. (An new record!)
At the end of the sprint my BPM was at 173
I was pretty gassed at the end of the sprint but I felt great. I locked onto the 10.5 mph pace and kept it going for the entire minute sprint. I doubt I can keep it going consistently beyond the short sprint, but it's something that I will continue to work on. The faster and more consistent I can get my pace now will help my stamina when I switch to an actual treadmill and street running in about three weeks. I felt energized for the rest of the night after I left of the gym. Not gonna lie, it felt great!
Time: 35 minutes total (25 minutes of running and walking along with a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cool down)
Distance: 3.66 miles
Day Three
"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the
body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always
tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were
younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always
got to make the mind take over and keep going."
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian
Now I didn't recite the whole thing in my brain as I ran because I don't have a freakish memory like that, but the gist of it still hangs around in my head. It's not easy when you push yourself to the limits but you have to go on because you know you can. Even if you don't want to. At the ten minute mark, I was getting regular signals from my thigh that it was hurt. I did the only thing I could think of to shut it up. I pulled up my pants as high as they could go then I tucked my sweats into the little crevice that forms at the base of where the thigh meets the pelvis (The groin area?) then kept going! I successfully muffled my chaff burn for the time being but my troubles didn't end there. It seems as though my body really didn't want to work with me because the response to me stifling one pain area was CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Around the 18 minute mark I noticed a slight stiffening in my quad. I gulped down some water and told it to go away. No such luck. The remaining time on the run I had to deal with the threat of a charlie horse. IT'S NOT DONE THOUGH. I continue running and the worst possible thing that I could imagine was threatening to happen. Flatulence. Because of my poor dietary choices Tuesday night I've had pretty bad gas off and on the past couple days as my body purges the badness I consumed. I'm running stiff legged surrounded by people (The gym wasn't super busy but of the street block worth of ellipticals in the building along with the equal amount of treadmills and stair climbers, everyone seemed to want to work out on the machines right around me) trying to clench back something that will offend everyone in a ten foot radius. I manage to (miraculously) hold back until it disappears and my final hurdle appears in the form of a cramp/pain going from my ribs on to my abs on the right side of my upper body. This makes it difficult to breathe. I lucked out because the cramp didn't occur until the 26 minute mark or so, so I was able to push through to the end of running. Nonetheless, my life was pretty miserable for those three or so minutes.
I'm proud to say I did all this and still beat my time/distances from day one.
Time: 35 minutes total (25 minutes of running and walking along with a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cool down)
Distance: 3.58 miles
That brings an end to Frank to 5k week seven. And an interesting week it was! Next week is very similar to this one except that I will be running for 28 minutes instead of running for 25. Due to my chafing problem, I'm going to begin the hunt for some compression shorts to wear so that I can keep this from happening again. For now I'm going to update all of my vitals on the side today and there's a number that will shock everyone. It's enough of a shocker that I will write a completely different post about it. Expect that lter on today! Cheers for now!
Until the next episode!