Journey of a Fat Man

266

Have you been enjoying the cooler (mid-70′s) weather?  I know I have been.  I am of a mind that anything above 75 is too dang hot.  Maybe that is why whenever I move out of this wonderful state I always seem to return.  Nice weather…light wind (which IS a surprise for North Dakota)…perfect for lacing up the shoes and heading outside for a couple miles.

I had a fair week last week.  Wednesday (6/2), I was determined to do 4 miles.  I picked out a route, parked my car and had somebody drop me off 4 miles away.  Now, let me premise this by saying that I had only driven this route previously and it looked alright.  Maybe a few rolling hills.  WRONG.  From now on, whenever I want to try a new route, especially one that is out of town, I need to really walk it first.  These nice little rolling hills were about a 3/4 mile incline and on the other side declined for about 1/4 of a mile.  Then it repeated.  Three times!  Those hills chewed me up and spit me out.  I made it to mile 2 and then I had to walk for 45 seconds to a minute and was able to jog to just before mile 3, where I repeated the 45-60 second walk.  I wanted nothing more when I started the run to do all 4 miles without walking, and if it was flat perhaps I could have.  The last half mile or so was all downhill, which was nice, but by the time I returned to my car I was pretty much spent.  I had nothing more to give.  Why is it while you are jogging any considerable distance your legs feel strong, but the moment you stop any forward movement, they seem to feel like nothing but jell-o?  Also, how is it one day you can do 3 miles in relative ease and a couple days later you have troubles with 2 miles?  Who knows?  It will all work itself out in the end.

So, I started training this week Monday (6/7).  I looked over several Half Marathon novice training programs and while I am sure all work for certain people, some seemed way too short (10 weeks or less) and had too large of a jump in mileage from week to week, or even day to day.  The one that I chose, after much deliberation, has me running more times during the week, but I start out gradually and take small steps forward.  It is a 15 week program, which coincidentally enough is the exact amount of time until the Sheyenne Shuffle.  If after a few weeks it looks like I do not have enough rest days in between, I can still jump over to one of the other programs without falling too far behind.  I will just have to listen and pay attention to how my body reacts and gives me feedback.

Activity last week…Sunday 3.14 miles, Wednesday 4.03 miles, Friday 1.31 (jogged over to pick up my daughter from daycare), and Saturday I went for a 2.06 mile walk to spec out a route that I used part of this week.  I am trying to work on keeping my pace consistent, but I am still pretty new to this and it is erratic at times.  I am sure it will come with time, like anything else.  I do notice progress though, almost daily.  I will just keep moving forward one step at a time.