Running Goals

In 2014, I raced a grand total of 14 races and around 60 miles. My year end total mileage was around 700. (Map My Fitness stopped recording most of my work outs- not sure what the glitch is- it recorded my 12k/7 mile races as only 2 miles, for example...)

I'm proud of what I've accomplished, but there's more I want to do. I've had a lot of trouble improving my paces, for example. My worst race was around 53:00 minutes, which was my Runs for Cookies 5k last January. I was really proud though, because I had run the entire first mile. (In over 15 minutes). My best time was around 38:00 minutes, which was in early fall. I'm consistently hitting around the 40 minute mark (Between 39-42 minutes) but I haven't PR'd in a long time now, and I'd like to try something different to try and improve.

I've been working on the Couch to 5k program since last January. (Yes, an entire year) Because of my trouble with my knees, I've just taken my time and haven't pushed myself too hard. I have truly followed the program in that, if a week felt too hard, I repeated it... over and over. I'm up to week 4 now...

When I did C25K in 2008 or so, I pounded through it in 6-8 weeks and I felt amazing. I also messed up my knees and was banned by three separate doctors to never run again. And I didn't, until 2012.  (You know you're a "real" runner when you do it against doctor's advice...)

Part of what I think the problem is is that I've been 100% being doing road running. I don't like road running much. I really prefer the treadmill. I love going to the gym and people watching and watching tv, and being able to stare at my speed on the 'mill while I do it. It's a social thing for me. Also, when I had a gym membership, I always made myself do weights afterwards. Without a regular gym these last 18 months, I haven't done any weight training in all that time. I went with my friend to the Provo Rec Center at the beginning of December and did a little bit of weights there and was so happy! However, I find it phenomenally boring to do at home, and I have no clue where the dumbbells I have are, anyway. (I can only imagine how the lack of overall body strength affects me in running.)

So this was my idea: Run ONE mile, 5-7 days a week on a treadmill. (I wasn't sure if I should do it every day, and then I missed today, so would 5x a week be good?) My goal would be to run the ONE mile as fast as I could, and try to beat my previous time. My PR mile record before my New Year's Eve race was 11:51. So my goal was to beat that. I headed to my complex gym Tuesday morning to run my ONE mile.

I brought my ipod for music, and I walked for 5 minutes as a warm up. Then I cleared the machine and cranked the speed to a whopping 5.3mph. ;)

I was able to maintain that speed for I think 8 minutes, which is a really, REALLY long time for me. (In a race, my goal is to run the first 5 minutes and I don't always make it.) I took a quick break (walking, with the timer still going) and then cranked it up some more, and then got some adrenaline flowing and tried to finish strong.

My mile time was 11:27, even with a walking break!!! I was THRILLED!

So my goal for next next is 11:27 or better.

I did 5 minutes ( actually might have been 10 as I sort of spaced out walking, I was TIRED!) of cool down walking, and then I did the weight machines that I knew how to use.  I missed today, but my goal is to do the same thing at my apartment gym tomorrow.

Let's see how this goes!