Toward my first 5K

August 9, 2012

Toward my first 5K

August 9, 2012 | By Justin McLachlan | 5 Comments">5 Comments

by Teutoburg, (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Last night, I ran my longest interval ever—in my life. It was only 12 minutes (the actual program was 5 minute warm up, 5 minute run, 5 minute walk, 12 minute run) but I was pretty happy with myself, as hard as it was. I’ve never been a good runner and since I started in May, I’ve had to take things very, very, very slow. But when I think about how I started on the treadmill, alternating between 1 minute runs and 1 1/2 minute walks for thirty minutes, to where I am now, I get a pretty big smile on my face. Hell, it was just a few weeks ago when a 5 minute run interval seemed so awful. Now it’s like, wow… just five minutes please.

I’m still balls slow though, average about 10 minute miles on my run intervals and just over 13 minute miles over all, with the cool downs and warm ups. But once I can to running longer intervals, I can concentrate on speed.

ps – not my feet. I run in Vibrams Five Fingers. Ever try them? I’d love to know your experience with them. It’s been pretty good for me so far.

http://twitter.com/tdhurst Tyler Hurst

Nice work!

When I switched to Vibrams in September 2009, I did it veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrry slowly. 500 feet, then 1000 feet, then 1500 feet, then rest.

Listen to your body, don’t push through pain and be sure to stretch a ton and you’ll do great.

In fact, I’m going to run a 5k in Vibrams as part of marathon training in about 30 minutes. Oh, since Sep 2009, I’ve dropped 27 lbs, lost 7% body fat, and four points on my BMI.

It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of hurt (have the tops of your feet started hurting yet? any calf pulls?), but it’s completely worth it.

Let me know if you have any questions!
- http://twitter.com/tdhurst Tyler Hurst
  
  Oh, speed means jack. Cadence is more important. 180-210 steps per minute. I run anywhere from 8:15 to 9:30 per mile even now.
  
  Distance is all I’m worried about.
- Justin McLachlan
  
  No, though I feel a lot of friction in the balls of my feet, which I assume just means I’m striking forward instead of my heel, as you’re supposed to. I do sometimes have some pain in my achilles and some shin pain, but I sometimes take rest weeks off when I feel that my legs have taken too much. My posture could be better, but I’m working on muscle strength flexibility for that… it is a very slow porcess.
  - http://twitter.com/tdhurst Tyler Hurst
    
    Yes, yes it is. Reading up on Chi Running and practicing a midfoot strike helped a ton.
    
    It’s literally a balancing act.
    - Justin McLachlan
      
      I picked up that book today… looking forward to reading it.

Justin McLachlan