Fit and Run.Info

I wrapped up the last day of my 5th week of the couch-to-5K running plan with a full 30 minute run along Glorietta and Legaspi Village early this morning. Not that easy but I pushed myself to do this instead of the required 20 minutes. That’s a feat for me at this time. When I checked my dailymile, its 5.12 KM, 37 minutes and 6:38 pace/km. Not bad, I think.

A bit tiring that when I ran past Park Square, my legs started to complain that I slowed down but glancing at my watch, I said to myself, a few more minutes and I will be able to do 30. When I did reached Legaspi Park, the clocked ticked to my goal.

As for the route, I initially planned to do a minimum of 5K as a preparation for the 18 April Earth Day Run 2010. The route started at the corner of dela Rosa St. and Pasong Tamo, rounded off People Support with a short dash in Ayala Ave. before going back to dela Rosa. I then followed the street until Makati Ave., detoured to Glorietta, passed SM Makati and Park Square, turned right at Pasay Road all the way to Amorsolo then back to dela Rosa.

What a run but I did enjoy it very much.

This is just getting better. Having a running plan really helps a newbie runner to start the sport right. In my case, I opted for the couch-to-5k running plan from coolrunning.com. What started as a leisurely run of 60/90 seconds of run and walk, a few weeks ago, I’m now running at 8 minutes straight (!) alternated with a 5 minute walk.

Well, this isn’t my longest continuous run, I was able to do it straight for 25 minute during an ungo event but that was a different activity. Starting this sport gradually really matters. Doing the run this morning, it was really not that hard. In my case, I always make it a point that my pace is constant all throughout and strictly follow the time.

As I’m back in Makati, I plotted in dailymile.com this route which starts from my place, passes through the east side of Legazpi park, passes Greenbelt 1 onto Makati Ave., rounds off at the Ayala Museum. I then turned at Paseo de Roxas to go back to Legazpi Park then ran to dela Rosa St. and back home. In 34 minutes, I was able to cover this route with 7:44 minutes per kilometer!

Running and glancing at the stop watch function of my timepiece. 3, 4, 5 minutes and walk. Brisk. Breathing deep as pearls of sweat dropped from my head. Whew! After three minutes, I was on my feet again, running for the next five.

I’m now on my 5th week of my couch-to-5k running plan and, compared to the previous weeks, its now straight runs for 5 minutes alternated with 3 minute walks, three sets! But I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m all the more determined to increase it as well as reduce my pace per kilometer which now stands at 8 minutes.

In previous running plan runs, I usually have a longer cool down walk that sometimes take more than 20 minutes at a leisurely pace but this time, wanting to know my actual pace, used a shorter route (top) at about 4 KM along the SRP, an abbreviated version of what I followed during the third week.

This route along the SRP is more picturesque than the other side that I used in my second week. Lots of open spaces here as well as an elevated portion when the road crosses the Mananga River. As usual, less traffic in the morning (between 0540H – 0612H), few runners too and it’s still not too hot for comfort. The downside? It’s concrete all throughout and sometimes can be hard on the shins.

Five minutes for this newbie runner is no mean feat. As much as possible, I want to maintain the same pace when running. However, when I was already on my third and last set, I have to slow down a little as my legs began to tire but I still strictly followed the time. Tiring, but definitely well worth it!

For my Good Friday run last week, I tried another route around Talisay City for the last day of my couch-to-5k 4th week run. This time, I followed the road from our house to the old church then tracing Garces St. until SRP and back home. Total, around 6.75 KM.

It’s a pleasant route passing through the city’s old quarter that I have passed through ever since I was a child but haven’t gone back since a few years ago. From Dumlog, there’s still the grove of mango trees now huge with fruits wrapped in paper. Old 50′s/60′s houses that still stand proud along this street to the renovated spanish colonial era church that was much better to look at before.

Actually, my original plan was to follow Rabaya St. after the bend near San Roque cemetery but I didn’t check the map well and thus followed Garces St. all the way to SRP. That made it longer.

I’m back to my couch-to-5k running plan after a no training run last week, well except for the ungo run last Friday night. And boy, was it good! It also helped that I also slept early than usual last night at 2200H.

The third week involves two repetitions of the following:

• 90s/90s run and walk
• 3min/3min run and walk

Actually, it’s my first non-stop 3 minute run and at a moderate pace, I did it without stops!

For the route, I took the opposite side of the South Road Properties road that passes over Mananga River and the city hall and terminates at the old highway, the Cebu South Road. Now, it might come as a surprise that I’m doing around 9 minutes per kilometer but actually, the run can be broken down into the following:

• 5 minutes brisk walk
• 1st 90s/90s run and walk
• 1st 3min/3min run and walk
• 2nd 90s/90s run and walk
• 2nd 3min/3min run and walk
• 27 min walk to home

The two repetitions of the run/walk combo actually covers only about 2.2 kilometers from start to the end of the road. The rest of the route, is all walk.