It has begun...

Last night was the first day of our running program. It felt good to be running again after a year, but I'll be honest, by the end of the program I was happy to be done. Having a C25K Podcast was big help. Robert Ullery did a really good job with them. I did miss the second interval so I am looking forward to my next session tomorrow to see what I can really do. If you do use a podcast I highly recommend that you listen to it/them first so that you will recognize all the audio queues. I know that I will be doing that for the Week 2 - 9 podcasts so that I don't miss another one.

So how did we do? You tell me.

Vryce - Day 1 Wk 1

Distance - 3.59 Km Time - 28:06 Avg. Pace - 7:50 min/Km

Avg. Speed 7.66 Km/h Climb 9m

KAVIK - Day 1 Wk 1

Distance - 2.81 Km Time - 28:56 Avg. Pace - 10:17 min/Km

Avg. Speed 5.83 Km/h Climb 44m

I'm almost a foot taller and fair bit lighter, add that to the difference in elevation changes and that is why I'm faster. Honestly I would have been embarrassed if I wasn't faster. That being said, I'm very proud of the numbers my friend posted. This tells me that he is taking this very seriously. I hope that seriousness continues in the weeks to come and the months to follow. They a journey begins with a single step. Well this is one journey I'm happy to be sharing with my friend, even if we are sharing it virtually.

Resurrection and a plan...

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine, KAVIK, got a wakeup call from his heart. It wasn’t as serious as it could have been, but it was serious enough. KAVIK and I have known each other for about 20 years now, I’ve known his wife a little longer. I’m 36 years old and about 180lbs. KAVIK is a few years older and let’s just say, more than a few pounds heavier.

So what does this mean to you. Well nothing really but I’m writing this as more from a motivational point of view. You see KAVIK and I live about 2 hours from each other but we have agree to start a running program called Couch-2-5k together. We both have an application for out iPhones call RunKeeper. This will allow us to track our progress and share it with each other. This way we can help each other along the way. I started to do something like this last year, but I couldn’t stay motivated about it. I figure that if I have someone to compare my results with, it will give me that little extra bit of motivation. Besides, I don’t want that lazy bastard beating me. For KAVIK, his motivation I believe would be his loving wife and two kids.

I'm hoping to see my friend this weekend so I can get him setup with Runkeeper properly and hook him up with a C-2-5K podcast I found. I'm hoping that this will be the motivation that I need to continue running like I planned to last year. Watch this space as we're planning on start our running after the weekend.

One more run before the freezing rain comes...

Last week we hit 19c for a high. For March that's pretty good and it was enough to get my butt out of this computer chair and out running. This week is much colder. That being said, I'm trying to make serious effort to be more active. So I ran my usual 1.3km tonight in 7 minutes flat. My calves are still a little sore, so I tried out some Tiger Balm ultra strength. WOW does this stuff have a strong smell. It's not a bad smell, just very strong. It's been about 3 hours since my run and I can feel it on my legs, kind of a tingling sensation. Again, not unpleasant, but just there. It's really helped the soreness in my legs. I'll know tomorrow if my legs don't hurt at all, then I'm sold on the stuff.

Hopefully I can get another run or two in this week without it being too cold. For reference it was 7c when I went out tonight. VFF KSO, Shorts and Long Shirt and my legs weren't cold. My hands did get a little cold, so if it's colder out next time, I'm going to need gloves. Sad thing is I used to laugh at those people that would be out in a jacket, gloves, hat and shorts running in the cold.

Vryce

Another day, another small run...

Yesterday, my calves were stiff and sore, so I decided not to run. I think it was a good idea. Today, they felt better, but still a little stiff and sore, but I went out anyways. I completed the same 1.3km run, although this time I was a little slower with 7:03 minutes. 8 seconds right now isn't a big deal. I thought about going a little further. I'm sure I could have done a full 2km, but I chose to give my legs a break. I'm sure that I'm still going to fell it tomorrow.

I watched a great video of an old Nova episode on You-Tube this evening. The show was about these people that they took who aren't athletic and over 9 months train to run Boston. 9 months, that's amazing. The video is about an hour, but it's worth the time to watch. I hope that it's able to inspire you the way it's inspired me.

Vryce

Best laid plans of mice and men...

After last night's run I felt great, winded but great. So I planned to go out again tonight and try it again. Now that being said, I've heard a lot of people say, go easy, take it slow, don't do too much. You know, the usual "just getting started advice." Now I've had my VFF's (Vibram Five Fingers) for almost a year now. I'm pretty that my body has adjusted to them. Not a big deal. My body hasn't adjust to running though. I'm not sore, but my calves ache a little when going up stairs. So for once in my life I'm doing the smart thing. Ive decided to wait until tomorrow to try another run, and if I have to, I'll wait another day.

I want to thank Justin over on BirthdayShoes (see the link on the right) for linking to my blog. Even if you're not into VFF shoes, barefoot running or minimalist running. Visit his site. It's got a lot of really good people there, just don't try and convince them to switch to regular running shoes.

Vryce

First Run of the Year

Tucked my son into bed, grabbed my Vibrams and went out for a run. 11c outside, so cool but not cold. Started my run at 8:17 pm and ran about 1.30km. Not a long run but I'm happy with it for a first run. Runkeeper says it took me 6:55 mins to complete my run, I'm happy with that too.

If you run with an iPhone I highly recommend Runkeeper. It's a great way to track where you have run, how long you ran for and your approximate calorie burn.

I feel pretty good over all. My throat is a little raw. I feel like I can drive nails with my calves, but there's no pain. which is a good thing. Means I didn't over do it. Which is a great thing. I'll keep up with this circuit for a little while and when I get comfortable with that I'll double it. 1km circuit is done, only 99km more to add to it.

Vryce

First offical post.

First off, thank you for visiting me here. I hope that you decide to visit regularly. I'm not active enough. That's not to say I'm over weight or anything, it's just that I don't have the motivation to pick my butt up out of my computer chair and get out and do something. To that end I've decided start a blog and hope that gives me the incentive to get out and run.

It's been about 20 years since I have done any serious running. So what got me started on this quest? Well last year I was in my local Mountain Equipment Co-op and saw a pair of interesting shoes. I did a little research on them and eventually bought a pair. The are Vibram's Five Finger KSO. During that research I found a website called Birthdayshoes, run by a man named Justin. It was from that site I learned about Chris McDougall's book, "Born to Run". I hope he doesn't mind if I borrowed his title. It was that book that has inspired me to even attempt to run.

Now that the weather has warmed up. I'm hoping to get a short and easy run in, sometime in the next couple of days. I'll post again once that's done. Thanks again for visiting.

Vryce