Week 4 - Day 1, 2, & 3 (Small Improvements)

Week 4 instruction: Brisk five-minute warm up walk then: Jog ¼ mile (or 3 mins), Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 secs), Jog ½ mile (or 5 mins), Walk ¼ mile (or 2 ½ mins), Jog ¼ mile (or 3 mins), Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 secs), Jog ½ mile (or 5 mins).
Day 1 – 9/3
Run time: 30:34
Run Distance: 1.92 miles
Ave Pace: 15:55/mi

Also did 100 crunches and 45 wall push-ups (in sets of 15 with stretching in between each) on this day after the post-run stretching.

It warmed up a bit from last week but still a very manageable temp.

Thank goodness this day was MUCH better than the last days of week 3. That made me feel a bit better. Bumping up to the 5 min jogs was easier than I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, the 5 mins were difficult and unpleasant but C and I were able to push through them without thinking of giving up. Had hardly any pain at all.

Day 2 – 9/5
Run time: 30:30
Run Distance: 2.02 miles
Ave Pace: 15:07/mi

Did 100 crunches but no wall push-ups.

This day was the same temp as day 1, warmer but not too bad. Difficulty about the same as day 1 as well. I started to get a stitch in my left lung area during the first 3 min jog but it went away during the first 5 min jog. C was experiencing a lot of pain on this day – she said thigh and calf pain. I worry ‘cause I don’t want her to hurt herself but I have to trust her to know her own limits I guess. I always ask her about her pain and talk about ways she could do things differently. I think she needs a new pair of running shoes because she is using my really old sneakers currently. But, knowing her, she won’t buy any until she is forced to.

Day 3 – 9/8
Run time: 30:01
Run Distance: 1.96 miles
Ave Pace: 15:18/mi

I forgot to write any notes for this day but I think it was about the same difficulty for me as the other two – unpleasant but doable. I did do the 100 crunches but again, no wall push-ups.

C usually pulls ahead of me in the jogging intervals and then I either run a bit longer to catch up or she walks really slow to let me catch up. On day 3 she was still pulling ahead a bit but on the last jog interval she had to stop and walk for a bit. That was one of the only times I’ve ever gotten ahead of her. She recovered and then jogged the rest.

Overall, we weren’t ready to move on to week 5 but week 4 (day 1, 2, & 3) was definitely better than the last week. I’m not as discouraged as I was.