5 whole K’s?

I hate running.

I really hate running.

If you know me, you know, I hate running.

When there are WODs that have lots of running in them, well, I don’t really look forward to the running part of things.

I have made some really great advances in running over the past year. With the help of my friends Jody & Paula, I was able to do the entire Turkey Trot last Thanksgiving with zero walk breaks. A few months after that, I did a Pose running skill session with Dave.

I am getting better at Pose, but I am still not that great at it. Granted, I don’t really work on it all THAT much, but my stride has certainly changed. I definitely notice that.

Still though, I hate running. That’s why this challenge is perfect for me.

Today was the start of it. We had to run a 5k (that’s 3.1 miles). Not really a huge distance, but not really over right away either.

My total time to complete was 32:31 or something like that. I don’t remember exactly, but it was somewhere between 32 and 33 minutes. I ran this one straight through without stopping to walk at all. With that said though, there were a few times that I really wanted to stop and walk, but I didn’t.

I did learn a few things from this run:

  • I can run faster than I give myself credit for. I run slow and conservatively because I **HATE** getting cramps in my side. Once I get one of those, running gets even worse for me.
  • I don’t really know what my weakest link is. I noticed today that when I was running, my lungs were fine.
  • There really wasn’t a time that I was out of breath or couldn’t catch my breath. The reasons that I wanted to stop were:
    • My legs feel like lead.
    • My legs are burning.
    • I am bored.
    • This is uncomfortable.

I hit a really great stride at the end of the run. It felt like I picked it up about 30-40% over what I had done up until that point. It was at that point that I realized that I was on the end of the damn run and there was just about a 1/4 mile left. Suck.

In 4 weeks, I want to be able to work at a higher pace and not do this blur between “running” and soccer mom power-walking. At the very least, I want to be able to have periods where I am running faster than what my current rate of “normal” is.

With all that said, I still think that it’s a great accomplishment to say that I ran a 5k without stopping.

It can only get better from here, right?

One thought on “5 whole K’s?

  1. Tommy

    I’m not a huge fan of running either, but when I have run in the past, one thing that helped a lot with cramps and aches was dan tien breathing. Breathing in and out at a steady 6 counts and focusing on filling up dan tien first, then the mid-section, then the chest pretty much took away all the side aches and leg cramps I got when running even up to 10 miles at a time. Not sure if it was just the fact that I was concentrating hard on my breathing and didn’t notice or if there is some physical reason it helped, but it worked for me!

    Reply

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