The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week four, day one. Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then two repeats of: three minute run, 90 seconds walk, 5 minute run, two and a half minute walk. Brisk five-minute cool-down walk. Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 136 bpm and peaked at 157 bpm. Including the warm-up and cool-down, I did 1.97 miles in 33:10 for an average speed of 3.57 mph. Combining the start of week four and a change to a morning workout, this workout really wore me out. I began struggling part of the way through the first three minute run segment. Tapping into my newly found abilities, forged through prior workouts, I pushed through that run segment and the remaining run segments. With the feeling of additional difficulty, seeing the uploaded workout results was a pleasant surprise. Average speed and distance increased compared with week three. It certainly felt like I was going slower than before. But, I’ll take it. To make 5K in the same amount of time, I will need to up my average speed substantially. I’m less than half way through the program. Perhaps I’ll make it yet.

As part of my exploration of minimalist footwear and the barefoot movement, I bought one of the huarache kits from Barefoot Ted. The kit I bought included 4mm Vibram Cherry rubber sole material and leather laces. The one thing I did not like about the standard huaraches is having a thick knot of leather in the front, right under the webbing of the first and second toe. As a much thinner alternative, I applied a different method. A leather dog lead we have has a twist in the connection of the handle loop. I applied a similar twist design to the front knot of the leather huaraches strap. The result was a flat leather “knot” that is almost the same thickness as the original leather strap.  Here are a few pictures of this flat leather “knot.” Here are the instructions for making the flat leather knot:

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week three, day three. Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then two repeats of: 90 seconds of jog, 90 seconds walk, 3 minute jog, three minute walk. Brisk five-minute cool-down walk. Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 134 bpm and peaked at 157 bpm. I did 1.75 miles in 31:24 for an average speed of 3.35 mph. I started off fast (for me), which may explain the slightly longer distance. But, I then had to push to keep going through the remaining run segments. The second ninety second and last half of the second three minute run segments were the hardest. Though I had to push and was glad when they were over, I ran a little more anyway. My shoes for today were my Vibram FiveFinger Classics. As is my norm with these, I did not wear socks. The FiveFingers are minimalist shoes and I had been wanting to try running barefoot. But, I had been reluctant to do it earlier because of worry that it might interfere with my workout. Today, I decided to try it out. After the last three minute segment, I pulled off the VFFs and ran an extra minute barefoot on cement sidewalks. It felt fine, not much different than with VFFs. As the form is the same, this makes some sense. When I reached the end of the sidewalk, I stopped running and took a right. This led me through the grass of a park beside another street. The cool grass felt great! So, when it was time to cut across the street and toward my house, I left off the VFFs and completed the cool-down barefoot. It was easier than I had thought it would be and my feet were fine. Week three is complete. The second two workouts of week three seemed harder than those of the week two, but I was better prepared mentally to push through them. I suspect I will need this new found ability even more in the weeks ahead.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week three, day two. Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then two repeats of: 90 seconds of jog, 90 seconds walk, 3 minute jog, three minute walk. Brisk five-minute cool-down walk. Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 135 bpm and peaked at 158 bpm. I did 1.70 miles in 31:25 for an average speed of 3.24 mph. This is the same distance and a few seconds longer than W2D3. I made sure the iPhone had a good charge before starting. It was good to have the interval reminders again. Though I had two and a half minutes less running this time than what I did for W3D1, the time and distance were about the same. To keep my duration about the same, I walked the extra time as part of my cool-down. I ran slow today. It seemed harder. Perhaps I stretched too much. I received my copy of Mattes’ Active Isolated Stretching book and tried out some of the calf and leg stretches before the workout. Maybe I overdid it a little.

The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week three, day one. Program: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then two repeats of: 90 seconds of jog, 90 seconds walk, 3 minute jog, three minute walk. Brisk five-minute cool-down walk. Result: I completed the workout, but not exactly as planned. It lasted 31:14. My heart rate averaged 131 bpm and peaked at 153 bpm. The distance and average speed are unknown. I think the distance was about the same, though I can only guess as the route was slightly different than before. I wasn’t sure how this workout would end, whether it would be pass or a fail. After the first run segment, my iPhone shut off. The next walk segment was extended while I tried to get it working again. No dice. If I was going to finish this workout, it would be without iPhone assistance, no RunKeeper and no Ullrey podcast to help out. Thankfully, I still had my Garmin Forerunner 50 HR monitor watch. Okay. Now, where am I in the program. What was the program anyway? I wasn’t quite sure. It is easy to follow along with a podcast. You don’t really need to worry about the specifics of the program; just listen to the music and follow the verbal instructions as you go along. But, when you lose that crutch part of the way through a workout, you have to scramble and start calculating. Do math while I’m huffing and puffing? You’ve got to be kidding. For a little while, I considered just doing something, anything and considering this as W3D0 if I couldn’t get it right. Then, I started trying to remember a bit more. I knew roughly what the program was supposed to be. I had already run one 90 second segment. So, I started over, sort of. Here is approximately how things turned out: