The C25K program consists of three workouts per week for nine weeks. This is the results of the workout for week seven, day two, third attempt.

Program: 25 minute run.

Result: I completed the workout as planned. My heart rate averaged 149 bpm and peaked at 167 bpm. I did 1.69 miles in 25:20 for an average speed of 4.0 mph (15:00 minute/mile).

I was still running a couple degree fever, but needed to run anyway.  It had been too long since I ran last and the urge to run again was strong.  I also didn’t want to wait too long as I might lose some conditioning and would then have to restart at a lower level.  I definitely did not want to regress.  So, I ran.  But, this time, I had some pointers to follow.

I had been doing some research on various running techniques such as POSE and ChiRunning.  I liked the gradual progress of the ChiRunning and finally decided to try it.  I picked up Danny Dreyer’s ChiRunning book and have started to read it.  This provided many things I could think about while running.  For this run, I tried to focus mostly on BodySensing.  Am I landing with even pressure on my feet, left/right and front/back?  Am I maintaining my column, keeping my dots, head, hip, and ankles, in a line when landing?  When I first started, I could feel tension starting in my shins; time to lessen my lean.  About a third of the way into the run, I could feel tension starting in my achilles.  I tried to keep the foot relaxed, though I wasn’t too successful at it.  Later, I practiced focusing on a point of the sidewalk and keeping my eyes on it while running towards it.  Some time after that, I noticed the calf and achilles tension had reduced.  Perhaps focusing on the point released tension in my legs and let them do what they needed to.  I also did a rough check of my cadence, though I don’t have a metronome yet.  I kept an eye on my watch for when the seconds hit zero and started counting the landings of my right foot.  In one minute, it landed 82 times.  This is fairly close to the optimum cadence range of 85-90 strides per minute.

In addition to the above checking, for this run in my slightly degraded condition, I also needed an edge.  I needed to make sure I started slow so I would not burn out too quickly.  Something else must have clicked because this worked out also.  For the first mile, I averaged a nice, slow 3.9mph.  I ran out for 13:00 minutes before my turn around and increased my speed a little on the way back.  The 0.69 miles was done at an average of 4.2mph.  I am surprised I was able to keep it relatively steady.  But, it worked.  I made it through the workout and am back on track.