The Almost 5k Run
I started running systematically last April. Before that I was running continuously for few months but couldn't feel a improvement. So I got into thinking even though I was just running for fun why not do that based on a plan and fast track the improvements.
So I started looking for a plan. I found a nice community dedicated to running in reddit. From the wiki page of that subreddit I found a suggestion for a book. Book is called Daniel's running formula written by a guy named Jack Daniels
Author's name itself piqued my interest on the book.
So I acquired the book and started reading. Turns out this guy has a PhD on exercise physiology and have nothing to with whiskey. He goes into details on stuff about running and people he had trained and mentored. Overall it's pretty good book, If you want to improve your running.
In the book there is a plan with four stages(among other things).
- White starting plan.
- Red intermediate plan.
- Blue advanced plan.
- Gold elite plan
Each stage have 4 levels each lasting 4 weeks. So to complete one stage it takes at least 16 weeks.
As I have being running for few months already I started with 3rd level of White starting plan. Schedule is different for each weekday. Have to run 3 days per week with at least one restday in between. In that level longest continues run is 20 min easy pace run.
After 4 weeks I moved up in to 4th level of white starting plan. Longest run here is a 30 min easy pace run.
After 4 weeks in that plan plus 2 weeks of injury time from kitchen accident and 1 more week of catching up after the recovery, This week I graduated into Red intermediate plan level 1.
Yesterday was the first day of the plan. I had a 30 min run segment in the schedule.
By then I had bought a phone pouch and started using strava to track the runs. Yesterday just before the run I noticed there is a 5k challenge in strava.
Though my usual distance for the 30 min run is like 4.4k I signed up for the challenge. And ran the usual 4.4k distance in like 28 mins and ran additional 600m to complete the 5k. Total distance took about 34 minutes(according to my wrist watch).
I finished the run with a sense of satisfaction and checked the stats in the phone. (since pouch is wrapped in the upper arm, it's not accessible while running) To my disappointment it had only tracked 4.74k in 32.04 minutes!!!
So either my distance measuring(I measured it in google maps) is wrong or the app has not tracked it correctly. I'll have to run again and see what happens to be sure.
Either way that's my first attempt at running 5k.