Week 7
Week 6 Couch to 5km
After week 5 resting sore calf muscles, I plan 4 runs this week of 40+ minutes.
New route: Gregson Lane circle
Run #1: 4.08 miles in 43m 50s
- 2.24 miles in 30 minutes - 13.4 minutes per mile pace to;
- 3.56 miles in 40 minutes - 11.2 minutes per mile pace
I'm relatively happy with this progress. I still required the walking breaks, to rest the cramping calf muscles, which I never used to get before the hiatus.
Running the same route at the same time of day, increasing it gradually, after the same preparation - a coffee and a glass of water - for 4 weeks has strengthened my legs and lightened my walking style.
My back is stronger as a result of running and my heart and lungs are much improved.
The fat burning component of running, in my opinion, only seriously starts to kick in when you run past 40 minutes and into the 60+ minutes segment. The problem is with this, is the fatigue and pain caused by a 60+ minute jog would probably cause stiffness that would prevent running the next day.
Hence, while rest is the logical step to take to improve the running time and distance, it slows down the frequency of workouts, and hence slows down the fat-burning benefit of frequent (daily) jogging.
The 12 week programme is designed in order to negotiate this problem. A week of longer, less frequent runs, say 3 in total, would be best in the long run, as the calf muscles take this time to adapt and recover.
Eating correctly during the rest days will be important to negate middle-aged spread, keep the weight off, until the next big fat-burning run in a couple of days.
Staying-hydrated and preparing for Week 5 runs by having more fluids and a banana. And home-made pancakes, with oats, are being introduced for more pre-run energy.