Saturday, July 31, 2010

Kathy Week 31: I'm Becoming a Runner!

Just a quick post today:


Kathy's Week 31 Stats:
Today's Weight: 133
Last Week's Weight: 134
Starting Weight: 151
Total Weight Loss: 18 pounds

Still on track with myfitnesspal.com. I love it! Using this great, free website helps me make better eating choices!

I've started running this week! I'm using a program for running novices from Prevention magazine's June issue. Here's the 6-week schedule:

Monday - Run
Week 1 - 1.5 miles
Week 2 - 1.75 miles
Week 3 - 2 miles
Week 4 - 2.25 miles
Week 5 - 2.5 miles
Week 6 - 2.75 miles

Tuesday - Cross train

Wednesday - Run the same as Monday

Thursday - Rest

Friday - Run the same as Monday
(Week 6 - run 3 miles)

Saturday - Walk 30-60 minutes

Sunday - Rest

Mark and I are using the middle school track just down the street from our house. We love it! I can't run all the way yet, but the instructions with our program say to run the given distance, taking walking breaks as needed. On Friday this week (Week 1), I was already running better than I had on Monday.

This week we ran on Monday and Friday. On Tuesday we did our weight-lifting program, and on Wednesday I cheated just a little and took the grandchildren backpacking instead of running. I rested on Thursday, and I'm heading out for a long walk this morning.

I really like it that the Prevention article explained some questions I've had when I've tried to start running in the past. For example:

It's more efficient to track miles instead of minutes.
If my knees hurt, it helps to shorten my stride.

Last but not least, wear good shoes!! Mark and I went to the Portland Running Company last weekend, and they helped us find the right running shoes for our particular foot structure and gait. It's really worth it to me to spend a few more dollars on my shoes, and get such good advice. They actually watch me run in the store in the shoes to make sure I have the right ones. Love it! 

I am so excited to think that I will be able to run 3 miles at the end of 6 weeks! I am fairly certain that I have never done that before in my entire life, and I'm thrilled to be headed toward becoming a runner now in middle age.

4 comments:

alee said...

YAY! Keep it up! I feel like it was just yesterday that I thought I was cooler than cool for being able to run a whole mile without walking at the track at BYU...now I do 5 miles at least 3 days a week! You will be surprised at how much easier it seems in just a little bit...

Katie Lewis said...

Wow, very impressive. Way to go!

emmalou said...

So will you be running part of the Best Dam Race next month?

sasha said...

be careful in the selection of running shoes I think Trainers Shoes
are best running shoes

We'd love to hear from you!

Want to write a guest post for The Skinny? E-mail Katie at kathleenann08 (at) gmail (dot) com.