C25K: W5D1 Completed Successfully

I am feeling pretty energized and motivated this morning. I knocked off W5D1 last night and really enjoyed myself. I still need to work on more even pacing- I ran at 5.5mph during the first interval, 5.0mph during the second, and 4.7mph during the 3rd. I really need to focus on steady pace, probably about 5.0 the entire time. My run stats for the session are here: Garmin Connect Stats for 8/3/2010

I also need to work on cadence. Studies have shown that the best athletes run at a cadence of 85-90 (that’s per foot, how many times a minute you step) which translates to 170-180 bpm in terms of music pace. I’m currently running at 80 cadence or 160 bpm. To aid in increasing my cadence, which in turn increases efficiency and lowers risk of injury, I am going to transition to using music mixes during my run that are fixed at 170 bpm. Then it’s easy- every beat is a step forward. I’ve found this site: Pod Runner Mixes (click on archive) that has free hour long mixes sorted by BPM. Way to go!

As far as weight loss, it has been slow but steady the past few week. I am down another 2 pounds this week, which is good. Hubby is catching up to me fast though, with only about 15 pounds to meet me. It’s a bit depressing that he loses weight so quickly when he puts his mind to it. It’s as if he woke up one morning and said “Ok, now I start losing weight” and *poof*. He just purchased new jeans 2 weeks ago and now will have to do it again next week. I am proud of him and it will be neat to see him soon wearing the same size jeans from his early college days. With his permission I might post a before/after photo of him here one of these days. On the other hand I feel like I am working just as hard but it is coming off slower. That’s obviously the difference between running 4 miles EVERY day at 7mph (him) and 2 miles 3x a week at 5mph (me).

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