Chickie.Monkey: 5K or Bust

[chickie.monkey]

As per my life, I’m late to the show.

 

 

 

 

I’ve been trying to get back on track for what seems like forever now. I will do good for a week or a couple days and then it all just goes to hell. I keep on trying because I figure that one of these times it will stick. Also, I hate to give up!!

 

 

 

 

For this challenge, I’m going to focus on the main short-term goal I’ve set for myself:

 

 

 

Participate in, and complete the Color Run in May.

 

And when I say participate, I mean that I will not puss out and decide that my couch looks like a better choice than going to said Color Run.

 

And when I say complete, I mean cross the finish line on my own and not in one of those carts that goes along and sweeps up the injured (or in my current state, the pitifully out of shape).

 

 

 

 

 

 

To do this, I have decided to follow Jeff Galloway’s conditioning guide as a couple of friends of mine swear by his training methods. This is basically a precursor to 5K training, but I need a good pre 5k training program at the moment. I actually started a couple weeks ago, so I will just continue the plan until the 5K.

 

Plan is as follows (There will only be walking, no running):

 

 

Week 1 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 5 seconds/walk for 55 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 10 min run/walk

 

Tues: 15 min walk   17:04 .53 Miles

 

Wed: 13 min run/walk   15:41  .47 miles

 

Thurs: 18 min walk   24:09   .69 miles

 

Fri: off

 

Sat: 1 mile run/walk   L
Sun: off/walk

 

Week 2 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 5 seconds/walk for 55 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 15 min run/walk  16:30   .49 Miles

 

Tues: 20 min walk    24:00    .83 Miles

 

Wed: 17 min run/walk    18:00     .75 miles

 

Thurs: 22 min walk   L  weather
Fri: off   L  weather
Sat: 1.25 mi run/walk   L  lazy

 

Sun: off/walk  L  lazy

 

Week 3 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 10 seconds/walk for 50 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 19 min run/walk   L  didn’t get a chance

 

Tues: 24 min walk  Too darn tired

 

Wed: 21 min run/walk  ☔️

 

Thurs: 26 min walk
Fri: off
Sat: 1.5 mi run/walk

 

Sun: off/walk

 

Week 4 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for10 seconds/walk for 50 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 23 min run/walk

 

Tues: Walk 28 min

 

Wed: 25 min run/walk

 

Thurs: Walk 30 min
Fri: off
Sat: 1.75 mi run/walk

 

Sun: off/walk

 

Week 5 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 10 seconds/walk for 50 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 27 min run/walk

 

Tues: Walk 30 min

 

Wed: 29 min run/walk

 

Thurs: Walk 30 min
Fri: off
Sat: 2 mi run/walk
Sun: off/walk

 

Week 6 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 15 seconds/walk for 45 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 30 min run/walk
Tues: Walk 30 min

 

Wed: 30 min run/walk

 

Thurs: Walk 30 min
Fri: off
Sat: 2.25 mi run/walk

 

Sun: off/walk

 

Week 7 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 15 seconds/walk for 45 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 30 min run/walk

 

Tues: walk 30 min

 

Wed: 30 min run/walk

 

Thurs: Walk 30 min
Fri: off
Sat: 2.5 mi run/walk
Sun: off/walk

 

Week 8 (walkers will walk only, runners will run for 15 seconds/walk for 45 seconds on the run/walk days)

 

Mon: 30 min run/walk

 

Tues: walk 30 min

 

Wed: 30 min run/walk

 

Thurs: Walk 30 min
Fri: off
Sat: 2.75 mi run/walk
Sun: off/walk

 

 

 

Diet wise my main goal will be food prep.

 

The main goal: Prep all lunches for the week on Sunday

 

Side goal: Don’t absent-mindedly shove food in my pie hole. This gets me into trouble every time.

 

Side goal: Try to eat paleo-ish the rest of the time.

 

 

 

Life Goal:

 

Complete this challenge.

 

[chickie.monkey]

Meals are prepped for the week. Key is to remember to take them to work.

 

I started a new job today, so with all the insanity of that, I did not get a chance to get my conditioning in. I did, however, manage to do quite a bit of walking as I was getting to know my new office and taking many wrong turns.  

 

I should be able to get conditioning in tomorrow.

[Starpuck]

Good plan Chickie!  And I of course am here to cheer you on.   You got this! 

And hey ... don't beat yourself up about showing up here and not seeing it all the way through.   It happens.

What REALLY matters, is that you don't let that become a reason for not coming back in and trying again.

Listen to Yoda.  Yoda is wise!

 

 

And besides.   *I* say you're amazing.    

 

I had good luck with the C25K programs.   When I did them consistently, they worked as promised!     And now, 6 years later after first doing it ... I am still able to quickly work myself back up to running a 5k if I just commit some time and cut myself some slack.  (AKA, don't take a 4 month running break and then think you can still crank out 3 miles on your first time back...)  Yoda is wise... Starpuck is not.

 

 

[Raxie]

Meal prep! So much yes!  Following obviously <3

[chickie.monkey]

Week 1 Day 2

I was running late this morning (as usual) and about 3 miles from my house, I realized I forgot my lunch. 

And then for lunch, I of course did what I was trying to avoid by meal prep and hit up Sonic. I WAS SO HANGRY!!!

 

Dinner is going to be farmer's pie. We chose to use regular cauliflower instead of purple, because the purple creeped us out. It's in the oven now and it smells amazing. I can't wait to devour it.

 

I didn't make get my conditioning program done today.

But, I spent ALL day moving furniture from one end of the building to the other end as we set up our new office space. My work wife and I have been relegated to the far end of the building away from everyone else. This is probably for the best as we are about as inappropriate and unprofessional as you can get.

 

I also found out that we have a kick ass gym attached to the company and it's right down the road from our building. They have a crap load of rowers, several squat racks, benches, med balls, etc. They have several classes through out the day and they are apparently very crossfit like. The best part is, it's free! I'm so excited to get back to lifting.

 

However, one thing at a time. 5k goal first.

 

 

[Raxie]

11 hours ago, chickie.monkey said:

I was running late this morning (as usual)

 

Story of my life.

 

Purple cauliflower is so good! You should definitely give it a shot

[Starpuck]

Purple cauliflower would freak me out too!

 

What's the taste difference?

 

[Raxie]

6 minutes ago, Starpuck said:

Purple cauliflower would freak me out too!

 

What's the taste difference?

 

 

It tastes... fuller? I don't know how to describe it.  It's more or less the same honestly unless you compare them side by side (which dork me did) but it has a much higher percentage of nutrients.

[chickie.monkey]

7 hours ago, Raxie said:

 

It tastes... fuller? I don't know how to describe it.  It's more or less the same honestly unless you compare them side by side (which dork me did) but it has a much higher percentage of nutrients.

Okay, I'll try it. But the purple still freaks me out!

[chickie.monkey]

Week 1 Day 3

 

I remembered my lunch!!! And it was good!! I'm so very proud of me. My wife usually does all the cooking, but I did this meal prep all by myself. Go, me!

 

Dinner was more Farmer's Pie. That recipe is a keeper. There's enough left to take for lunch tomorrow. I'm very excited about this. 

 

It started raining about the time I got home and never stopped. Which means no training plan. I did do a crap ton of walking at work as there were more things to move and lots of back and forth. My coworker and I were joking about how we're going to lose a lot of weight now that we're on the opposite end of the building from the lab. Anytime there's an issue, we'll have to hoof it all the way over there. I've never counted steps before, but I should start. Just to see. 

 

Hoping for decent weather tomorrow so I can work on my conditioning program. The one thing I miss about my old job is that if it was raining, I could walk laps around the building inside. At the job I have now, I sit in what used to be the old lab at one end of the building and the new lab is at the other end of the building. The problem is, there are offices in between that are occupied by other people, so we have to go outside to get back and forth. 

 

BUT, when the weather is nice, we have a whole office complex to walk around, plus some wooded areas I can't wait to go explore. 

 

[Xena]

I've always kind of wanted to do a color run. Hope you have a great time doing it.

 

I know Galloway mostly from his distance running programs, and I think they are pretty solid. I know you are strictly walking now, but if you eventually start doing some running, I think the idea of run/walk intervals is very helpful.

[Raxie]

Great job with the food!

[chickie.monkey]

On April 7, 2016 at 8:29 PM, Xena said:

I've always kind of wanted to do a color run. Hope you have a great time doing it.

 

I know Galloway mostly from his distance running programs, and I think they are pretty solid. I know you are strictly walking now, but if you eventually start doing some running, I think the idea of run/walk intervals is very helpful.

I did a color run a couple years ago when I was in much better shape. It was a lot of fun! I highly recommend it. I picked it as my first 5k goal this time around because I enjoyed it so much last time. 

 

The friends that recommended Jeff Galloway to me are both marathon runners. They love the whole run/walk thing. I think that will work out well for me, too. I may do another cycle of the conditioning program before moving on to 5k training. Will see how I'm feeling at the end. 

[chickie.monkey]

Week 1 Day 4

Foods were meh. 

Lunch - still eating on the Farmer's Pie (doing good!)

Dinner - the wife was going to cook, but she decided to order out instead. I /tried/ to be good, but I ended up with a pasta dish. (Not doing good!) It did have grilled chicken and broccoli. That counts for something, right?

 

Conditioning: none. Again. Sigh. More rain.

I'm going to try to head over to the company gym tomorrow and see what I need to do to sign up/workout. I HATE treadmills, but it's free and indoors. I'm also going to see if I can find any cheap gyms with indoor tracks. The other option is to take walking clothes to work and walk early in the day when it's not raining. This week is almost over and I haven't done anything. I'm pretty frustrated about that. Plus my Zombies, Run saga is waiting for me. Must. Know. What. Happens. Next. 

 

It wasn't a complete loss, though. I had to go to the corporate office to drop off some stuff. I had no idea where I needed to be and that led me on an adventure of up the stairs, around, down the stairs, back up again, down the hall, around the circle, etc for a good 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure I circled the same few places more than once. Unexpected activity - check. 

 

 

 

[Starpuck]

10 hours ago, chickie.monkey said:

I'm going to try to head over to the company gym tomorrow and see what I need to do to sign up/workout. I HATE treadmills, but it's free and indoors. I'm also going to see if I can find any cheap gyms with indoor tracks. The other option is to take walking clothes to work and walk early in the day when it's not raining. This week is almost over and I haven't done anything. I'm pretty frustrated about that. Plus my Zombies, Run saga is waiting for me. Must. Know. What. Happens. Next. 

 

 

 

I found a workable indoor track at my local park district by work.  I find track running so much better than treadmills, so I totally grok you there.   Also, the membership for JUST using the track is $55 a year, so like $4 a month.  Totally worth it.   Check the park districts and stuff too!

[Xena]

You probably know this, but some people have problems with their knees on indoor track because it's so much turning in the same direction. If they let you do it, try to switch up the direction from some laps (usually you should go to the outer lanes to do that). Maybe not as big a problem walking as with running but wouldn't hurt to try to balance out the muscles.

[Raxie]

If you can't find an indoor track, could you do some days walking in the AM and some days on a treadmill to even out the treadmill yuckiness? That way it also doesn't have to be super weather reliant.

[Starpuck]

Hey Chickie!     How's it going?

Your cheering section is wildly cheering!

 

[chickie.monkey]

 

You probably know this, but some people have problems with their knees on indoor track because it's so much turning in the same direction. If they let you do it, try to switch up the direction from some laps (usually you should go to the outer lanes to do that). Maybe not as big a problem walking as with running but wouldn't hurt to try to balance out the muscles.

 

I've actually never thought about that, but it makes total sense. Most of the tracks I've seen do alternating directions each day. I'll just have to remember to switch up the days so I'm not going on days when I'll be going the same direction. Thank you!  

 

 

If you can't find an indoor track, could you do some days walking in the AM and some days on a treadmill to even out the treadmill yuckiness? That way it also doesn't have to be super weather reliant.

 

I'm going to start walking at work on my lunch (weather permitting). Unless it's just raining all day (which it does quite a bit this time of year), it's usually dry in the early afternoon. I'd love to get my walk done in the AM, but I can barely get out of bed in time to get to work. That's something I really need to work on, but not at the moment.  

 

 

Hey Chickie!     How's it going?

Your cheering section is wildly cheering!

 

 

How sad is it that I've been too lazy to update? *Hangs head* 

 

 

I'll get on it.

[Rurik Harrgath]

 

You probably know this, but some people have problems with their knees on indoor track because it's so much turning in the same direction. If they let you do it, try to switch up the direction from some laps (usually you should go to the outer lanes to do that). Maybe not as big a problem walking as with running but wouldn't hurt to try to balance out the muscles.

 

 

If you can't find an indoor track, could you do some days walking in the AM and some days on a treadmill to even out the treadmill yuckiness? That way it also doesn't have to be super weather reliant.

 

Just chiming in to add: running outside on dirt or grass is probably the healthiest for your knees if you have access to either.  Also, mud can be a blast if you have a cleanup plan!  Otherwise, I would suggest the occasional bout of backward running just to keep your body (and fellow runners) guessing. 

[chickie.monkey]

 

 

 

Just chiming in to add: running outside on dirt or grass is probably the healthiest for your knees if you have access to either.  Also, mud can be a blast if you have a cleanup plan!  Otherwise, I would suggest the occasional bout of backward running just to keep your body (and fellow runners) guessing. 

 

I think I just twisted my ankle reading this!  That's not something that has ever occurred to me as the healthiest option. There are some dirt trails near me. I'll go check them out. Thanks!

[chickie.monkey]

Week 1 Wrap-Up

Better late than never...

 

This was an odd week for me as I started a new job. I've come to find out there are many perks to this job that can help me with my fitness goals. I'm looking forward to taking advantage of them.

 

Foods: Meh. I did okay until the weekend. The weekend is always hardest for me as I end up eating all the food while catching up on the DVR.

 

Moves: Didn't get any training done due to either the weather or time. I still did get some exercise in with moving furniture and lots of walking from one end of the building to the other. I suppose it could have been worse.

[chickie.monkey]

Week 2 Day 2

 

Foods:

Forgot my lunch, but my trusty work wife split hers with me - grilled chicken, broccoli, and pasta. Dinner was Chicken done in a paleo marinade, green beans, and some sort of rice thing that my wife whipped up. 

 

Moves:

I did my walk at lunch - laps around the parking lot.

Training plan: Week 4, Tuesday: walk 28 min

Actual: 30:32, 1.32 miles

I've started Zombies, Run! (or in my case, Zombies, Walk as Fast as You Can and Hope They Don't Get You!) and am having a blast. It makes me look forward to the walking.

Goal: To not get caught by the Zombies. Ha!

[Rurik Harrgath]

 

I think I just twisted my ankle reading this!  That's not something that has ever occurred to me as the healthiest option. There are some dirt trails near me. I'll go check them out. Thanks!

 

I've done plenty of research (and practical experimentation!) with the impact hard-surface running makes on our joints and ligaments.  From a primal standpoint, we were never really meant to run on anything but dirt and turf in the grand scheme of things.  It isn't entirely practical to avoid pavement all of the time, but I do try to limit it to only when necessary to do so.  

 

Enjoy! 

[chickie.monkey]

Week 2 Day 3

 

Foods:

As usual, I forgot my lunch. WW hooked me up with some chicken Alfredo and broccoli. Dinner was some all-in-one-bag thing from the freezer section with chicken, veggies, and pasta. Ate way more processed carbs than I would have liked, but since all means were spontaneous, I did okay. And I didn't turn to pizza or fast food. Major score. 

 

Moves:

Walked after work. It's amazing how my distance decreases when I'm having to stop every 5 minutes because my dog has to poo/pee/sniff/be obnoxious. 

Week 4 Wednesday: 25 Minute Walk

Actual: 25:23 .96 Miles

And in good geometric gps tracking fun, I made a sword!