Scatterbunn's New Mission

[Scatterbunn]

Had a great time last challenge and really saw a lot of progress, especially in my running. I was going to wait to post until after I see the doctor Thursday but since follow up testing will be necessary, I don't expect any quick answers, so time to plan my next challenge.

 

Diet:

   The big one. Haven't really paid close attention to my diet in a while other than "eating healthy" which apparently equals too many carbs as I discovered partway through the last challenge I may be prediabetic/diabetic. Two positive tests (A1c and fasting BG), going to see the doctor to rule out other explanations (there are a few possibilities) since I don't have any of the "risk factors" other than one obese uncle who is diabetic. Until I know for sure otherwise I am "acting as if it is true." These goals are subject to change after testing is done.

 

1.       Try to keep weekly average total carbs under 35% with most daily under 30%, allowing for slightly higher intake on "long ride days"
2.       Eat ATLEAST 2100 calories a day, I have a little weight I can loose, but not much and I'm struggling to get in enough calories with a lot of my "go to" foods now off limits.

 

Exercise:

   Mostly maintenance while I adjust to my new diet

1.    Stretch 10 minutes a day
2.    Run 1x/week (will try for 2, but want to at least maintain) 2x/week
3.    Strength 2x/week
4.    3  2 Bike rides per week over 5 7 miles, with one 30 miles/2hours (exempted from this the first week as I am run/walking my first 5k on 11/5)

 

    I had planned to build my Bike mileage this challenge for the Mission to Mission ride in SanAntonio in December where I am registered for the 50 miles, but right now I think I am just going to hold steady one more month as my body adjusts to the new diet so I will just ride the 30 mile route and have more time to look at the Missions. I will continue with my C210k program this challenge I'm doing my first organized run on 11/5, I know I wont be able to run the whole thing (im attempting my first 20 minute straight run tomorrow) but I hope to be able to run most of it.

 

Level up my life

1. This kind of goes with diet but is also kind of educational. Until I hear otherwise from the doctor, I will do blood sugar profiles (pre-post meal) 1 meal/day to see how different meals/activities affect my BG levels. As well as bedtime and fasting levels.
2. Read 1 chapter of the Bible every day

 

I may adjust these based on the results of medical tests, Even more to keep going than last challenge but so many of the individual goals are interconnected. Looking forward to a Great challenge.

 

[The Running Man]

These are great goals! I wish you all the best of luck in pursuing them - not that luck has anything to do with it so much as hard work  I'm rooting for you all the same and look forward to reading about your progress!

[Scatterbunn]

Well the doctors visit was more frustrating than useful. Other than offering to start me on meds her response was basically "well your probably prediabetic and will get diabetes eventually due to genetics (I only have one known family member with T2, an obese uncle) but if you stay active and don't gain weight you can delay it".  She was not interested in looking at my BG values that I brought when I mentioned that I haven't seen BG values even with higher carb meals consistent with my a1c reading she said "your probably just missing the spikes," um OK but its supposed to be an AVERAGE and even if I am missing the spikes when nearly all my monitored values are way below the reported % i just don't get it, but she wasn't interested.  Said to come back in the spring and we would check a1c again (she had initially said 3 months then mentioned the holidays and changed it to spring because apparently its not possible to have the will power to moderate carbs through the holidays).

 

I did convince her to do some blood work and it was mostly normal except for the "abnormalities" expected in a female of child bearing age. When she calls me next week to discuss the results (if she calls me, last time I did blood work the only reason i knew the results was I got copies and my Vit D was LOW!!) There is some possible evidence in my CBC to support possible anemia which can artificially raise a1c, so i definitely need to ask about that. Just really frustrated with the whole visit, she was SO concerned when i brought up the last Vit D reading (2yrs old) she automatically wanted to start me on the highest dosage and not bother checking because "its going to be low" well its not ideal but its up ALOT (yay outdoor workouts!).

 

When I mentioned cutting carbs, she was pretty dismissive about it "well you need carbs to fuel your workouts."  Yeah but maybe I can cut back and still fuel. I kind of felt like I was wasting her time. The main reason I went in was to see if one of the alternate explanations for increased a1c was a possibility because I know of several "amateur athletes" with high a1c but in the normal range on glucose tolerance test (which she didn't feel was necessary). GRRRRRR. Unfortunately my insurance really limits my choice of doctors but if when I go back in January (forget waiting til april) I don't get better responses I will definitely get a second opinion. On the up side she didn't "label" me as pre-diabetic yet, just left it as abnormal glucose which I can live with, had she wanted to label me I would have demanded a glucose tolerance test.

 

The only records I had with me she was interested in was my blood pressure log (taken and witnessed (signed) by nurses I work with). But I was really glad I had that or she probably would have insisted on meds. At work my BP averages 110/70 but in her office its regularly >130/80 with a reading of 149/85 yesterday (white coat syndrome anyone?)

 

Sorry for the rant, just kind of frustrated by the whole situation.

 

Moving on to the challenge.

I will not be able to do pre/post meals tomorrow due to USPS not delivering my test strips today, unfortunately I am on a 48 hour shift and the pharmacy in the town i work in doesn't carry the strips I need. GRRRRR. Last challenge I was foiled in the first week by a very ill dog (one of the goals was walk her 3x/week.. didn't happen), this challenge I am stifled before it begins. Oh well as long as the strips are delivered Monday I should only miss meals one day, I have enough for fasting/bedtime Sunday and one for fasting Monday.

[zeroh13]

Wow, that really sucks. You definitely (eventually) need a new doctor. I wouldn't worry too much about first few days without the strips though. Just get on top of it once you get them. And focus on the rest of your goals till then.

[Scatterbunn]

11 hours ago, zeroh13 said:

Wow, that really sucks. You definitely (eventually) need a new doctor. I wouldn't worry too much about first few days without the strips though. Just get on top of it once you get them. And focus on the rest of your goals till then.

 

Unfortunately we are pretty much limited (for PCP) to the 4 doctors who work for my small hospital, 2 of the other 3 I don't care for either (not saying they are bad, just don like them/ their style). The one doc I would like to switch to is hard to get an appointment with and frequently not taking new patients (he's also been here the longest). 

 

I'm not too concerned about the test strips, I have about 2 weeks of EVERY meal logged/checked, Just using them to continue to monitor and refine my diet, see which foods affect me in different ways. I know some pre/diabetics who can tolerate small amounts of wheat (toast) but not rice, and vice versa, since Im hoping to control whatever I have (pre?) with diet I want to see which foods work best. Its a concept I found online called eating your meter, if you eat a particular food see ex above and it causes a abnormal spike or higher than your goal range, cut the food and eat something else, it kind of tailors your carb counting to the carbs that work for your body. I'm mostly bummed because its a goal for the challenge.

[Scatterbunn]

So to make it easy to log/update I decided to re-arrange my goals into daily and weekly

 

Daily

1.  Eat ATLEAST 2100 calories a day,
2. Stretch 10 minutes a day
3. I will do blood sugar profiles 1 meal or workout/day as well as bedtime and fasting levels. (once strips arrive/I can get more)
4. Read 1 chapter of the Bible every day.

Weekly

1. Try to keep weekly average total carbs under 35%
2. Run 1x/week (will try for 2, but want to at least maintain) 2x/week
3.    Strength 2x/week
4.    3 2 Bike rides per week over 5 7 miles, with one 30 miles/2hours (exempted from this the first week as I am run/walking my first 5k on 11/5)

[Scatterbunn]

Slight edit to my fitness goals due to 20 s of stupidity courage. Looking at half marathon in January on the same trail as my half in August, I started looking for training plans with only 2 runs per week (cant loose cycling fitness). Well, instead I found a half marathon in San Antonio the day after the M2M; it runs right by the Alamo and has a finishers medal that I NEEEEED! (yup, im a dork). Since I will be there and paying for a hotel room any way, why not? I know I wont be able to run the whole thing, but just want to finish, so removed one ride and added a run. It will mean I will not be able to make it home Sunday night and will probably have to stop in Dallas but I don't have to be to work until 3 Monday afternoon So plenty of time and (hopefully) totally worth it.

 

[Koaladle]

On 10/29/2016 at 1:18 PM, Scatterbunn said:

 

Well the doctors visit was more frustrating than useful. Other than offering to start me on meds her response was basically "well your probably prediabetic and will get diabetes eventually due to genetics (I only have one known family member with T2, an obese uncle) but if you stay active and don't gain weight you can delay it".  She was not interested in looking at my BG values that I brought when I mentioned that I haven't seen BG values even with higher carb meals consistent with my a1c reading she said "your probably just missing the spikes," um OK but its supposed to be an AVERAGE and even if I am missing the spikes when nearly all my monitored values are way below the reported % i just don't get it, but she wasn't interested.  Said to come back in the spring and we would check a1c again (she had initially said 3 months then mentioned the holidays and changed it to spring because apparently its not possible to have the will power to moderate carbs through the holidays).

 

 

WOW. Honestly, I wouldn't even wait until spring. That apathy is not helpful and you deserve a doctor who is going to look at all your numbers carefully. >.> No point in wasting time until Spring to get the same kind of attitude. 

 

Situation absolutely warrants a rant. 

 

On 10/29/2016 at 1:18 PM, Scatterbunn said:

this challenge I am stifled before it begins

 

STAHP DIS. You are doing what you can with what you have. Don't be dissuaded by things out of your control. <3 

 

On 10/30/2016 at 11:06 AM, Scatterbunn said:

 

Unfortunately we are pretty much limited (for PCP) to the 4 doctors who work for my small hospital, 2 of the other 3 I don't care for either (not saying they are bad, just don like them/ their style). The one doc I would like to switch to is hard to get an appointment with and frequently not taking new patients (he's also been here the longest). 

 

 Its a concept I found online called eating your meter, if you eat a particular food see ex above and it causes a abnormal spike or higher than your goal range, cut the food and eat something else, it kind of tailors your carb counting to the carbs that work for your body. I'm mostly bummed because its a goal for the challenge.

 

That is a terrible situation.  Is there no way you can afford an appointment out of your insurance? We had to do finaggle something like that for my husband. It sucks, but it was worth it to get better care. I would just keep trying to get an appointment with the good doc. Get friendly with his staff, keep asking to be taken on, and be persistent if he is your only chance to get quality help. 

 

That is fascinating! You are doing such an admirable job, by the way, on taking care of your health. <3 I can imagine how frustrating it is to work so hard at being healthy and still have so much to worry you; as a daughter of a long-time diabetic who was not responsible, you are a freaking superstar. <333

 

18 hours ago, Scatterbunn said:

finishers medal that I NEEEEED

 

OH HAI I KNOW THOSE FEELS! I'm a big fan of virtual racing (Hogwarts Running Club is my favorite) and I totally understand the NEED for a medal. You are a scout for sure! <3

[Scatterbunn]

3 hours ago, Koaladle said:

 

STAHP DIS. You are doing what you can with what you have. Don't be dissuaded by things out of your control. <3 

 

I didnt mean to sound defeatist or disocouraged just found it funny/Ironic that this time i specifically tried to pick things i had control over, only to be foiled again. LOL.

 

3 hours ago, Koaladle said:

 

That is a terrible situation.  Is there no way you can afford an appointment out of your insurance? We had to do finaggle something like that for my husband. It sucks, but it was worth it to get better care. I would just keep trying to get an appointment with the good doc. Get friendly with his staff, keep asking to be taken on, and be persistent if he is your only chance to get quality help. 

 

If necessary i will switch practices even though it means going out of town, and paying more. Im currently asking people "in the know" (some of our part timers work in other towns and are usually good at helping find a GOOD doctor) about other options for a PCP. I am going to see my current doc one more time, probably in January since that should give time to see how my efforts are influencing my a1c.  My fasting levels are back to normal, but that's just a very small part. I had honestly planned to wait until before going in for my first apointment but with research (LADA,  complications startting way below the "diabetic " threshold, etc) i started freaking myself out so went ahead and went in.  Atleast now i know kidney and liver function are good, possible iron deficiency (which could possibly affect a1c) but vit D is way up over last time.  Before march i have to see one of the four doctors at the clinic for an insurance physical, as the other three are male, I  plan on seeing her. (i have no problem with a "random" male doctor performing a female exam, but there is a certain ick/creepiness factor to having a doctor i work with on a regular basis doing it. LOL). 

 

3 hours ago, Koaladle said:

That is fascinating! You are doing such an admirable job, by the way, on taking care of your health. <3 I can imagine how frustrating it is to work so hard at being healthy and still have so much to worry you; as a daughter of a long-time diabetic who was not responsible, you are a freaking superstar. <333

 

I think part of it for me is seeing what happens up close from patients through the ER. (though that doesn't work for everyone). I see so many Non-compliant diabetics who just dont seem to care/understand.  But I kind of did the same thing when i hit "over weight," my weight had been creeping up but when i stepped on the scale and it said 178, then i plugged it in to BMI and it said I was overweight (very slight, but still), i took control and started losing immediately. My a1c and initial FBS place me in the mid to low prediabetic range, I want to do everything i can to avoid reaching diabetic range if possible (there is a chance its not, but i can at least hold it off). Right now my biggest challenge is figuring out how to balance mod/lower carb levels for BS control with carb/energy requirements to fuel workouts and not loose any more weight.  I have definitely noticed a decrease in performance but hopefully my body will eventually adjust. 

 

 

[Scatterbunn]

So day two challenge update:

Sunday:  Daily goals 100% 

Monday: Daily goals 50% so far

               Weekly goal progress: Ran total of 30 minutes, broken into 15, 10, 5 minute intervals with 5 minutes of walking in between. I had hoped to do 30 minutes straight but a combination of a rough weekend at work (thus little sleep) and bad pacing kept me from accomplishing that goal, but i ran 30 minutes and that's what counts. For Wednesday i will set the pace alert on my watch down from 12min/mile to 13 min/mile max and try again.

 

If it wasn't Halloween, i would try to squeeze in strength training this evening since i have to attend re-orientation at work all day tomorrow, but i have to get rid of all that candy (i bought the "good stuff," but good stuff that i don't care for one way or the other to decrease temptation). Plus this is the first year i haven't worked since living in my house and im kind of looking forward to the whole trick or treating thing, even going to dress up!!  

[Koaladle]

It's a holiday. :-) Take the evening off, and use the rest of the week to catch up on your goals. 

[Scatterbunn]

Well trick or treating was kind of a bust. Not sure what happened, In the past when i have worked and gone home on my dinner break my street has been filled with trick or treaters, of course this year there werent many. I started giving out large HANDFULS to ever trick or treater and got rid of most of it. Cant decide if im going to take the leftovers to work or save them for stocking suffers for my nieces/nephews. No chocolate so minimal temptation (nerds, sweet tarts, laffytaffy), especially if i put it in the spare room where the Christmas gifts go.

My costume was total NSV, the dress i used as part of my costume fit me better than it did when i wore it for my mom's wedding 8 years ago, last time I tried it on (its been a few years) it didnt fit at all.

 

Monday I hit 100% on daily goals

Tuesday was technically 100% but I had expected to get a lunch break where i could go to the cafeteria and get a salad, instead the Hospital provided a sack lunch that was basically a massive sugar bomb. I tried to be good and only eat 1 slice of (white) bread on the sandwich with some walnuts i had packed as a snack but classes went longer than planned and i'm used to a MEAL at lunch, so i finally broke down and had one cookie, followed about an hour later by the other. I did manage to tough out the end and stay away from the donuts leftover from "breakfast" (i had eaten before arriving so did not touch the donuts) or the chips included in the lunch.  The BG roller coaster sucked and definitely need to plan better for next year. This is the first year since i started working there where we have done reorientation so i didnt know what to expect.

Once i finally made it home I had a "good" snack to stabilize things and forced myself into a workout. Between lack of caffeine in the morning, sitting in a class trying to stay awake for 8 hours and the roller coaster i was feeling pretty rotten.  I knew i needed to run this morning so i cut back my warmup ride to 3 miles and only did upper body/core work for strength training then took the monster (puppy) for a walk as a cool down to workout some energy from being crated all day. She was getting on older brother/sisters last nerves. Finished off with stretching. 

 

Got up this morning still not feeling great, I hope I'm not getting the crud, too much to do for that mess. Still got out and ran, Didn't reach my goal of 30 minutes non-stop running but did hit several PRs. Total distance (incl walking) was 3.67 miles.After a walking warmup I ran 25 minutes (1.88 miles) without stopping (not couting the 30 seconds or so to chase off some dogs) for a new non-stop record in both time and distance. Took a walk break for 3:30 then planned to run another 5 minutes but at the 5 minute mark i was at 2.83 miles so i ran until i hit 3.1 (5k distance) which ended up being 7:20 before cooling down. Total running time 32:20, new PR and total running distance 2.43, also new PR. Next two days will be fairly easy to rest up for Saturday. Was hoping to be able to run the whole 5k, Not sure if that's realistic but as long as I start running, finish running and don't let my coworker push me too hard, I will count it a win.

 

 

[Koaladle]

7 hours ago, Scatterbunn said:

last time I tried it on (its been a few years) it didnt fit at all.

 

Man, that is a great feeling.  Whoo hoo!

7 hours ago, Scatterbunn said:

did hit several PRs.

 

That is fantastic! You got a PR while also feeling terrible. something that makes a PR doubly impressive. Well done!

[Scatterbunn]

Wednesday daily goals 100% almost didn't make calorie goal due to last minute trip out to eat with parents. Chose a salad to make sure carbs stayed in check but was short on calories so had to up my night time snack 2105 total for the day..whew.

 

Crummy weather this morning so stuck the bike on the trainer and did 20 minutes easy cardio as warm up then strength training. Original plan was just for upper body/core today but since I didn't do lower body on Tuesday, went ahead and did whole body just cut back the reps to about 1/3 of normal on the legs. Finished with 20 minute stretch.

 Probably will just walk and stretch tomorrow depends on the weather, but nothing too strenuous. Washed outfit for Saturday and picked up  "costume" while I was in town yesterday. The run benefits the local Crime Stoppers and dressing up is encouraged, picked up a toy badge/gun set, figure if I'm not able to run the whole thing I can blame it on the donuts, lol.

 

My procrastination in registering for the Half Marathon next month paid off. I was going to wait for payday since the late registration fees are really steep but this morning I was surfing Groupon looking for things to do while there and there was a Groupon for the run registration. Between the Groupon discount, an additional 20%off special and the waiver of processing fees at registration I saved $55. SCORE!!!!

[Koaladle]

On 11/3/2016 at 4:40 PM, Scatterbunn said:

Between the Groupon discount, an additional 20%off special and the waiver of processing fees at registration I saved $55

 

LOVE IT. You got into the race AND saved a ton of money!

[Scatterbunn]

@Koaladle Yep, I was pretty stoked, means I didn't have to blow my entire remaining "entertainment" budget for the trip on one event.

 

Thursday daily goals 100%

Friday Workout: 2 miles walking, 25 minutes stretching. My hips and back have been really stiff all week for some reason so spent some extra attention on them. Getting excited/nervous about tomorrow. Probably a bit more pressure because I'm doing it with a co-worker, I just have to be sure to remain assertive and reasonable about my capabilities.

[Scatterbunn]

Friday goals:100%

Saturday goals:100%

 

Week one recap:

Daily goals 100%

Weekly goals:

 

1. Try to keep weekly average total carbs under 35%
   1. weekly average 25% calories from carbs --100%
2. Run  2x/week--100%
3.    Strength 2x/week--100%
4.   2 Bike rides per week over 7 miles, with one 30 miles/2hours--n/a due to 5k

Doing well 1 week into the challenge, so far 100%. 

 

I survived my 5k run yesterday, did a 10/1 run walk split which worked well, but took 2 minutes on the last walk break. total time start to finish 40:33, with only 4 minutes walking. My coworker stood me up, which wasn't too disappointing, as there was no pressure to try to perform, but at the same time a running buddy would have been nice.  I will definitely never let him live it down. Did a full run report on my blog for anyone interested: Morgan Bikes .

 

For this week, its time to step things up for my half marathon next month. the original plan was to progress as far through the C210K program as i could, but i think it will work better to do a long and short "run" every week.  My short runs will be the C210K workout for that week  but my long runs will be the same number of running minutes as the short run done in 5/5 run walk blocks so i get used to covering more distance even though Im not running the whole thing, it will also hopefully help me work out my run/walk intervals for the big day.

[Koaladle]

I like everything in here except not letting your coworker live it down. Any number of things could have prevented them from coming, and even if they just chickened out it's always wiser to approach with kindness and compassion rather than even the gentlest teasing. Take the opportunity to encourage them to make it next time, and maybe you'll be glad you did.

[Mike_d85]

On 10/29/2016 at 1:18 PM, Scatterbunn said:

When I mentioned cutting carbs, she was pretty dismissive about it "well you need carbs to fuel your workouts."  Yeah but maybe I can cut back and still fuel.

 

As an armchair nutritionist (as in, take everything with a grain of salt) and a person with healthy fear of developing T2 diabetes (my father is one of the top 10% insulin resistant patients in the world) I can tell you there is a lot wrong with the whole picture you painted above, but everything in the exchange above is flat out wrong. 

 

I would recommend you read these three books that deal specifically with training, carbs, and diabetes.  Two of them are "diet books" but if you read the information and ignore the 60 day binge it's helpful information with a lot of studies backing it. 

"Eat Fat, Get Thin" by Dr. Mark Hyman has huge portions dedicated to applying a high fat, low carb diet to pre-diabetics.  He actually developed this book around his standard treatment of his diabetic and pre-diabetic patients and gets into the metrics he uses in treatment so you might like this one the most. 

"Always Hungry?" by Dr. David Ludwig looks a lot into fat consumption and it's impact on weight.  He breaks down a lot of nutritional information and provides a breakdown of nutrition methodologies.

"Go Wild" by Dr. John Ratey and Richard Manning is sort of an abstract love letter to the same concept of Paleo.  It takes a philosophical look at athletics, psycological health, and nutrition (landing on paleo-ish).  The one thing that really stands out (on the epilogue no less) is that one of the authors runs ultras and doesn't carb load or fuel with carbs on his races.

[Scatterbunn]

@Koaladle Maybe I should have said friendly ribbing? This coworker has been wanting me to set a date for us to run together since I started running in September, I put him off until I could run for a decent amount of time and finally committed to a date. Leading up to the event he was constantly checking in with me making sure I planned to show, then he went to Lubbock with some other friends (several hours away) instead. Which is fine, but when he asked me yesterday AGAIN when we were going to run together, I had to tease him a bit.

 

@Mike_d85  Eat fat get thin is actually on my reading list, just waiting for the Library's copy to be returned. I will definitely take a look at the other two. Right now i'm eating a slightly modified version of the Insulin Resistance Diet (I don't agree with their opinion you don't need to count the carbs in veggies or some fruits, doesn't seem to hold true in my personal experimentation). My current macros are set with a limit of 30% carbs but I have been averaging 25/25/50 carb/protein/fat. I have read a lot about becoming fat adapted as it applies to  endurance sports and had actually started doing some fasted rides to decrease my body's need for carbs as energy. I have stopped for now as I adjust to the new diet, I definitely notice decreased performance/recovery/energy. I have stopped carb loading prior to most workouts, the exception is >2hr rides I will eat about 60g of carbs (i have homemade chicken and brown rice bowls in the freezer that are heat and eat) about an hour prior and carry a gel incase I hit the wall and need the energy to get home if the ride takes longer than 2 hours, but my long rides are currently no more than 3 hours. I am working on decreasing my dependence on carbs as fuel but its a slow process.

 

Challenge update:

Sunday 100%   rest day

Monday 100% Bad weather so hit the dreadmill at the fitness center for C210K 4x10min running with 1 min walk break between each set.

Tuesday Still having yucky weather so did 7 miles on the trainer followed by strength training. My right shoulder started bothering me as I was completing my 2nd circuit so I called it quits and only did 2 sets instead of 3 rather than tick it off.

Unfortunately todays daily goals will only be 95% because I forgot to take my fasting blood sugar levels.

Resting day tomorrow and hopefully I will feel up to a long ride on Thursday.

[Scatterbunn]

Well I stuck to my plan of a long walk and stretching on Wednesday but Thursday just kind of fell apart. Pretty much spent the day on the couch with my Kindle. I probably needed the rest day but it does mean that i'm way short on meeting my goals for the week. Didn't log food Thursday or Friday so no clue about calories/carbs. Time to try to get back on track with food today and start back on my workout schedule Monday. I had thought of squeezing in upper body/core on my lunch break today, but it always seems if I try that I pay for it.

 

I did manage to get my long run in on Friday and I'm glad I made the decision to do long and short runs. I think  I would have struggled on race day if I just continued with  C210K like I planned. I did 8.5 miles in 2 hours 5 minutes including warm up and cool down. I averaged 14:37/ mile, well above my race goal pace of 15:45 to finish in 3:30.  I did a 5/5 walk run split but I think I will change it up a bit and try a 2/3 split on my next long run day. In the beginning I felt like 5 minutes was too much walking and towards the end it was a little too much running. I'm' trying to figure out the best walk run ratio so I can finish in the time allotted and finish strong. I'm definitely sore today and will be looking for opportunities to stretch on my work breaks today and tomorrow.

 

[Koaladle]

Suggestion: if you take a rest day from exercise, make sure you are super vigilant about your diet. You can continue to make progress on your couch so long as your plate is sorted. :-) 

 

From what I've read, the key to the walk/run ratio is that you're not exhausted at the end of the run. Cutting the run time down in favor of walking may end up increasing your overall time because the run splits will be more productive. I'm interested to see how it works for you!

[Scatterbunn]

I actually run and walk faster doing shorter run/walk intervals than doing longer running intervals. I have noticed that as I increase my running time, through the program I get over all slower even though I am running more. On Monday when I did 4 10 minute running intervals my average running pace was 15:30 and my average walking pace (warm up, cool down and 1 minute walk breaks between intervals) was about 20/mile overall average was 18:46. With the shorter run/walk ratio I used on Friday I was able to average 12:30 running (and felt better doing it) and 16-17 walking for an overall average of 14:37. Since I am running for shorter periods I can run a bit faster and (until towards the end) I'm not as tired during my walk breaks so I can walk faster as well for an overall higher speed. I also felt like I had a bit more energy at the end despite going faster and longer on Friday than Monday. Energy wise I felt like I could have probably done a few more intervals but my hips were starting to yell and I met my 2 hour goal so I called it quits.  

 

Friday was double my previous longest distance and over 4 miles was running which is the most running I have done in a workout by quite a bit. Was definitely flagging a bit toward the end but considering how much I increased time and mileage that's to be expected. Right now I'm trying to figure out the best run walk ratio to balance speed and endurance. The 5x5 was ok, but I don't think it fits me so my next two runs I will try slightly different ratios to see what works. I was hoping for equal walk/run but I think I may do slightly more walking. My main goal for next month is to finish the whole thing, then I have 6 weeks to build speed/ decrease walking breaks to hopefully put in a better time at my January half marathon.