Today, for the first time ever, I finally ran the FULL 30 minutes without stopping! Woohoo!!! It's been a long road, considering I started this whole crazy BF running thing in earnest back in January of this year. I ran fairly consistently up until we started getting the summer heat, then tapered off a bit. Then I started back running early mornings in July and August and made great progress up to Week 8 Day 2 - 29 minute run, but then after that I sort of hit a wall.
I was on again and off again for awhile, mostly off as I was getting more and more into cycling, especially after purchasing my first road bike the last Saturday of September and putting over 180 miles on it now. I have tried the 30 minute run a few more times in the past month, but today I finally got it for the first time! And this was near my office which has one large hill on my 1-mile loop, so I had to hit the thing twice, but I still beat it!
Today it was just under 40 degrees, with bright sunshine. I wore my new lined lycra cycling tights I just got last week, along with a long sleeve tech shirt and thin track jacket. Also had an ear warmer band. Meant to wear gloves but I forgot them. My hands and feet were pretty cold at first, but after the first mile they warmed up pretty well. After that even my hands felt toasty warm. The only part that felt cold was my nose. Everything felt great after finishing - feet, joints, legs, everything aside from just a bit of muscle fatigue.
I guess I really just found that pace I was comfortable with and could maintain, which is still a darn slow 15.5 minutes per mile average. There were times when I got it down into the 12's or 13's, but the overall running average for 30 minutes was 15:39 minutes per mile. Maybe I'll get faster someday.
It's been a great journey, and I'm really hoping I can stick with it over the winter in addition to my cycling. I think having the right clothing really helped. Those lined cycling tights helped keep my nice and comfortable. I got them from Nashbar on sale for like 20 bucks: http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Catego...Skin&metaData=&pageSize=&orderBy=&searchTerm=
I was on again and off again for awhile, mostly off as I was getting more and more into cycling, especially after purchasing my first road bike the last Saturday of September and putting over 180 miles on it now. I have tried the 30 minute run a few more times in the past month, but today I finally got it for the first time! And this was near my office which has one large hill on my 1-mile loop, so I had to hit the thing twice, but I still beat it!
Today it was just under 40 degrees, with bright sunshine. I wore my new lined lycra cycling tights I just got last week, along with a long sleeve tech shirt and thin track jacket. Also had an ear warmer band. Meant to wear gloves but I forgot them. My hands and feet were pretty cold at first, but after the first mile they warmed up pretty well. After that even my hands felt toasty warm. The only part that felt cold was my nose. Everything felt great after finishing - feet, joints, legs, everything aside from just a bit of muscle fatigue.
I guess I really just found that pace I was comfortable with and could maintain, which is still a darn slow 15.5 minutes per mile average. There were times when I got it down into the 12's or 13's, but the overall running average for 30 minutes was 15:39 minutes per mile. Maybe I'll get faster someday.
It's been a great journey, and I'm really hoping I can stick with it over the winter in addition to my cycling. I think having the right clothing really helped. Those lined cycling tights helped keep my nice and comfortable. I got them from Nashbar on sale for like 20 bucks: http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Catego...Skin&metaData=&pageSize=&orderBy=&searchTerm=
