Week 3 Days 1, 2
Feb. 19th, 2013 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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c25kIt has been wet enough here over the last several months that Wanstead Flats, where I like to walk, is consistently quite soggy. So I finally bit the bullet and did some walking on the treadmill at the gym.
I like it more than I thought I would. Noise-cancelling headphones are an asset as the background music at the gym is not pleasant; the headphones don't entirely get rid of it, but they make it quiet enough that I can listen to something else. But the ground isn't uneven and I don't have to try to avoid dog poo or fox poo and it doesn't rain and, well, as much as I love being outside, I tend to get distracted by the plants.
The treadmills at the gym have options for time, distance or calories to use as goals. I've been setting the time as 40min, then gradually increasing speed to 5km/h, then starting the "C25K" app on my phone. When it's time for a "running" interval I put the treadmill speed up to 6.5km/h, and the "brisk walking" speed is 5.5km/h. When the app on the phone tells me I am finished, I walk at 6km/h until my time is up (usually around 15 minutes).
So far this seems to be OK, though in fairness I've only done it twice. The extra time at the end is so that if I'm having a bad joint day, I can reduce the amount I'm doing but probably still complete the C25K aspect of the programme; it's mostly a psychological gimmick. My plan is to continue doing this until I have finished the programme or get injured (let's hope not), then repeat but with all speeds higher by .5km/h. I'm still aiming for two sessions a week rather than three, especially as I'm currently doing some rowing on two or three other days (as recommended to me by nearly every physiotherapist I've ever had), but I am only doing each session once (rather than repeating them as I was with running). This morning I walked 3.9k total with an average speed of 5.9km/h, according to the treadmill.
I haven't decided what I will do if I find I can't walk fast enough and end up breaking into a jog, but I don't think that's likely to happen on this iteration of walking Couch to 5k.
I like it more than I thought I would. Noise-cancelling headphones are an asset as the background music at the gym is not pleasant; the headphones don't entirely get rid of it, but they make it quiet enough that I can listen to something else. But the ground isn't uneven and I don't have to try to avoid dog poo or fox poo and it doesn't rain and, well, as much as I love being outside, I tend to get distracted by the plants.
The treadmills at the gym have options for time, distance or calories to use as goals. I've been setting the time as 40min, then gradually increasing speed to 5km/h, then starting the "C25K" app on my phone. When it's time for a "running" interval I put the treadmill speed up to 6.5km/h, and the "brisk walking" speed is 5.5km/h. When the app on the phone tells me I am finished, I walk at 6km/h until my time is up (usually around 15 minutes).
So far this seems to be OK, though in fairness I've only done it twice. The extra time at the end is so that if I'm having a bad joint day, I can reduce the amount I'm doing but probably still complete the C25K aspect of the programme; it's mostly a psychological gimmick. My plan is to continue doing this until I have finished the programme or get injured (let's hope not), then repeat but with all speeds higher by .5km/h. I'm still aiming for two sessions a week rather than three, especially as I'm currently doing some rowing on two or three other days (as recommended to me by nearly every physiotherapist I've ever had), but I am only doing each session once (rather than repeating them as I was with running). This morning I walked 3.9k total with an average speed of 5.9km/h, according to the treadmill.
I haven't decided what I will do if I find I can't walk fast enough and end up breaking into a jog, but I don't think that's likely to happen on this iteration of walking Couch to 5k.
