ZR5K

To start with, I should probably explain a bit about what I’m doing exercise-wise these days. My leg muscles are much stronger now than they were before and the arthritic knee pain has mellowed so that I can push harder. Knee braces are a thing of the past. Ice packs are used sparingly (when there’s a hint of pain but there isn’t usually). Life is good physically…for the most part. I won’t go into the details.

Point is, I’ve started running again. After a bit of slow training on my own (and a week or so with the ZR5K app), I signed up for a Total Solar Eclipse Virtual Race to see where I stood with my abilities.

My 5k finishing time was 40:12. Considering I hadn’t dealt with hills or headwinds on my treadmill workouts and I hadn’t managed a full 5k distance before then, I was quite proud of myself. It also gave me a solid time to beat in October when I do the Halloween Virtual Run from the Zombies, Run app.

Because I don’t put the best thought into safely running on my own, I’m using the ZR5K app (Zombies, Run! 5k Training). It’s an 8-week running program. The first 3 weeks are free but you have to pay $4 for the rest. I was worried I wouldn’t like it but I knew it would help get me in running shape so I kept an open mind and loosely did the first 2 weeks when I had time. Yeah, those 2 weeks actually took me about 3-4 weeks. I’ve buckled down though and have a set running schedule that works pretty well. Today I bought the rest of the app (because I LOVE it!) and started Week 4.

Each week they give you a running routine that you have to do 3x (on 3 different days of course).

Week 3:

• 5 min Walking
• 5 min Free Form Run
• 1 min Run, 1 min Walk, 10r Knee Lifts – REPEAT 5x
• 8 min Free Form Run
• 2 min Stretching
• 8 min Free Form Run

I don’t stop to stretch during that 2 minutes. I slow to a walk to rest and give myself a break. I hit the full 5k each run for Week 3. By Week 2 I was able to run the full 10-min free form run at the end. Week 3’s 8-min free form runs were harder but I still managed to run both of them with the help of that 2-min bout of walking in the middle.

Week 4:

• 5 min Walking
• 5 min Free Form Run
• 10r Knee Lifts, 1 min Slow Walk, 1 min Fast Walk – REPEAT 5x
• 1 min Walking, 30s Running – REPEAT 5x
• 15 min Free Form Run

When I saw the routine for today, I thought it would be easy and it was…until the end. I knew that 15-min run at the end would be difficult but I thought I could push through at least most of it because of how well I had been doing in the previous weeks.

My speeds had increased the last couple weeks. My walking was 4.0mph and my free form running ranged from 4.5-5.5mph. Today my Slow Walk was 4.0mph while my Fast Walk was 4.5mph. I had tried to walk at this speed before, yes, but can only keep it up for a short period of time. My shins get super tired and it’s easier to use that speed as a jog. But for 1-min intervals it was doable. And the walk/run intervals were almost too easy.

However, when I got to the 15-min run at the end, I felt at once that I couldn’t keep up my normal 5.5mph. Not even a minute had gone by before I started drooping so I switched to 5.0mph for awhile. 3 minutes later and I switched to 4.5mph which is normal for me but I was struggling more than I should have been. I try to scale through those speeds in an effort to keep going. If I’m running at 5.5mph for 2 minutes, 5.0mph feels easier so I can then keep that up for another 2 minutes. Then moving to 4.5mph is almost easy so that, by the time I’m done with those 2 minutes, I have the energy to shoot back up to 5.5mph and do the whole thing again. Obviously I couldn’t manage that plan this time.

By 5 minutes my energy was shot and I still had 10 minutes to go. I slowed to a 4.0mph walk. I started up again at 5.0mph but could only last about a minute before I had to slow again to 4.5mph. I spent the rest of the run at a 4.0mph walk and a 4.5mph run. Around 10 minutes my head felt detached and my body felt strange. Probably the first time I’ve ever noticed this precursor to being lightheaded. I tried to walk more but I still pushed myself to run when I felt I could.

I hit 5k before the end of the routine. It was my slowest 5k (in this training) at 43:12. My run by the end was 3.55 miles at 49:54.

Yes, the routine was long. But why I would feel so tired/weak and have such trouble with the final run when I hadn’t been working very hard beforehand, I don’t know. I had an Isagenix shake for breakfast and it powered me through Week 3 Run 3 last week beautifully. Was I expending more energy than I thought with those initial walking intervals? Because my initial 5-min free form run in the beginning was at my normal speed and almost at my normal energy level.

Maybe my body was overheated? I try to turn the treadmill fan on when I run but the treadmill today didn’t have a fan and the extra big fan wasn’t on. I should’ve paused my run when I first felt overly sweaty and turned it on, but I thought I was being silly and that I should tough it out. I wonder now if that wasn’t the case and I should’ve turned the fan on.

If anyone has any other ideas as to why I was so much weaker toward the end than I usually am, please feel free to comment. I’m learning as I go and I want to train smart so I can stay healthy and injury-free and eventually help others do the same.