Knee Deep in the Hooah!

Well I ran on the treadmill today for 20 minutes of my aerobic workout. I still did the cross trainer both before and after the treadmill, so I got a total of an hour in. I think that running on the treadmill is a more intense workout in some aspects, but the cross trainer allows me to go farther distances since the impact is minimal.

I am really wanting to train to be a good runner. The main reason being that there is never a guarantee that I will be living nearby a good gym that has a quality childcare center like the one I have now. I do have a jogging stroller, so if I can train to run a few miles at a time then I have a pretty good guarantee that I will always have a pretty accessible means to getting my cardio workout done. I really do not want to lose any ground since I have had to work so hard to get into good shape again.

The program I am using was given to me by a friend at the gym. We also attended MOPS together this past Fall/Winter. She is about 10 years younger than me, but she has asthma and wants to learn how to control her breathing when she is running. She initiated the idea for that reason. I can teach her about the breathing through the exercises I used when I was training in classical voice. They are the same techniques that I told Mr. Hooah! about when he was re-learning how to run long distances, and it helped him quite a bit. She is an encouragement to me, and the program we are trying is very graduated. There is nothing more discouraging for me than to have unrealistic goals set before me, and to feel like I am going to fail before I even get to really try.

With this program I feel like I may just have a fighting chance. So, we’ll see how we do tomorrow. Here is the regiment we are following:

20-minute interval aerobic:

This is based off of “intensity levels” which vary per person, per day, per
experience. A starting block would be level 1 sitting on the couch; level 2
standing; level 3 might be walking; level 4 might be carrying a bag of
groceries; level 5 carrying a bag of groceries up a flight of stairs; and so
on. Think about your ability to talk/breathe while doing those activities.

2 minute warm up, about a level 5 intensity (at this point keep it at a walk
4.0 on the treadmill)
1 minute, level 6
1 minute, level 7
1 minute, level 8
1 minute, level 9
Start at level 6 and repeat this pattern 3 more times, but on the last cycle
add a level 10 for 1 minute.
Then bring it back down to a level 5 for 1 minute and you are done.

Recap: 2 minute warm up at level 5; 4x (1minute each of levels 6, 7, 8, 9);
1 minute level 10; 1 minute level 5

On the treadmill you could try, level five 4.0, level six 4.5, level seven
5.0, level eight 5.2, level nine 5.4; level ten 5.5 (That is starting you
off with 3 minutes of running, if that is too hard start it off slower).

I am really looking forward to seeing how well this program works for us. It is used to train for a 5k. I don’t know if I will ever be able to do a race or not, but we will see what time and training allow. I am committed to try anyway!

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