Week 1/ Week 9 of Beginner Walk/Run Schedule

I've decided to start at week 9 of the beginner's schedule as I think I can keep running for 10 minutes at a stretch. I want to start the training of at a fairly leisurely pace as the temperature here is still high. Highest daytime temperatures recently have been high 30s degrees celsius, and humidity is high. For this reason, and for reasons of finding time to train, I shall usually train in the early morning.

Sunday 27th August
Resting Heart Rate: 72 bpm
Weight: 92 kg
Time: 0745
Air temperature: 20 degrees C
Run: 10 minutes
Walk: 20 minutes

Tuesday 29th August
So much for running in the early morning. Leonard, my younger son (2 1/2) woke up before me. Had to let Sebnem, my wife, sleep as she got up early with Leonard yesterday, so instead of running I was building a Lego castle. Running postponed to tonight.

Resting Heart Rate: 56 bpm
Time: 2045
Air temp: 22 C
Run: 11 minutes
Walk: 19 minutes

Thursday 31st August
Leonard waking up all night, so I'm in no fit state to run in the morning, tonight I will be. There's a sudden change in the weather. It's dull and overcast, and cool (for Turkey at this time of year).

Resting Heart Rate: 52 bpm
Time: 2015
Air Temp: 14 C
Run: 12 minutes
Walk: 18 minutes

Saturday 1st September
Well I was supposed to run 8 minutes and walk 22 today, but it was not to be. We spent the whole day dealing with various aspects of of decorating our new house (trying to find someone to get get rid of the waste left by the tilers, briefing the painter, finding and haggling with the gch and radiator guy). The tilers have just finished so I spent half an hour carrying the left over tiles down to the basement to put them in the store room. I can at least say I did some aerobic exercise, which Art says is important as well as the running. I don't think missing today will set me back unduly. I'll contnue with week 2 of the beginners' schedule tomorrow, 14 minutes running.

Tools for the Job

The Training Ground

I'll do most of my training on the perimeter road of the campus of the school I teach at. You can find this at 40 55'04.78"N, 29 21'37.32E.
1 Lap = 2.1 km
Front drive & back = 0.2 km
Carpark & helipad = 0.5 km

The Training Shoes

Mizuno Waverider 9; a running shoe for those with neutral footstrike, which apparently I have.

The Training Regime

I shall be following the advice of Art Liberman on the State of the Art Marathon Training website. As suggested by Art, I will be using the Mayoclinic stretching exercises to help avoid muscle strains.

Why do it?

To prove to myself I can? Mid-life crisis? Probably a bit of both. I'm on the verge of my 38th birthday and vaguely aware that my muscles, joints and ligaments don't move as easily as they used to, and that if I 'm going to run a marathon before I die (which I had always promised myself I would) then I'd better get on with it.