Hi guys. Anyone still running these days?
This year, I ran my first race (10K) in May and similar to Neuqua, it was a struggle. I had the same expectations (I
was an athlete, I got this
) - but ended up walking the majority of the back half.
After that, I would sign up for 5Ks about once every 2 months and kind of do it for fun, while mixing in some jogging throughout my neighborhood. Not enough to train for these races at all, in hindsight.
Only recently, like, say, the past month, I've gotten really serious about it. I'm doing a 75 Day Challenge, where one of the requirements is 45 min of exercise a day. I fill that time up running or jogging, or walking.
I'm on day 13. Yesterday I walked one mile, ran 3 miles, and then walked/ran the last two. I can definitely tell my endurance is picking up and I'm learning things on my own, like keeping a pace that won't fatigue me too early, and such. I was having IT band issues when I would just randomly run a race without training, but now that I'm consistently exercising, that pain seems to have dissipated.
Here's a few random questions I have:
1. Should I be taking days off? Focus on another kind of exercise once a week or something? I'm not sore or anything, nothing I can't push through.
2. My Apple Watch tells me my VO2 Max is embarrassingly low. Below average. I'm 6 foot and I just clocked in at 144.2 lbs. Whats the deal, man?
3. Am I doing it wrong by doing this walk-run-walk trend I've been doing? Would it be better to just suck it up and run the entire time, even if I go at a slower place?
4. Should I just watch a YT video and shut up?