Week 1

#1: 25 minutes

Monday (5/18): Not sure how much I actually ran. I've been running with Jo these days, which is great in some ways. Whenever I quit jogging it's because I get bored with it. It's really hard (nigh impossible) for me to run any more than 30 minutes by myself, because when I get bored I start thinking about how running is not a very pleasant sensation, and I'd much rather be, say, eating pizza with friends. So running with Jo is a lifesaver in that it has gotten me off my ass and into my running shoes the past two weeks. The only problem is that Jo is a smoker, so she can't last the whole time, which means I end up slowing down a bit when I know I could go a bit faster. That doesn't bother me too much, though, because I know that the alternative is probably not doing it at all, and I'm going to do the long Saturday runs on my own, I've decided. I'll try to add in another extra run in the week if I feel so inclined. Monday didn't turn out to be continuous. There was like 5 minutes, then a walk break when I met Jo. Then maybe another 7 or 8 minutes, then a walk break when I ran into my host mom. Then another 10 solid minutes, a walk break, and another 6 minutes or so. So that was definitely at least 25 minutes, and it actually felt pretty good. I'm running in the evenings again, which is definitely when I do my best. I love summer nights. I even feel like I'm running much faster than I used to, although I'm not sure if that's accurate. We'll see when I get on the track and actually do a run by mileage on Saturday. 

#2: 20 minutes

Did it. 

#3: 3 miles

Did it. Think I did at least 3.5 miles. This is my struggle. I used to run about 10 minute miles on my distance runs. Then I slacked off, or started running in the heat, or something, but I got to the point where I was only running about 12 minute miles. I think I'm picking up again now though, especially now that I run at night. That's the point of this speedwork anyway. Sprinting is hell. Anyway, the plan is in mile increments, but running on the track bores me and I have no way to measure, so I usually just translate this to time in a 1mi=10min ratio, even though I know that I don't actually run that fast, probably.