Two rounds at the reservoir

Had been to Upper east side to meet with some friends today. Later on went running at the reservoir in Central Park. Ran the first round in 15 minutes. Ran/walked the second round in 20 minutes. Much slower pace than yesterday.

3.1 miles in 30:02 sec!!

Went to the Gym early morning today, and ran 3.1 miles in 30:02 sec! Am quite impressed with myself. Did a little bit of weights afterwards, but felt I was too exhausted to be doing any more exercise.

Weekly run at Central Park

Did the same run as the previous three wknds maybe at a slower pace. The whole thing took around 1:05 minutes. Should try to go for two rounds around the reservoir next week.

2 miles in 20:30 minutes

Good work-out today at the Gym. Finished 2 miles quite comfortably with only a couple of minutes slow walking in between. Spent some time on weight training later.

1.5 miles in 15:30 minutes non-stop on the treadmill

Things can only get better from now on :)

Made it a point to go to the Gym after work and before my doctor appt. Ran as much as time permitted. Will be able to run more tomorrow after work.

Short run in Liberty State Park

Ran/walked for around 20 minutes in Liberty State Park this morning. My fitness levels have gone back to 3-4 weeks back levels thanks to the lack of consistency in the past two weeks. Will have to put in more effort over the next two weeks to ensure I do decently in the 5K run on 8th Oct. If I run 4 times each on both the weeks, I should be able to get myself to complete the race in 27 or 28 minutes.

Another run with colleagues in Central Park

This time 10 of us went running. Ran from the entrance to the Reservoir. Stretched a bit, and then ran one round around the reservoir. Walked for a bit during the run. Afterwards, ran back to the entrance. Took around 65 minutes for the whole thing.

Back to running after 3 days break

Ran in Liberty State Park today evening after not being able to run since wednesday. Ran from one end of the walkway to the other without stopping in 15 minutes. Then walked/ran back the distance in around 20 minutes.

More people from work join the 'running club'!

Eight of us went running today evening in Central Park. Slowly jogged from the entrance of Central Park to the reservoir - must be a little over a mile and it took around 15 minutes. After stretching a bit, I ran once around the reservoir keeping close to two of my colleagues - took around 15 minutes to complete the 1.3 mile stretch. We were stretching while waiting for our other colleagues to finish their second round. Afterwards we jogged back to the entrance together - probably taking 15 minutes to do so.

From my side it is a big improvement as I could run with my colleagues without slowing down to a walk.

5K in 32.25 minutes on the treadmill

Quite good! I completed 3.1 miles in 32.25 minutes today evening after work in the Gym. Ran for 2 miles without walking (first mile in 12 minutes and next mile in 10 minutes), walked for three minutes and ran the rest of the distance. Ran short spurts at the rate of 7.5 miles per hour twice.

This definitely measures very well against the Couch-to-5K plan details - but then I wasn't exactly a couch-potato when I started on this :)

It does look realistic that I can cut atleast 5 minutes off this time over the next 3 weeks. May not be able to finish in 25 minutes, but I guess finishing the 5K race in less than 30 minutes would be something to be proud of!

Two rounds at Briant Park

Pulled myself away from an exciting Federer-Roddick US Open final and ran two rounds in Briant Park. The trail is a little less than one mile I guess. Ran the first round in 10 minutes. Walked for 5 minutes, and ran another round in 12 minutes. When I left, Federer and Roddick were tied at 3-3 in the third set after spitting the first two. On returning, I could just catch Federer holding up the Cup!

2 mile run

Ran 2 miles in the morning; wasn't in the best of moods and shapes to be running :(
Completed the first mile in 12 minutes and the next in 11 minutes. Worked out the strength training machines a bit later.

Running in Central Park with colleagues

Ran with some of my colleagues today in the Central Park. The idea was suggested by GZ (from Germany) who has completed a few marathons so far, and is preparing for the NY marathon later this year. In addition to GZ and I, JB (from France) and OC (from Cameroon) came along for the run today. More people are expected to join next week.

We started running from our office at around 7:15 and reached Central Park and ran on the right-side road towards the reservoir. The run to the reservoir was a bit of a struggle for me, and I had to slow down a couple of times. The other guys slowed down with me to give me company. After reaching the reservoir, I let them go ahead and ran slowly at my own pace. While JB and GZ covered two rounds across the reservoir (one round being rougly one mile long) OC and I ran one round. Later on all of us ran/walked back together to the exit of Central Park at which point GZ went back to run some more. We walked back to office.

It was around 8:15 when we finished running. My guess is the total run must have been around 4 miles.

This was definitely good way to go about working out. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be able to keep pace with JB and GZ.

Continuing the run

Ran/walked for 2 miles in 24 minutes today at the Gym. Started with a half mile run at 6 mph, walked 1/4 mile at 4 mph, ran 1/4 miles at 6 miles per hour, walked another 1/4 miles at 4 mph and finished off with a 3/4 mile run at 5 mph. Wasn't motivated to go for longer run; body was too stiff! Finished with 5 minutes of stretching.

5 Miles in Centennial Park

Ran/walked two rounds at the Centennial Park today evening. Took 1 hour to complete the 2.5 mile circuit twice.

Running outdoors is quite different from the controlled run on the treadmill.

Day off; worked out with weights

Spent one hour in the Gym focusing on the strength training exercises.

Have incorporated a 5 minute run as a warm up exercise for the past few sessions. Follow that up with a few minutes of stretching before going on to the main work-out.

Worked out on different machines to exercise different muscle groups. Tried the assisted chin-up exercise with 70 pounds assist; was going for 90 pounds earlier. Finished with a few minutes of stretching as usual.

Will have to incorporate more exercises in the routine especially for exercising the lower body and abdominals.