The real plan... sort of...

I've been pondering this plan all day now. The challenge itself is relatively simple: to get just fit enough to last a short run, in 8 weeks. You'd think putting a plan together would be simple, right? Well, no, it turns out, it isn't.
So what I've decided to do, is not come up with a plan. Nope, I'm not quitting already, the objective remains unchanged, I've just decided not to do a plan. Not a proper plan at least. In my somewhat finite wisdom, I decided I'm going to get back to basics, and break the problem down into smaller, more manageable problems, just as all good loan consolidation adverts tell me to. The first problem was coming up with an 8 week plan that I could stick to, and not knowing how the first week of the plan would go, how could I possibly dictate the requirements of my plan for week 8?

Well, as I write this, a bombshell has just been dropped, and has firmly landed. It turns out I've failed almost immediately. My plan was supposed to be an eight week plan. As I sat here last night, writing my first blog, I'd convinced myself that I have 8 weeks to get fit. Well, I don't. After consulting an actual calendar, rather than using my fingers and thumbs to work out the dates, it has emerged that I actually have 7 weeks. The big day is on the 3rd of October. 7 weeks away, not 8. Fantastic. I've just lost a whole week, I feel robbed, cheated!! This just goes to show that no good can come from calendars, which is exactly why, even though I receive one most years for Christmas, I never put them up.
On the plus side, this does highlight my point about not making a full plan, because at this stage I would have had to bin it and start all over again. Well, not to worry, I'll just have to work a little harder with each of my weekly plans.

I've decided that my plan for week 1 will be relatively simple, not too simple, but one that I'm quite confident that I can do without too much fuss. The logic behind this is that once I've determined how I've done in the first week, I can then amend the plan to suit the second week, and so on.
But before I go into finer detail of the plan, and in a very shallow attempt to buy a little time to really come up with a plan, rather than waffle on about why I haven't done a plan (it's not a cop out, it's legitimate logic!), allow me to show you what I will use to achieve the goal:

Here's what I'll be training in; my indoor running shoes, which were initially purchased as gym shoes, when I actually used to go to one. I've since moved house, which is further away from said gym, and have real bills and stuff to pay now, so this was a good enough reason [excuse] to stop going and cancel my membership. I have been meaning to sign up to a local council gym, but yes, you guessed correctly, I just haven't got round to it, yet.




And here's what I'll be training on, my housemates treadmill. No need to go into detail here, I'm sure you all know what one is and what it does. This particular model is a top of the range Kirsty Gallagher item, purchased by my housemate from the specialist fitness retailers, Argos. Features include an analogue speed knob, variable incline settings (1, 2 or 3, set by adjusting the height of the rear feet) and a heart rate monitor which blatantly tell massive fibs. But, not to complain (mainly for fear that said housemate will revoke the offer), it beats running outside around these parts, where, dressed in my rather chavtastic outdoor trainers, I'm likely to be chased by the West Yorkshire constabulary under suspicion of robbery.

Ok, so I successfully wasted a bit of time, and in waiting for my phone to transfer the photos to the laptop, I think I've come up with a plan. A real one..


THE REAL PLAN (Week 1)
It's a bit of a compromise is the the first week. I need to make sure I keep it achievable, yet testing, so that I can use the results to come up with a plan for the second week. The plan is to train five nights a week, Monday to Friday. I had initially decided that I'd do sessions of half an hour to begin with, but since I've just lost a whole week, I'll have to work a little harder, so I'm going to set a target of 45 minutes per session. I know at this stage, that I cannot run solidly for 45 minutes, I'll have to build up to that, so I'll have to break the 45 minutes into 5 minute intervals which will, in the words of Run DMC, go a little something like this;

• 5 minute warm up, slow walk at 6km/h
• 5 minute run at 11 km/h
• 5minute active rest, brisk walk at 7km/h
• 5minute run at 11km/h
• 5minute active rest, brisk walk at 7km/h
• 5minute run at 11km/h
• 5minute active rest, brisk walk at 7km/h
• 5minute run at 11km/h
• 5minute cool down, starting at 7km/h and reducing one click every two minutes
  

As I've now got that laid out in front of me, it looks quite hard. To me at least. Well, i suppose its better than it looking ridiculously easy, at least I'll be challenging myself. I just hope I don't throw up in my first week, don't really fancy keeping a sick bucket at the side of the treadmill! This begins Monday, not because I'm intentionally delaying getting off my backside, but I'm quite busy on my weekends, so I'd rather set days which I know that I can stick to, rather than make excuses and not.

I'll keep posts frequent as to my progress through the week, and use these to determine what the plan will be for week 2. At this stage, I anticipate that week 2 will be much of the same, just upping the run periods, and reducing the rests... but we'll see...

Wish me luck!!