This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2 & 3 Not counting my five kilometer road race on Saturday, Sparkle and I are completed eight runs to date. And things continue to improve. For myself, I’ve had one of my best weeks ever, completing a total of nearly twelve kilometers over three runs, and clocking some of my best times. (I know, it doesn’t sound overly impressive, but we’re building up to something here!) Sparkle, despite some — I’m gonna say — boredom issues, is holding her own and anxious on our running mornings to get out the door. Our schedule for week four is going to build on the progress, particularly considering I’m on holidays and I’ll be getting in three more runs before I go back to work. The Plan for Week Four Run 4.1: Wednesday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 2 mins, Estimated: 3.4 km New Considerations Weather: Our weather (and upcoming forecasts) has included a lot of heat and a lot of rain. Mornings are relatively cool, but neither the dog or I are sleeping particularly in ideal conditions when it’s so hot. And she hates the rain. Keep going, I guess. Puppy Pulling: I don’t know if it’s boredom or fatigue, but about fifteen minutes into the runs, Spark decides she’s pretty much has it and needs a lot — a LOT — of verbal encouragement to keep going. She starts slowing and hanging back, and is hesitant to run beside me. Building Up: As I progress up to the “regular 5k” mark, I need to add a couple minutes onto the schedule every week. My plan is to be up to a routine of a morning five kilometer run by October. Basically, I’m looking at an average time of thirty-one to thirty-four minutes, up from the twenty to twenty-two minutes I’m running now. Adding ten minutes doesn’t sound like much, but it means I’ll need to incrementally add a couple minutes to the total every week. I hope the pup is up to it as well. |
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Running With Your Dog - Part 5 >> This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 The last week has shown a marked improvement in both my times and Sparkle's attitude. Would you believe that she nudged me out the door on Monday, pulled all the
Running With Your Dog - Part 6 >> This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Poor planning on my part -- or not -- but the long weekend played havoc with my running plans. Ideally, I should find myself running wherever I happen to wake up
Running With Your Dog - Part 2 >> This is a follow up to: Part 1 Three runs down, Sparkle is taking to the jogging business quite well. I updated in the comments of Part 1 that our biggest issue has been her reluctance to de-bowel upon command. The
Running With Your Dog - Part 3 >> This is a follow up to: Parts 1 & 2 Six runs down, Sparkle continues to do well (with the exception of one messy Friday morning -- check out the comments in Part 2, link above.) Our focus has improved and my endurance
August 26th, 2008 at 9:10 am
[...] Running With Your dog - Part 5 From Tuesday, August 26th, 2008, so just minutes ago, [Popularity: 1%] This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[...] September 2nd, 2008, so just minutes ago, [Popularity: 1%] This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
[...] September 2nd, 2008, so just minutes ago, [Popularity: 1%] This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, [...]