Running, Online?

My goal is to run five times a week routinely, so that I improve my strength and endurance. In my search for ways to keep the habit and improve, I found online running logs. I wasn't sure how it would work, but I decided to check one out anyway.

I went to LogYourRun.com. I made an account, and found out that I can log other things than just running. These include swimming, biking, weightlifting, and many more options (even things like skiing and rowing). I logged some things I did this week, including the two times I ran and the four times I lifted weights. There is an option that asks how much I weigh and what my body fat percent is. I don't know what or how to find my body fat percent, but there is a link that will help me figure that out.

After entering my information, I found a few more options. There are pages that show you what you've done over your past week, month, or year. You can also look at graphs that show your speed, distance, weight, or BMI.

But even then I was a tad bit skeptical. I suppose I could see how much I've improved on paper (kind of), but that doesn't make me improve any better or faster. But then I discovered something else. There was a tab that said "Training". I had to click it. It went to a page that explains about goals and stuff, and then gives you an option of what you want to train for. In most cases, the goal is a certain race, at a certain time, and at a certain length. I don't have a race, however, so I clicked "beginning to run".

This one click brought me to around 20 links to training routines. Some focus on basics, some on weight loss, and some were "#"-week plans. I choose "Cool Running's Couch to 5k". Beside it said "2m", meaning two months, I think.

This led me to a calendar. It didn't seem threatening at all. It showed me that if I run about 3 times a week, I could be running 3 miles at a time in 9 weeks. It started out with weird letters and symbols that I had to try to figure out ("60sR/90sW"). It probably looks very obvious to you, but it confused me for about a minute. It means run for a minute, then walk for a minute and a half. After this, repeat for twenty minutes.

The calendar goes from running and walking to jogging and walking. In week 6, I will be doing "j5m/w3m/j8m/w3m/j3m" (j=jog, w=walk, m=minutes). It seems like it should be easy enough, but then in week 7 I am all of a sudden running 2.5 miles. I guess I would've preferred if I could stay on my walk/jog method, but then I looked at the times I was jogging. In week 6, I have to jog 8 minutes straight, and that is only a segment of the day's workout. I could run a mile in 8 minutes, I think. So then I realized that the schedule made lots of sense, and that it would probably work.

Now I think is an appropriate time for an official goal-statement.

By following this schedule strictly, by my birthday (May17th), I will be running at least three miles daily.