C25K week 2

Today I started week 2 of the C25K, which consists of 5 min warm up, 3 sets of run (jog) 90 sec, walk 2 min, then 5 min cool down. I warmed up from 1.7 mph to 2.5 mph, ran at 3.5 mph, and walked at 2.8 mph. Broke a good but not messy sweat, got out of breath but not totally winded, recovered nicely. Distance was about 0.87 miles. So over a week (3 workouts) I'll cover 2.6 miles.

Watched my form, too, and ran on my toes and the balls of my feet. It certainly is easier on the shins, and less poundingly horrific on the poor treadmill. One note of caution: even if you think you don't need to go, pee anyway. That running on your toes will flat shake any pee in you out. I had to stop at 7:30 to pee so that I wouldn't leave a trail on the treadmill.

It amazes me I'm able to go at 3.5 mph. I never got there when I first tried the C25K (hell, I never got to jogging for 90 sec straight!), and I didn't get there the second time (max speed was 3.2 mph for 90 sec). If I could break that 4 mph barrier, who knows what could lie before me? Maybe 4.5, 5, dare I say -- 6 mph???!?!?!!!??? That would put me in the league with real runners!

So that's today's report from the land of sweaty exercisey goodness.

Oh, and arthur_sc_king, did you notice there's a new LJ comm for C25K? I've joined it, seems like a bunch of really nice people, at all different levels of accomplishment. And there's several old fat people like me!

New Dog?

A few weeks ago we had to let Mike's old dog Magic pass over -- she had congestive heart failure, and was getting worse and worse, with fewer and fewer good days. She was feasted and fêted in her last week, though... I even made her some caramel popcorn, which she loved, because the store didn't carry it anymore (it was pretty tasty, too). Her last snack before she made her trip to the vet was a nice handful of caramel popcorn.

She was A Good Dog.

Mike is essentially a dog person, and is incomplete without a dog. So now he's begun looking again. Adult dog, older ones are fine, no puppies or really young, active dogs, because we aren't all that active. He's looking in pit bulls as well as labs and lab mixes, and we're going through rescues (I think because Mike saw what a good result we had with Beau from VASCRC).

I wanted to ask the pit bull owners and lovers out there how they are with cats -- I know it requires the dog having been around them and knowing that Cats Are Not Chew Toys, and any breed of dog can damage or kill a cat. But I don't know much about the personal experience of pit bulls -- I just know I really like them, and they have gotten a bad rap.

The rescues around here are big on crate training, and send a crate home with any pit they place. I've also read that it's recommended to crate the dog if you leave the house, for the safety of the cats. That's kind of daunting, I've never had to do that with a dog before.

So input? Favorite rescues? Ideas? How difficult is a pit bull to train? Do they learn to walk nicely on a leash? Cesar Millan does a good job, but Mike isn't Cesar, and isn't a very personally powerful person. I am, but this is Mike's dog.