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Masters of Digital Teaching and Learning Action Research Project EDUC 526: Capstone Dr. Gilbreath

Jessica Bernal 31 March 2014

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- Abstract: For this Action Research Study, I have decided to focus on my running abilities. Through this research, one of my goals will be to run faster. I hope to try out different routes, but will hopefully be consistent in the times and only get better. Another goal for this study, will be to focus on running for a longer period of time. This research study is my road to training for a half-marathon and I believe that this will be a good stepping stone for me.

- Section One: Introduction For this study I have chosen to research the topic of running. A little background on why I chose this topic is that one of my goals for this year is to run a half marathon. This past year I changed my life drastically by joining Crossfit and losing over 70 pounds. This year I have decided to push myself a little further in my goals and am going to try and run a half marathon. Because of my obsessiveness with Crossfit, I dont like to take days off to train and run for this half marathon, even though I know its what I need to be doing. My research for this project will be to find different strategies in how to train for a marathon and to implement it into my workout routine at least 3-4 times a week. I am hoping this will help increase the amount of miles that I will be able to run.

Problem Statement: Will running at least 3-4 times a week increase the amount of miles that I can run at one time? - Section Two: Implementation Through my daily reflections, I hope to find out what different running strategies will work best. Im hoping to start off with 3 times a week, and then towards the end push it to 4 times a week. I am also curious to see if running in the morning or at night is when I will find better results. Im also curious to see if my diet and the way I eat will affect my running. Throughout the 5 weeks, I know that my running will see a drastic difference with keeping running consistently.

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Journal February 11th Today I started my official journey to that half marathon. I decided to start off with a little run. The issue I am struggling with right now is that I do Crossfit 6 days a week. In order to run, I am not sure if I should start taking more days off. As of now, because it is the beginning of the research, I am going to continue with my 6 days and see how long I can do the running along with the regular workouts. So today I started off with just a 1.5 mile run. I was able to keep the same tempo throughout. I did this run after a regular Crossfit workout so my legs were already pretty exhausted. However, I ran this in 17:00, which I felt was a pretty good pace. Im looking forward to my mile time going down and my amount of miles going up! February 13th Today I decided to run 1 mile before Crossfit. I wanted to see if it made a difference in how I ran if it was before or after Crossfit. I know my running isnt where it needs to be, but I can imagine that an hour of Crossfit, my legs are going to be tired. So, I warmed up a little and then decided to go on a run. I ran it in 10:23. This is the fastest that I have ran a single mile. When I first started Crossfit a little over a year ago, I could not run more than 100 feet without stopping. I then was so excited that I could run a whole mile, even though it was at about a 13/14 minute pace. A couple of weeks ago I had ran a 10:28 mile that I was pretty proud of. So to shave a couple of seconds off of my mile time made me feel accomplished. I also realized that a big factor in my running could be that I always do it after a workout. Im interested to see the different numbers in the future weeks if I do some before Crossfit and some after. February 15th

Bernal, 4 I had a busy week, so today was the only day that I could run for my third time this week. Saturdays I always do a team workout at Crossfit, so I decided to run after that. I ran the same 1.5 loop that is all flat ground. This time I ran it in 17:30. I think a lot of factors went in to my time being longer than Monda ys (it was the same route). Today was my 6th straight day working out, so I think my body may have been a little exhausted. I also think that it could have been that it as after a Saturday workout, which are usually the hardest and most tiring. I think for the most part, I am happy with week one. Next week I am going to focus on maybe trying to run before my workouts and also doing the same route so I can really compare my times. I also want to work on gradually increasing my miles next week. February 18th Because we didnt have class tonight, I was able to run before my Monday workout. Today I decided to push myself to run 2 miles. Before this I had really only run 2.5 miles ever without stopping. So one of my main goals for this research project is to get my miles up as high as possible. I know a half marathon is 13.1 miles but I also have quite a few months to prepare for this. I want to make sure I take my time so that I am able to feel confident in my running. Anyways, so I ran my 2 miles in 23:00 today. I did my 1.5 mile loop but added the extra .5 miles by running around our Crossfit building. What I love about this route is that it is all flat. So for a beginner like me, this feels like the easiest route. February 20th Now today was my 7th straight day of working out. (I have a hard time taking days off, I like being at the gym and pushing myself). So I decided to only run 1.5 miles. I wanted to get a run in, but I didnt want to go crazy before my day off tomorrow. I was able to run this route in 18:00. I believe that it was a combination of the constant working out and going after a workout that increased my time for

Bernal, 5 this run. I know if I allow myself a couple of days off this week, my next run for the week will not be as difficult. February 22nd Yesterday I started a whole new diet plan. I am now trying to complete 5 weeks of strict paleo (which is also called the cave mans diet). This diet only allows you to have meat, vegetables, fruit, and nuts. This type of diet is what a lot of the Crossfitters will eat and they continue to see success. So yesterday was my first day and I dont know if Im eating enough, because today I felt a little light headed. But, I decided to my run anyways. I went to Crossfit in the early morning and then after work I decided to run. Today I did a little loop around my house that was about 1.75 miles. This took my 21:37. This route is a little more challenging for me because it has more hills and is not completely flat. I have decided that I want to do this route at least couple of times a week to challenge myself with the hills. February 24th There are just some days where I do not feel like going to Crossfit. Today, was one of those days. After work and after class, I decided to go on a run. I had a really strong day of eating, so I was feeling pretty good going into my run. I decided to run the loop around my house (with the hills) but decided to run 2.1 miles. It took my 24:58 to run this route. I was pretty happy with this time because of how challenging some of the hills can be. I also think that I am now going to only run after a workout or early in the morning (this would be challenging for me). So far, I can determine that that is when I am seeing the best results. February 25th Today, was a good running day. It was nice that the workout was actually a 2 mile run. I was looking forward to this run because it is all on a flat surface. Because I have my friends at Crossfit I was also able to really push myself. I am

Bernal, 6 one of those people who needs someone to yell at me for me to push myself. I am not one who is extremely confident in my exercising, so to have peers there to help push me through a 2 mile run, really allowed me to push myself. I ran 2 miles in 19:27. I was happy with this time, and may have been the fastest I have ever ran. For my last run this week, I will be attempting that 3 mile run. I am looking forward to pushing myself, but am a little nervous cause the only rest day I have had will be tomorrow. March 1st Today I felt like I was really able to push myself with running. I did a 2.5 mile loop at my Crossfit gym and was able to do it in 26:05. I felt like my eating was really on point today and I did this run before any Crossfit workout. I think that this loop was the perfect run before next week when I push myself to run 3 miles. March 3rd Beginning of week 4 for my research, and I am feeling a little scared for this weeks run. I am really going to push myself for 3 runs this week, increasing the miles in each run. However, today I did decide to just start with a 2.5 miles. I did have a rest day yesterday, so my legs felt pretty refreshed. Our Crossfit workout was a lot of arms, and very little legs, but I wanted to start this week off running, so I did it after the workout. Today I did my 2.5 run in 25:58. This is a little bit better than last week, but I also did this after a workout. I know in the coming weeks I am going to have to take some more days off of Crossfit to get in some bigger runs, but I am not sure how I feel about that quite yet. March 6th Today I pushed myself to run the 3 miles. This is the first time I have ever ran 3 miles without stopping (probably in my whole life). I was extremely proud of my time (31:07), which means I was a little under a 10:30 pace. I definitely think it helped having a couple of days off from running in between and might try to keep my running days spread out. However, next week I will be trying to run 4 days a

Bernal, 7 week, so we will see how spread out I can actually get the days. This run was also done around my Crossfit gym, so it was an all-flat surface. That will be one of my other goals next week, to run with some incline. March 8th This was a hard day today. I again didnt want to take many days off of Crossfit this week, so my body is definitely tired today. But I decided to do my run before the Team workout, so that way I could get in a good run. I ran my first 3.5 miles and ran it in 39:27. I felt like this was a pretty decent time considering I did stop a couple of times. I was a little mad at myself that I did stop, but I never completely stopped just started walking for a good 30 seconds. It was a little weird though, because Im not sure if walking actually helped. Once I started walking I felt like it was harder to start running again. I think for my future runs, I just need to push myself and know that my legs are going to burn if I walk or run. March 11th I havent ran in a couple of days, so my legs did feel good. I did a hard leg workout yesterday, but they still feel pretty fresh. Instead of doing a workout today I decided to run in the morning before I went to work. This seemed to help, running before my day has started. I did feel a tad weak, just because I hadnt eaten anything yet. But I was able to completely run my 3 miles in 32:21. March 13th Last week when I ran the 3.5 miles I wasnt able to do it completely without stopping. Today when I ran my 3.5 miles I did the same loop and was able to do it without stopping and with a faster time of 38:43. I really think it helped to have yesterday off of Crossfit and then do this run in the morning. I have really been doing good on my Paleo diet also, so I think that eating as healthy as I am is definitely helping me with my energy to keep running. March 14th

Bernal, 8 Today was my third day running this week and I decided to push it to 4 miles. Because I am having such a good result running in the morning, I decided to run 4 miles today. I was able to run this with a little over a 10:30 pace again which I was really pleased. I was also able to keep up with the running and not stop and walk. I finished this 4 mile run in 43:27. I hope to be able to do one more run tomorrow morning before the team workout. So far I am feeling really good about being able to run this amount of miles, considering I have never been able to. March 15th I started the morning off with a 4.25 mile run. I was feeling a little slow at first, but was then able to keep up a nice pace. I did keep to a flat route this time. I am a little worried getting into the larger amount of miles that I wont be able to go as far if I do the incline. But, I was able to finish this time in 46:00 which is another time that I am pretty proud of. I did this before my team workout and actually had a friend run with me. It was nice having someone to keep up with and know where my pace should be at. I do feel a little more tired from this week though having ran 4 times, but I am hoping next week I will be able to do the same. I am definitely looking forward to my rest day tomorrow. March 17th Beginning of week 6 and I am feeling good about my running this week. My only goal for the end of this week is to run to 5 miles. I hope I will be happy with my time and that I will be able to do it without stopping. Today I decided to go back down and start with 4 miles. I was able to do this run in 42:29. I think I was able to keep a good pace, but part of me knows I could have a ran a tad bit faster. Tomorrow I am hoping to step it up with 4.5 mile run. March 18th Today, I was able to get my 4.5 mile run in, however I didnt do it until after Crossfit. I really liked the workout today, so I didnt want to miss it. My body was pretty fatigue after this workout but I still was able to run 4.5 miles completely. I

Bernal, 9 ran this in 50:21. I also had a friend run with me again. I think that this helps because I have someone to talk to and I have someone to compare myself and push my pace with. I am looking forward to the end of the week to attempt my 5 mile run. March 20th Today was my first attempt at a 5 mile run. I will say that it went a little bit better than I thought. I was able to keep about an 11 minute pace throughout, which equaled up to 57:00. I did run in the morning by myself, so I am not sure if that made a little bit of a difference. I definitely want to retry doing this 5 mile run. March 21st My last day of running for my research and I felt really good. I had a friend run with me again to help me with my pacing. I was able to run the whole 5 miles in 56:38. This will now be the run that I start really practicing with. I want my miles to all be about 11 minutes or under. However, I feel really good about being able to run 5 miles without stopping though. I also know that in the future I am going to need to start running with some hills in my route. But for the sake of this research I was definitely able to get my miles up and my times did get a little faster.

- Section Three: Results

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

February 11th 1.5 mi 17:00 February 18th 2 mi 23:00 February 24th

February 13th 1 mi 10:23 February 20th 1.5 mi 18:00 February 25th

February 15th 1.5 mi 17:30 February 22nd 1.75 mi 21:37 March 1st

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2.1 mi 24:58 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 March 3rd 2.5 mi 25:58 March 11th 3 mi 32:21 March 17th 4 mi 42:29

2 mi 19:27 March 6th 3 mi 31:07 March 13th 3.5 mi 38:43 March 18th 4.5 mi 50:21

2.5 mi 26:05 March 8th 3.5 mi 39:27 March 14th 4 mi 43:27 March 20th 5 mi 57:00 March 15th 4.25 mi 46:00 March 21st 5 mi 56:38

I will say that my results are what I expected. I knew that if I made a point to run 3-4 times a week, my running would improve. As you can see with the chart, I started at about a mile/mile and a half and was able to increase my miles to 5. I was also able to keep a 10-11 minute pace throughout the research. Before the action research project, I was probably only running once or twice a week. I know that if I stick to a plan like this I will be able to run the 13.1 miles be the end of this year. - Section Four: Conclusions Through this study, I was able to learn a lot about my running style and habits. About 2 weeks into my research, I started a 30 day Strict Paleo Challenge. I know that that gave me a lot more energy, and definitely helped me be able to do both Crossfit and running. I also think that I will start running with more elevation, I know that the days I didnt just run flat, fluctuated my time a little, but also helped me build strength when going up the hills. I will definitely continue to follow this type of running regimen. I have never been a runner in my life, so being able to run 5 miles without stopping was pretty exciting for me. Another thing that I did learn through this research, was that I definitely need to take more days off. Some weeks it was challenging and physically draining to do 6 days of crossfit and 4 days of running. That was definitely a drawback for me.

Bernal, 11 - Section Five: General Comments I honestly really enjoyed being able to do something personal for this type of action research. The best part for me was honestly the results. I liked being able to push myself to just run a little bit further in distance, and then actually being able to do it. What I learned from this experience is that I am capable of doing things if I just set a schedule and really focus on it. I was able to make time for running in these 5 weeks, and I really hope that I am able to keep up with it.

Resources: http://www.halfmarathons.net/training_tips_schedule_beginner_runners.html http://www.runnersworld.com/half-marathon-training-plans/runners-world-halfmarathon-plan-for-first-timers-10-weeks