Wednesday, January 30, 2013

See that second word up there?

Run.

My husband was walking on our road and didn't need the car – being a one-car family takes a little strategizing sometimes – so I drove it to a two-mile stretch of flat road along a river for my walk yesterday afternoon. And then something CRA-ZEE got into me and I decided to run.

Well, jog. I don't know what tips the scale between jogging and running, but I know I wasn't going as fast as I would have if, say, a bear were chasing me.

This view of a reflected river birch made 
me pause my walking app for a few seconds.
After about five minutes of walking, I began alternating 30-second jogs with 90-seconds of fast walking. Then I lengthened the jogs and reduced the walks to 60 seconds each. Then I got tired of checking how many seconds I'd done on my phone, and just winged it.

At the turnaround, I decided to run jog until I needed to rest, at which time I would walk as fast as I could until I felt I could run again. I was able to keep the faster pace up for about five minutes at one point.

My customary four-mile time lately as been about 90 minutes. I'd like it to be 80, but it just hasn't happened. Yesterday I did 4.28 miles in 66 minutes – a 15:25 pace.

A starting point. And maybe it's not something I'll do every time I venture out, but it felt good – very good – to know that I can still pick up the pace. Even a little bit.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

That's the right way -- ease into it gently so your body has time to adapt.

Noel Lizotte said...

Good Job! I admire folks who run. I don't run. Not even to catch a bus. I'm not built for running. I don't like running. And I can't imagine running 4 miles!!! Congrats!

Vickie said...

On of the trainers I know suggests using something from your landscape:
Mailboxes, fence posts, telephone poles, stripes in the road, etc to space out your walk/sprint.
I realize you are in the middle of no where and there either might not BE anything, or they might be too far apart,but thought I would mention it

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