Week 7 Day 1

Today's routine, the same for all of Week 7, is a 25-mimute jog.  It was 50° outside, with very light winds.  In other words, perfect to take it outside.  After the mentally exhausting W6D3 workout, I really needed to do something different.  I took a few photos during my warmup walk.

I measured this trail on Google Earth and got 0.45 mile.  I scramble down a hill behind my house to get to the trail.  It ends in the most secluded half basketball court of all time, and it begins off a neighborhood road.  I stashed the camera and walked to the beginning.  Two kids (~10 & 8) said "Don't touch the wagon mister - it's private property".  I assured them I wouldn't and at 11:52 I began my jog.  I got to the basketball court at 11:57:15, which meant I was on a 11:40 mile pace.  As slow as that is, it's considerably faster than my 13:20 treadill pace. I made it back to the beginning at almost 11 minutes in.

I stopped, hands on knees, for about 20 seconds to catch my breath.

I ran back to the basketball court, and along the way was passed by a middle school girl jogging in a coat.  She may have been overdressed, but she could run the gazoobies off me.  She stopped at the basketball court.

I stopped too.

She's training for a 5K in May.  I have a feeling she'll beat 30 minutes easy.  With about 40 seconds of breathing to get the wind back in my sails, I jogged back to the other end and came back until I had hit 25 minutes.  Then I walked back to the house.  In twenty-five minutes, I went 1.9 miles - and that includes a minute of catching my breath.

I will have to check with the C25K officials to see if this counts.  Either way, this exercise was about a thousand times more enjoyable than the mental struggle of W6D3.  This was also the first exercise that was exclusively on asphalt.  I think the legs are fine, but as with my last outdoor run, sometimes you don't know until the next day.