I set my alarm for 5:30 this morning, because I had to take the girl to the farm this morning. If you don't know, we are leasing a horse for my daughter to ride. Part of our payment is to have my daughter do feeding of all the horses three mornings a week; she also gets riding lessons after she is done feeding. I had to get her there by 8 am, so I got up at 5:45 and was outside warming up by 6am.
I tried something new today: I tried to jog the whole time and to not walk at all. I got through the first mile, but I ended up walking three times during the 2 ½ miles. I was surprised to see that I was a little behind pace on the first mile - 11 ½ minutes, versus the 10 ½ to 10 minutes that I have been hitting.
At 6am, it's pretty dark outside. It lightened up fairly quickly, and it was clearly day when I came in at 6:45. Even so, I felt bad for all the kids who were outside waiting for their school buses at 6:20 am.
I remember waiting for the school bus as a kid. I remember especially the year that the U.S. observed daylight savings time all year long, in order to conserve energy. I remember being at the bus stop when it was still clearly night, and the school buses using their headlights not as daytime running lights but because it was so dark. Now, that seems like a recipe for disaster - kids walking on the street and in front of a bus in the dark, dozens of kids riding a bus when it is night and the only responsible adult can't see anything that is going on.
After I dropped off the girl, on the farm just outside of Chesapeake City, I stopped on the road and rolled down the windows. I heard birds, and many, many crickets. It was so peaceful. I wanted to just sit there and listen and feel the peace all day. But I had to get to work.
2.5 mi - 33 min - 4.5 mph
You know, when I used to jog, my rule for walking (if I wanted to walk) was that I could walk but I'd have to walk in the opposite direction, thus adding to the amount of distance I would have to run. It was a fun little trick that made me think that running was a better option!
ReplyDelete(young people - always got to find a way to say "you're not exercising hard enough"...)
ReplyDelete;-)
Ok, less abusively, that sounds like a good idea if you are prone to laziness, which i certainly am. i may implement it when i get to the point that it seems reasonable that i can actually jog 3 miles. got a ways to go for that, though.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that interval training can actually be good for you; your body keeps having to adjust to the pace and different muscles are used as you switch back and forth from running to walking.
ReplyDeleteI will usually run three minutes, than walk two--for a while. It keeps me from getting bored too.
So far, the advanced activity of trying to breathe has kept me from getting bored. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI may get to interval training - I remember reading this article, and another where they advocated 8 seconds of sprinting, then 14 seconds of slower movement on a stationary bike. Wonder how that would work on an elliptical.