Day 36: Monday, April 27, 2009

Well, as I said in Week 13-15 Recap that I would be starting keeping a written journal for my workouts again, but to be fair to myself that I am not starting over, and since I don't have a written reminder of how many days I did workout through those weeks, that I would just start again where I left off - hence, this is day 36 on my journal, even though, more than likely, it is somewhere between 40 and 45. For this logs purpose, it is only day 36.

And so the journey continues. Last night, I only had a half an hour to do any activity, and knowing that I still have some pesky pounds to drop, I decided to get on the treadmill. However, I do not run in the traditional fashion (at least the tradition I had begun with the running/walking in three minute intervals) - instead, I run when I feel like running, and slow when I feel like slowing. I would like to say, I still have a "goal" - and I do, but how I get to that goal, or if I even do get to it, is not that important as it used to be to make sure that I ran an exact portion of the three minute intervals. I had begun that "interval" training as a way to improve my conditioning and heart - but now, I feel like I am strong enough to not have to worry about pushing for only a minute of time running and then needing a 2 minute cool down session to be able to run only another minute.

At any rate, last night I began with a short 1 minute walk at 4 MPH before upping the speed to 5.5 MPH. My plan was to run as long as I possibly could at the 5.5 MPH - and really, my "goal" was to get to 10 minutes before slowing - my breathing did not coorporate, and I made it to only the 8:00 mark before slowing my pace - but 7 minutes of pure running (jogging, whatever you want to call it) is much better than I could do at the beginning of 2009.

After that initial run, I went back to walking, but that lasted for only a minute or two, and then I ran some more. This trend continued, where I ran as "much as I could" before taking a minute or two "resting" period and slowing my pace before picking the pace back up. The ultimate goal for me (and the reason I try to push myself out of the gate is to be able to obtain this goal) is to run for 20 of the 30 minutes on the treadmill. I labored towards the end - when I had 3 more minutes worth of running remaining, with only 5 or 6 more minutes of treadmill time left, but I made it to my goal.

In total, I ran at 5.5 MPH for 20 minutes (pushing myself to finish that last minute and a half) for a distance of 1.83 miles. I also walked at 4 MPH for 10 minutes for a total distance of 0.67 miles. Complete with cool down, I completed 31 minutes for a total of 2.53 miles. Not quite the 3.1 miles needed to complete a 5k within 30 minutes, but definitely a good starting point, at least, a starting point from this day forth - from the past, it is much better than the 2.20 miles I was able to complete on day 1 of my program.

I did not complete any strength training on this day.