While We're on the Subject of Running
I hadn't been to the gym for about five days. I'd done a little workout with my $35 home gym, but nothing really shirt-soakingly sweaty in a while.
So I made up my mind to run a mile today.
[*People who could care less may skip ahead to the asterisk]
Because it was frickin' cold this morning it was indoors on the treadmill--also 'cos I was a bit lazy and slow getting moving today. The irony of driving a mile to the gym in order to run a mile has never seemed so pointed.
I set up a "fat burner" program on the treadmill for 13 minutes, with the goal of making a mile in 12. I ran for 8 straight minutes, which may be a personal record, walked for the 9th, then ran the rest of the way. My top speed was 6.5 mph and my walk speed was 3.5 or so.
In the 15 minutes total I spent on the treadmill I went 1.43 miles.
And amazingly, I never once felt like dropping dead. In fact I didn't even notice the first 8 minutes. Even though my mp3 player died in 40 seconds. Or perhaps I outran it?
Working out for me involves the music player because I can't stop myself from thinking. I don't especially like exercise purely for the sake of exercise, and it seems very pointless except as a recreational choice.
So to run eight solid minutes without interruption, despite the fact that I was going nowhere and had no tunes to distract me, is a fairly big deal.
After some work on the weight machines I did another 10 minutes at 3.5 mph, just for yuks.
[*]
In all I covered 2 miles in about 25 minutes today. Shirt sucessfully soaked. It feels better than I thought it might.
posted by Metro @ 9:12 am
3 Comments:
Quite envious because I had to give up running about 12 years ago due to a compressed lower disk and a wonky hip - it was the only exercise I felt able to keep up on a daily basis. And it was free!
After about half a dozen years of inactivity (and much weight gain) I am now back at the gym, but this time doing gentler and kinder stuff for my old body - yoga and pilates. I have an exercise bike at home but it's so bloody BORING I almost never use it.
I do really miss that lovely exhausted-yet-exhilarated soaked-with-sweat endorphin-charged high you get after really pushing yourself.
Quite agree about gym location - mine is about a five-minute walk from the house, otherwise I would never go.
Still not smoking? I had one during Easter week just to see ... made me feel icky and I couldn't even remotely remember what I used to find enjoyable about them.
Anyhow, good for you experiencing a 'personal best'!
Congrats, that is much better than I did on my first time out. Started with the plan to run two blocks, walk one. Did that for six blocks, then switched to run one walk one. Did that for four blocks, then switched to walk two, run one but only if it's not uphill. Did that for three or four blocks, then gave up and powerwalked. Still sweat-inducing.
Got to pester those people at the Y for more passes. Right now I'm heading out on my second run in five years. Also, got a lead on a job tomorrow: wish me luck on BOTH.
PS got the Sun Run training program on my blog; check it out if you want a really good way to build up to 10k. You can jump in to whatever your normal mileage is if you're a regular exerciser.
Envious?
Not sure I could use that term. I exercise out of necessity. It's pure co-incidence that I seem to have trained myself to enjoy it.
Otherwise I'd sit home playing poker online, messing about with my guitar, and oh, blogging or something :-)
RC:
Thanks. And doubly so for the Sun Run program. I figure if I'm going to do this stuff anyway, I might as well have a goal in mind. And the Ironman gets too crowded, really.
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