8 minutes and 47 seconds
It's been (plenty below) freezing here in the mornings so I've been putting this off for a bit. But this morning I went outside with my GPS and walked over to a little trail about .2 miles from our home. After walking on the trail for another .2 or so miles I reset the GPS odometer and started jogging. I wanted a benchmark time so I tried to jog at a reasonable pace and then just keep running until I had gone a mile. Anyway, it took me 8 minutes and 47 seconds. It was cold enough that my throat was hurting by the time I was done. And I notice that my calves are a little sore now so I'm clearly not in running shape. We'll see how much I improve on that over the course of the year.
Did I mention that due to a lot of scrambling by my friends up at LANL I am funded through the summer? That means awesome insurance for this next baby. Very nice.
I'm going to use comments on this post to keep track of my 1-mile times. We'll see how it goes.
Did I mention that due to a lot of scrambling by my friends up at LANL I am funded through the summer? That means awesome insurance for this next baby. Very nice.
I'm going to use comments on this post to keep track of my 1-mile times. We'll see how it goes.
posted by Douglas H. at 8:20 AM
11 Comments:
Hi Doug. I like stories like that too. Sometimes I feel like we're always too much the conformists and peacemakers, never allowing ourselves to get outside of the box.
That's great to hear about your further funding. Let's chat soon. I've had a lot of little ideas racing through my head regarding your various ideas.
Dad, that sounds great. Let's talk.
I wanted to make one other note on jogging this morning: besides sore calves my whole body feels better than usual. I had forgotten what a nice effect exercise can have.
7:36 for trial number 2.
I didn't hold back as much as last time. I don't expect an improvement like that again. I didn't run between last Saturday and today because my legs were recuperating most of the week and then yesterday was an all-day event at Los Alamos. Soon I hope to add in mid-week training.
7:19 seconds for trial number 3.
This time I was running at an altitude of about 750 feet around the Caltech campus instead of the 5200 feet I run at in ABQ.
I would say my effort level was similar to or less than that of last week.
9:49 or something for trial number 4.
I started out too fast. I looked at the GPS expecting to see about .3 based on where I was on the track and as I looked it changed from .15 to .25. I was tired and had lost faith in the measurement. It was cold and by the end I was trying to breathe through mucus. Anyway, next week, no walking.
7:24
I was more tired than at CalTech by a good bit. And my throat hurts from that freezing cold air. I'm starting to think that altitude makes a real difference for me right now. Perhaps I'm establishing a good baseline right here at about 7:20 and improvements from there can be considered real improvements. I want to get into the 6 minutes. Will I have to start training to make that happen?
7:19
That puts me at the time that I got three weeks ago at Caltech, which is about 1 mile lower in altitude. So I guess that is progress. It was hard to keep going this time. I started out at slightly over 10 mph. By the end I was breathing out every time my left foot hit the ground. Air was an issue.
7:39
I started slower and it wasn't suffering like it was last week. But I got a worse time.
Well, it looks like I've found my level. I've been running a mile each week for what will soon be two months. I think it is time to start doing a little training to get things moving.
So here it is: this Wednesday I intend to run 2 miles. I won't time them but I'll run them at a decent pace.
It's Wednesday.
It's funny, I ran slower today knowing that I was going to run further. The muscles in my leg didn't like it too much so it was almost harder than running a mile quickly. For that reason I only ran 1.5 miles instead of the planned 2 miles.
I ran 1.8 miles today. I didn't time them. But I ought to time myself this coming Saturday. I'd like to break 7:19.
Actually, I'll look toward the end. If I'm close then perhaps I'll book it.
1.16 miles in 8:06! (--> 6:59)
It was so dark that I had to stop running to see the distance and time. I stopped late and ran about a 6th of a mile too far. But if you do the math then you see that going the same average speed puts me at 6 minutes and 59 seconds for 1 mile. That's a personal best for average speed despite the fact that I ran too far. I guess adding in a distance run in the middle of the week has already paid off.
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