on May 13, 2010 9:58 PM
First off, I hate running. Really hate it, but I hate stationary bikes and treadmills even more.
Second off, I'm really not built for running. I'm large framed, and somewhat tall, but the killer is my legs are like stumps. Squats are easy for me, but running is hard.
Despite those things, I'm trying to lose some unwanted pounds and improve my general health, so that involves cardio among other things.
Anyway, long story short, I've been concentrating on running for about 6 weeks. Today I doubled my normal distance just because I felt good and there was a nice breeze which helped to cut the nasty humidity some.
For kicks I pulled up Google Earth and commenced to find out how far that actually was. Turns out it was 3.28 miles which is just a bit over 5 kilometers.
Not sure of the exact time for the 5k part itself, but I was gone for 45 minutes. I walked the first little bit of it, .08 miles according to Google Earth again, ran a little bit over a true 5k, and huffed and puffed for a little while before I went inside and looked at the clock.
I figure that actual 5k part was done in around 40 minutes, which probably puts me on par with a 65 year old woman running barefoot. (No offense intended to said group.) I'm hauling around twice as much mass, but it's still pretty pathetic. On the other hand I wasn't really intending to race and was just cruising.
I'm kind of intrigued now. If I took it seriously and dropped 20 lbs, I wonder if I could run one under 30 minutes? I'll probably never know.
BTW, that was the farthest I have run in a long, long time. Probably 15+ years. Heck, I'm not even sure I have ever run that far before.
Second off, I'm really not built for running. I'm large framed, and somewhat tall, but the killer is my legs are like stumps. Squats are easy for me, but running is hard.
Despite those things, I'm trying to lose some unwanted pounds and improve my general health, so that involves cardio among other things.
Anyway, long story short, I've been concentrating on running for about 6 weeks. Today I doubled my normal distance just because I felt good and there was a nice breeze which helped to cut the nasty humidity some.
For kicks I pulled up Google Earth and commenced to find out how far that actually was. Turns out it was 3.28 miles which is just a bit over 5 kilometers.
Not sure of the exact time for the 5k part itself, but I was gone for 45 minutes. I walked the first little bit of it, .08 miles according to Google Earth again, ran a little bit over a true 5k, and huffed and puffed for a little while before I went inside and looked at the clock.
I figure that actual 5k part was done in around 40 minutes, which probably puts me on par with a 65 year old woman running barefoot. (No offense intended to said group.) I'm hauling around twice as much mass, but it's still pretty pathetic. On the other hand I wasn't really intending to race and was just cruising.
I'm kind of intrigued now. If I took it seriously and dropped 20 lbs, I wonder if I could run one under 30 minutes? I'll probably never know.
BTW, that was the farthest I have run in a long, long time. Probably 15+ years. Heck, I'm not even sure I have ever run that far before.
Heh, that's pretty good.
As for 5K in 40 minutes, who cares? If it was good for you, it was good for you. It was more than you've done before, so that's all that matters. Plus, if you were keeping a pace that kept your heart rate where you needed it to be for that full run, all the better.