Cold Reality

So the alarm went off at 5 and I got out of bed! Victory! By the time I stepped out of the car at the track, suited up and ready to run, it was 5:20. And did I start out with some light stretching or a few "warm-up" laps of brisk walking? No! That makes too much sense and takes too much time. I just jumped right in to a jogging pace. Typical me.

It didn't take long to realize that, yes, as expected, gravity would effect my ability to put in the miles. The jogging trampoline really protects the joints and after a mile and a quarter (5 laps) my breathing/cardio was ok, but knees and ankles were hating me! I had been running for 15 minutes so having hit the prescribed 12 minute mark I slowed to a walk. I walked at a brisk pace for 3 more laps, then started up jogging again. I forced myself to complete 3 more laps so I could honestly say I had run 2 miles today and then walked my final lap to "cool down". Mileage all told: 3 miles.

Those last 2 laps of running were brutal! My naturally lazy self kept saying, "good enough!" But my stubborn self kept saying, "triathlon huh? You think so? Keep moving!" My stubborn self seems to be related to my snarky self.

When I got in the car to head home it was 6:00. So 3 miles in 40 minutes, not my usual of 4+ miles in 30 minutes, but that was to be expected. Thursday is my next run day and the time prescribed is 16 minutes. I think I'll walk a half mile to warm up, then run those 16 minutes, then walk until I reach 3 miles.

The training has begun.