A good long Sunday morning jog

After yesterday's jog, I felt accomplished. I jogged 5.5 miles. This is the longest I have jogged in 20 years. I started my jog at a little faster pace than normal, but slowed to my regular pace around the end of the 1st mile.

It was hot and humid, but I managed to not really tire. My warm-down included walking .2 miles home and sweeping part of the carport. You would understand why I did not sweep the entire carport if you could our collection of stuff that needed to be moved.

I also stretched. I have not talked about stretching, but it is really important to stretch before AND afterwards to ward off injuries.

In addition to finishing the jog in good form, I also had some very good thinking time, including thinking of 3 different blog posts I want to write.

Another Good Jog

Today, like Wednesday we started at a faster pace than our usual start. Jeff dropped back a bit, and I was wondering if maybe we were going too fast for him to last all 12 laps. He, however, caught up easily and on the last sprint of the last lap, he was able to keep it well enough to beat me by a step.

Like a typical August day, it was humid, but we performed well. We made the 3 miles in less than 32 minutes. I think it was a best time and slightly better than Wednesday's time. I hope we can keep it up for next week's early jog. I am hoping, before then, to get in a solo, long, thinking jog in on Sunday morning. The Sunday morning jog will depend on Saturday's activities, though.

Jogged Yesterday

Yesterday, Jeff and I had a very good jog on the track morning, despite the humidity. We started our jog a little faster than normal. Surprisingly, we finished with our second best time ever. Neither of us had been keeping the jogging up to the level we should have been so I was surprised we did as well as we did.

We jogged 12 laps in the middle lanes. The first 4 laps are regular jog (faster pace for us than normal). The long straight ways, we run starting on the 5th lap. Starting on the 11th lap, we sprint (our version) the straight ways.

Our time is usually 34 minutes. Yesterday, we finished in 32 minutes. We want to get our time under 30 minutes. In order to do that, we have to pick up the pace in every part of our jog, particularly in the beginning. If we keep challenging each other, we can do that.

Someone asked me "What are you training for?" I am not training for anything specific. I would like to be able to run in a 5K race--the small community fundraiser where nobody cares what your time is. The reason I want to run in a race is just to say I did.

Reasons to train in sprints or heavy bench press or any other technique are to stay fit, look good, feel good, have endurance, be strong, be challenged, etc. At 65, Harrison Ford can still fit into his Indiana Jones clothes. Wow! Isn't that a goal! To be able to wear the same clothes 20 years from now.

In order to stay fit, I have to be fit and continue to work out in various ways. Eventually, exercise gets boring. So I use challenges and goals in order to keep the boredom away. Jeff and I race during the sprints which makes the run fun. Besides, the jog and the run make me feel good--the after-cardio feeling. Using the time as a measurement, I feel accomplished when we finish in a fast time (for us).