Day 168, 197 To Go

June 17, 2013

Let me start out today's blog by first stating that I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read it.  Second, I want to apologize to my many, many readers (like 7) for not posting a blog all week.  I have no good excuse, but I will attempt here to give a few bullshit ones:

1. I had a busy week at work (not really, but this is always a good one, and it makes everyone feel sorry for me because I work sooooo hard)
2. It rained all week and my Internet connection was spotty
3. I had family coming to visit and I had to make preparations (My son, Caleb, is visiting...but he came on Thursday, so what was my excuse before then?)
4. I was lazy (only real one in the bunch)
5. I forgot (I am quite forgetful in my old age)
6. Honey yelled at me every time I tried to write my blog because she wanted me to do something else (this is fairly accurate)
7. And last, but not least...I was too busy watching Internet porn (um....only kidding Honey)

So, without further adieu, here is Monday's blog...

I am nearing the end of the 2nd quarter of the year which means I have to start increasing my time from 20 minutes every day to 25 minutes.  To do this, I will increase gradually.  This week I will run two days for 25 minutes, and next week four days.  Then it will be July and I can run six days at 25 minutes with the 7th day being my long run.

I found this difficult when I went from 15 minutes to 20 minutes because although it is only five minutes more a day, my body was used to it and it didn't handle the extra stress well.  I have to be careful of injuries during this time.  I will probably cut out my long run or cut it down on the weekend to make up for the increased workload during the week.

Today, for my first 25 minute run, I felt really good until about minute 22.  Then I kind of faded a bit and started to regret my decision to run 25 today.  Luckily I only had three minutes left and I finished strong.

Here are my numbers:

Time: 25:00

Distance: 2.92 miles

Pace: 8:33/m

Max Pace: 7:11/m

Calories: 372
Avg HR: 131

Max HR: 149

The extra time didn't have any impact on my pace other than I slowed down slightly at the end.  For some reason, I don't feel like increasing from 20 to 25 will be as hard mentally as increasing from 15 to 20 was.  I could be wrong, but I think maybe I am just more in a groove at this point almost halfway through the year.  Ask me in a couple of weeks and I may think differently.  Until then though...

Run for Life!!