hitting the road

the terry fox run is in just five months, and this year i'm really training for it! (are you running? you should! it's fun!)

last year i completed the 10k in 100 minutes. this wasn't super, but i was very happy with the fact that 10 min/km wasn't just my *average* speed but also my *consistent* pace throughout the course.

so, training: the ravine near my house is a wonderful place to get ready for september. it's only 2km from end to end, but that's a decent start. here's the plan i'm following, brought to me (and now you!) by sparkpeople.com! it's your basic "walk a little, jog a little" routine, where the proportion of walking to jogging decreases over a twelve-week period. i've been out there twice this week, and here are my observations, so far:

- midday isn't the best time for jogging
even though i walk/jog in a ravine, there are lots of clear patches, and it gets really, really hot. that climb out of the ravine nearly killed me today! drinking more will definitely help, but so will getting out of the house before noon.

- good shoes are super; laces that like to undo themselves aren't
i need to find a solution to the latter problem!

- having to check the time constantly is annoying
i've created a week 1 playlist for my ipod shuffle. it alternates between four-minute and one-minute songs, that way i know to switch gears when a new song starts!

- 4k ain't so bad!
because the twelve-week plan slowly increases the amount of jogging, it starts at about 4k per outing and peaks at just under 8. that leaves me about a month to go from 8 to 10 k... i hope that's feasible!

even if i end up walking the last bit at 10 min/km, i'll finish in 83 minutes - 17 minutes better than last year! and if i stay on pace with the first 8k, i'll finish in 78, an improvement of 22 minutes! (these numbers aren't perfect because, if i really keep this up, even my walking might be faster!)

this project comes at a good time for me: not only do i have lots of openings in my schedules, but it feels wonderful to be moving again... and with purpose. when i used to work out on an elliptical machine, i knew how much time to aim for, how many calories i typically burned, and what the difficulty level was. it wasn't aimless jogging because i had information and knew more or less what i was accomplishing. although the gauges are a bit different here, it feels similarly intentional.

and intentional feels good.

plus, there were dogs and blue-purple flowers today. and beauty is very good.