W3D1

That was actually (dare I say it?) ...easy...

I wasn't feeling like driving all the way to the park (10 minutes), so I filled up the camelbak, leashed the dog, and stepped out my front door to make a loop around the local high school.

The first 90 second interval was nothing new, I'd been doing it all last week. No problem. 90 seconds was also plenty of time to recover and prepare for my first 3 minute run....and it was ...easy...

While riding my motorcycle for endless hours on I-10 last week, I spent a lot of time spacing out. I mean, I was always paying attention to the road and drivers around me, but the only way to get through that much boring interstate is to disconnect from the idea that you have "this many more miles" or "this many more hours" to go and by the way, don't obsess over your sore rump or how much your shoulders ache.

In both riding and running, music helps. As my eyes range over my ever changing surroundings, I stop thinking about time and distance. I just jam to the beat and perpetuate the movements my body is making.

During the last 3 minute interval, I was kind of annoyed when Ullrey jarred me back into awareness with his one minute warning. I didn't want to know how much was left.

I can hardly wait to do W3D2.

In other news, I have an old Polar F11 heart rate monitor that I used to exercise with frequently. A battery issue (I procrastinated getting the watch battery replaced) relegated it to my dining room table last year. I tried using it again at the beginning of this year when I first got Lucy, but it was the chest transmitter's turn to have low battery.

Anyway, I was planning to start using it again when I complete C25K (thinking that a beeping HRM was incompatible with the program). Reading over the manual this weekend, I realized that it has a "manual-HRlimits off" setting which simply records heart rate over the course of a workout.

I wore it today during this workout and occasionally glanced down at it just to see where my heart rate was during different stages of the intervals (just curious).

One of my big past issues with the HRM is that it wouldn't "let" me start running. As soon as I began to run, my heart rate would shoot up and the watch would start beeping like crazy. During this run, my max heart rate was lower than I've ever seen it during an attempt to jog.

I also tested my OwnIndex (basically a proprietary version of VO2-Max) and was shocked to find I'd improved by 10 points from the last time I tested (about a year ago) and was by far my highest ever result (that's good). I'm certain that this improvement has entirely happened within the last few weeks. I think the F11 is going to become a valuable motivation and fitness tracking tool for me in a month or two. I'm adding some VO2-Max goals to my list.