Monday 19 laps

32:22 minutes, 30:70 sec run/walk ratio

(My run/walk ratio was actually more like "run for about 30–40 seconds, then walk the rest of the lap." It's very hard to pin a precise ratio on it. But my run interval was more than 30 seconds, less than half a lap.)

And, yay! An excellent time. Shows what a difference it makes to run rested and without the sun beating down on me! I went out around 6:15 pm (meant to go at 6 pm, but got distracted), after the sun was well down behind the mountain, so it was shady all around the loop. The temperature had already cooled off considerably from today's high near 100 F. I felt good and kept up a good pace the whole way. In fact, my second mile was a bit faster than my first, probably due to walking the first lap.

I was going to listen to my iPod shuffle, but the battery had run down, so I just ran in silence. I'd been worried that the bugs would be too annoying to run in the evening, but they weren't any worse than they are in the morning, so no big. Plus, it's much easier to kick myself out the door in the afternoon than it is in the morning. So, I think this schedule is going to be a keeper.

I've also decided to try to exercise six days a week, instead of only three. I'll continue to run/walk three days (looks like Monday Wednesday Friday for now), and on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I'll either walk two miles or do some yoga or Tai Chi or something. I did actually go out and walk two miles Saturday, but I don't plan to make separate posts for the in-between days. I did two miles in 37 minutes. It would have been less if I hadn't stopped twice to shake rocks out of my shoes, and once to see if someone was coming up my driveway. I figure I lost about two minutes in various stops, so I probably could have done the two miles in 35 minutes if I'd kept going. Which is kind of freaky when you think about it—that's as fast as some of my slower running days. Heh. If I could keep up that pace, I could walk a marathon as fast as my last few running ones. Oh well!

It does make me think that I'd be just as well off to walk on days that I'm feeling particularly tired or icky.