Today I'm 42

I'm still sore and stiff, but ibuprofen is my friend so today I decided I was going to make the stress test my bitch.

I wanted more than a 20 minute workout, so planned to do the test twice - once forward, then again backward. Keeping in mind yesterday's epiphany about a good workout vs. the letter of the law, I was prepared to alter the plan at any given moment, providing I didn't quit and walk away. That 5mph at 12% incline terrified me - and with good reason.

I think next time I might skip the 2mph at 2% incline phase. I walked along slowly, singing and dancing to Pandora. I know it is supposed to be the warm-up, but it felt like wasted time. My heart rate didn't even hit 100 until I got into phase 2. By the time I got to phase 4 though, I knew I was in trouble. There was no way I could run 12 minute miles on an 8% incline for 3 minutes. I CERTAINLY wasn't going to manage it on a 10% or 12% incline! I don't know if I could do the 5mph @ 8% on fresh legs, but I certainly couldn't today. Instead, I set the mph at 4.5 and left it on 8% for the remainder of the 5mph sections. 

So basically I set it just below what I could just barely do, thinking I could hold it there for almost 20 minutes. Yeah. That didn't happen. I took a couple breaks, but came right back at it. I did notice my heart rate dropped from 178 (the highest it got today... 220 - 178 = 42) to 117 in about 2 minutes, during the longest break. I thought that was pretty quick. 

40 minutes in which sweat literally dripped down my face, and later I went for a 2.5 mile walk. Not bad for being on the injured reserve. I'm actually on the mend, and hope to ride my bike home from my Mom's tomorrow. If not, I'll just hit the treadmill again. I'm already running, slowly and for short periods of time on the treadmill. I don't know about you but I cannot walk at a 4.5 mph pace. If all goes really well I'll be able to head outside for a run again Monday. I really need to start working on my mileage if I'm going to hit that 1K goal by the end of the year.