Loopy

Friday’s Run (10/08/10): The First 30-Minute Training Run

Whew, what a week!  On Friday, I planned to do my “long run,” a 30-minute run at an easy pace, and I found myself looking forward to it all day.  Before my work-out, I wasn’t very hungry, but I thought it would be wise to eat something before heading out the door, so I made a smoothie out of strawberry kefir, strawberry-cranberry juice, and club soda.  It was so pink!  And it was perfect too—not too sweet, and I had a great run, for which I’ll credit my pink smoothie.  Even though it was after work and I often feel tired at that time of day, I felt wonderful, strong, even perky.

The best part of my run was the route.  I discovered a nice loop recently, one that takes me about an hour to walk, and I’d been eagerly looking forward to testing it out on a run.  I thought it might be too long for a 30-minute run, but it was perfect.  With my warm-up and cool-down, the distance was just right to take me out and back to my door in about 40 minutes (5 minutes each for warm-up and cool-down, 30 minutes of running).  I tried to run it continuously, as one of my half-marathon goals is to take fewer walk breaks so I can run a speedier half.  I only stopped when it was time to cross the busy road that cuts through my running route, so I had maybe a 2-minute break early in the run, but the rest was continuous motion.  I was very happy with this run, and I’m starting to get really excited about doing my long runs.  Let the half-marathon training begin!