The 36 x 0.11mi workout.

I wanted to get out for a recovery run yesterday after my long run Friday morning. I didn't have time to fit in a slow 10 miles so I settled for a run at the YMCA where my daughter has her swim lessons. My wife took our daughter into the pool and I took the boy in the Bob jog stroller upstairs to the 3 lane running track that goes around the buiding.

The track is odd, it's 1/9th of a mile and it's an oval shape with one flat end. I didn't even bother counting laps and just timed my run with the Garmin. I kept a moderate pace and just ticked off the laps. There were a lot of people walking or jogging slowly around the track that I had to weave around with the occasional runner passing me. The boy probably guessed that the scenery wasn't going to change so he dozed off a couple of laps into it. I had to finish by a certain time which worked out to 36 minutes of running. I timed the last 3 laps and did 57 - 58 seconds per lap (~8:40/mi pace) which wasn't as slow as I wanted but with the time constraint I was happy to do a little over 4 miles.

My complaints other than the obvious boring scenery:


- The floor wasn't the soft spongy material that decent outdoor tracks are covered with. It was a harder surface that was between cement and asphalt in feel.
- I couldn't just put the iPod on and zone out with all of the weaving around people walking 2 and 3 abreast, plus I had to steer the Bob around the corners. Had to make sure I didn't hit anything with the precious cargo.
- People standing around not working out. I must have passed two women standing around fiddling with their cel phones 10 times before they left to go stand around somewhere else and not exercise. They could pay me the monthly fee and do that "workout" from their own home with the same results.

The positives:
- I got a run in.
- The boy napped the whole time.
- It's better than a treadmill.

Tomorrow I'm planning to run a virtual 10.72KM race after entering the "Global Warming, My Ass 6.66 Mile Run" put together by: Running Off at the Mind My normal work loop is 6 miles exactly so what's another 1/3mi out and back, right? We'll see what kind of shape my legs are in after Friday's 20 mies and what kind of shape the trail sections are in after the brief snowfall today. I'm feeling competitive.

I should have the report up by tomorrow night.