Run Sixteen: 20 Minutes!! :D :D

20 Minutes!! I ran like a gentle breeze, not
the wind, but I ran. 

I did it!! My goal for today's run was to run for all 20 minutes without stopping. I didn't care about how fast I was going as long as I didn't stop. I totally did it. I didn't really think I could and was nervous all day about going out for a run, but once I got on the treadmill I felt good and strong and comfortable and just went. 

In addition to being worried that I wouldn't be able to run the whole time, I was also concerned about 20 minutes being a long time to go without anything to look forward to. I am sometimes all about the Short Attention Span Theater. To combat that, I wound out doing a bit of playing with how fast I was going -- I would go "faster" (relatively speaking) for two minutes, then slower for two minutes to rest a bit, then faster. I never pushed the pace all that much (so my fastest was 3.5 miles an hour and my slowest running speed was 2.9 miles an hour), because I wanted to be able to keep going for the whole time. I did finish the last minute with my fastest speed (3.5 miles an hour), though, because I wanted to finish strong. 

Which was my first time ever finishing with my fastest speed. ;D

Playing with my speed like that was was fun and it did work to keep me engaged. I'll have to remember that. 

My heart rate was potentially a little alarming -- about 95% of my theoretical max (that 220-less-my-age number) for most of the 20 minutes, as measured by the sensors on the treadmill. I'm kind of guessing that it was reading a little high, because I didn't feel like I was working nearly as hard today as I did on Monday when the reading was quite a bit lower. I'm willing to figure that I was probably more like in the 80% range, which is good. I think that's where I need to be to get better cardiovascular health. 

Next run is scheduled for Saturday. The Week 6, Day 1 plan is run 5 minutes, walk 3, jog 8, walk 3, jog 5. After running for 20 minutes today, I'm *sure* I can do that. Goal for the run: Run all of those run intervals at 3.5 miles an hour, with the last minute of each interval at least 3.7. The overjoyed level of success will be to do all of one of the intervals at 3.7 miles an hour.