great, another rest day

what a cool weekend! I like the friday rest days. Then saturday I got on the eliptical machine at the gym. When it's over 90 degrees here I'm going to be inside. period. So I did a solid hour at the gym instead. 7.3 miles, burned 740 calories it said. I tried some speedwork for the first time, but I might have done it wrong. I did the first 40 mins trying to keep a 7.0 speed, then the next 15 mins at a 8.0 speed, then for the final 5 I kept it around 8.5. Obviously, those were attempted speeds if i only got 7.3 miles in for the entire hour. There was also the clemson football game on the tv mounted on my machine. I ran faster when the tigers were putting up touchdowns.

I like the elliptical because it's zero impact. Less stress on the knees and ankles. You also use your arms in the motion, so it looks like your speed is faster than when you run alone. That also makes it a better full body workout, and you can burn more calories on the elliptical than on the treadmill. So when I feel like I need a weight loss workout, that's the weapon of choice. If my goal is endurance, impact isn't a problem, then treadmill is the way to go. I wanted elliptical today because I wanted to do a long run on sunday.

I did a long run on sunday. Actually, the longest I have ever run. I got in a full 6 miles! And where I live is nothing but hills. There are no flat spots on my route. I literally run the entire length of sidewalks that are connected to my neighborhood. Some of the hills are a really steep grade, and they are all really long. My neighborhood has exactly 1 mile of streets. It's only 2 streets they both exit onto the same road. The road runs between a 6 lane road with no sidewalks to a school, where the sidewalk ends. I did the neighborhood loop, then to the school, then to wade hampton blvd, then back to the school and back home. On my normal 5k training route, I just run the neighborhood and to the school and back home. That's 3.2 miles. If I stretch it to Wade Hampton and back to the house, it becomes a 3.5 mile run. just found that out last week. But that was the first time I have ever gone back to the school for a second time. Wow. It took 1:10, which is an 11:45 pace or a 5.1 m/hr speed. Which is pretty good for all of those hills. I'm just amazed at the distance I pulled.

Long runs are fun, but I'm getting tired of running up and down that same road with all of those hills. I need to find a city park with a trail. A nice, long trail. If I can bike the trail too on cross training days that would be even better.

Today's a rest day, so tues wed thur this week will be 2 3.5 mile runs and an hour of cross training.