running progress--*PANT*

Um, I ran outside today. It was 85 degrees. I tried 8-minute run intervals. By the 2nd one, I was pretty sure that this was a very bad idea.

Here are my lap times (1/2-mile) per the nano stopwatch:

Lap 1: 7:26 (includes 5-min warmup walk)
Lap 2: 6:07
Lap 3: 7:35
Lap 4: 7:49
Lap 5: 6:34
Lap 6: 4:54 (1/4-mile, finishing out the cool-down song)

Total time: 40:27
Avg lap time: 6:44
Avg speed: 4.08 mph

Not too bad, all things considered. Still a long way from where I want to be by next month, but better than I thought I would do today. Also, though my lungs and right knee were unhappy with the running, my ankle felt pretty good throughout. Maybe it's healed?

More stuff about the run below...primarily about my new run playlist (iTunes links today...I didn't want to mess with all the uploads. And, you know, copyrights and whatever).

To make sure I was properly motivated, I went back to my original c25k method--a custom playlist. I timed everything out so that I could do a 1-song walk, 2-song run throughout. The only exception is a 2-minute song that I really wanted in there, so I made one interval 3 songs and the last interval only one song. Here's the playlist:

Warmup: Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (5:08)

Run interval #1:
Stay Gold, Ponyboy - Get Up Kids (2:54)
Run Runaway - Slade (5:00...and not on iTunes, apparently)

Walk:
Wear Sunscreen - Baz Luhrmann (5:11...this iTunes link lists a different artist and is longer than my old mp3, but the sample sounds like exactly the same version. Maybe it's updated?)

Run interval #2, planned:
Jackie Chan - Dollyrots (1:49...this song was really too short for the set, but I wanted it because the spoken word part makes me smile every time. "...covered in BLOOD!")
Watch Me Go - Dollyrots (3:10)
Grace Kelly - MIKA (3:07)

I stayed strong through the first two songs, but was starting to get a little dizzy by the time Grace Kelly started talking ("the last time we talked, Mr. Smith, you reduced me to tears...") So I walked through that song, and the next one:

Good Man - Josh Ritter (4:08)

Run interval #3:
Stronger - Kanye West (5:12)

It was ALL I could do to get through that one, but I was glad I decided to put it at the end. The "now that that don't kill me..." lyrics were totally what I needed right then.

Cooldown:
Damn, Feels Good to Be a Gangster - Ghetto Boyz (5:09...no link available)

While it didn't go exactly as I planned, I did enjoy the mix. I think I'm going to keep using it until I can make it through the 2nd run interval from the pseudo-Chinese opening riff straight through to the "ka-ching-A!". :)