Pushing it to the Limit

Pushing it to the limit for me, a middle-aged brisk walker, does not lead to Gatorade ads. But here's what I did. Went down to Town Lake in Austin, the iconic Hike and Bike Trail just at the edge of downtown. It's a great spot to jog and walk. A few days ago, I walked the loop from Mopac pedestrian bridge to the Lamar pedestrian bridge and realized it's a 3 mile course.

My goal for today was to walk 3 miles at a brisk rate, above 3 mph or about 16-17 minutes a mile for the entire 6 miles. I did it!

I got a bit of a shock, but in a good way after completing the first circle. Map My Run said I did the first 2.8 mile loop at an average of 9.57 minutes a mile! I did that lap in just about 28 minutes total. That's almost running, or at least jogging. On the second time around I jumped up to 49 minutes for the loop. I slowed all the way down to 16:42 per mile.  I must have gotten weary on the home stretch.

The whole walk, twice around, took me 76 minutes-- an average of about 13 minutes per mile. That exceeded my goal by a decent amount. Break out the champagne-- and the Gatorade!