Since I'm tapering for Heartland I'm not doing any difficult workouts. But I still want to walk, both to maintain my weight and for the enjoyment of it. So today I tried a slightly different workout. Instead of planning a set distance, I set my Garmin Forerunner to alert me after 1 hour 20 minutes. My plan was to walk to the track and around the track for 1:20, then walk back, giving me about 1:28-1:30 of walk time. I also turned off the auto-lap feature of the Forerunner.
Then I started walking. I didn't look at my watch; I didn't monitor my distance or pace. I just walked until Garmin told me I had hit 1:20, then I walked home. I thought this would be good mental training for Heartland; I don't want to spend 50 miles and 11 hours staring at my watch every five minutes. Interestingly I really enjoyed the walk. I don't listen to music while I walk so I just spent 1:30 thinking, about work, about the race, about goals, about the family, about anything. A great way to clear my mind and enjoy the physical activity without the stress of laps, pace, etc.
Distance: 7.21 miles
Time: 1:28:03
Pace: 12:12
