Friday morning, I reached my intermediate goal of 180 pounds.  So as planned, my daily workout changed drastically.  It was time to run.  Since it is now spring, or what I lovingly call "the dead of winter", running outside was out of the question.  I stayed indoors and used my trusty, reliable little friend, the treadmill.

After work, I did not do my usual boring 10-mile walk on the treadmill.  Instead, I stretched for 5 minutes, then warmed up for a half mile at a slow walking pace.  Then, I alternated running a 1/4 mile lap and walking a 1/4 mile lap.  The running laps were done VERY HARD - some laps at over 9 MPH.  To cool down, I walked the last mile and a half.  Altogether, I did 6 miles in a little over an hour.

My diabolical plan is to increase the time and distance of each running interval while decreasing the time and distance of each walking interval.  This will ultimately lead to all running with no walking, except to warm up and cool down.  I expect to be able to keep this up until my workout is about 8 miles long and completed in an hour or so.  At least on most days.

GEEK ALERT:  A discouraging point here is the math.  If you walk 4 MPH for a lap, then run 8 MPH for a lap, you do not average 6 MPH.  It is less than 6 MPH.  This is because even though you are running and walking the same distance at each speed, you spend much less time running than walking.  This is a "weighted" average.  (Try working it out on paper, if you are skeptical.)

THE GOOD NEWS:  The cardio part of my workout took not much more than an hour compared to the 2+ hours a day that I have spent chained to the treadmill lately.  This leaves almost a whole extra hour to do some universal machines and other strength training.

I want to spend some of the extra time working on my abs since I can now see them for the first time in over 20 years.  My other weight work consisted of mostly arm exercises using lighter weights, stuff that I learned at Boot Camp.

Even though I completed a decent amount of miles at a good clip, after my workout, I felt the best ever.  From just one session, I can tell already that this is going to be more and more fun as time goes on.  This will also become less time-consuming, especially when the lawn will need to be mowed after work - before the city calls me about it.

Saturday's health assessment was okay.  My body fat percentage remained about the same, but I blame that on my lack of hydrating - admittedly my biggest fitness fault.  As Ron Graham told me, failure to hydrate can throw those hand-held fat monitors way off.

Cori helped me with suggestions to increase my carbs to fuel these more intense workouts.  Her best tip was to "pair up" foods during my morning and afternoon snacks.  For example, eat a banana with my yogurt, or string cheese with my apple.

Pair up beer and pizza?  Someday?  Perhaps?  Maybe?  Pretty-please?