Gasping with the group

The group all met at a park at the end of Bayshore and ran back toward downtown Tampa alongside the Bay. It is a pretty run but the typical buildup of clouds rolled in and made the possibility of thundershowers a concern. We managed to get everyone back and no storm occurred but that is a problem with scheduling group activities in Florida in the summer. It is much easier to go out of the garage and start my run in the neighborhood and if I have to wait an hour that is usually enough to get the rain over and done with.

I had my new heart monitor so I was able to easily keep an eye on my heart rate. I got up near 150 BPM and started my walk mode to bring it back down. The 4 minute run and 2 minute walk seemed to work for the first mile and a half. After turning to return, I found the rate stayed higher longer. Coach Steve stayed with me for a while and he said that I should try to keep the BPM at about 75% of my Max to get the maximum aerobic growth. He says that I am growing new capilaries to carry more blood to my muscles and that going faster than that may not encourage the growth as fast. Again he says that we have a long time to train and starting out slowly with build me up without having to take time out for injury healing. I still think I am running slowly but that is why I have a coach.

Lot's of encouragement from Steve followed by a good discussion about fund raising with Marai, my Mentor. Time well spent...I came home and prepared 3 letters for target groups and pulled e-mail addresses from my company e-mail to start my fund raising in earnest.

Legs feel good, psyche feels good, Life is good.

I hope my running will enable one or more of our honored teammates to feel that way too.

Going to bed to rest up for tomorrow's adventure.