Lately, I have been bringing some extra layers with me to the gym so that once I am finished lifting, I can get a mile or two in walking. I never really have a distance, pace, or time goal. I just want to move a little more instead of just going home. In a way, it feels like stretching out. I have also come to enjoy the walking classes via Peloton. Depending on how much time I have before I need to be at home, I have filtered out the walking classes by time and will take whatever I can (As long as the playlist is not country). Almost all of my walks, I am wearing my weighted vest.
This morning, I kicked off a 45-minute power walk via the Peloton app and hit the road. Initially, I did not set out to PR anything. All I wanted to do was see if I could keep a quick (for me) pace for the entire walk and use the queues during class to pick up the pace even more when and where possible.
Last year when I was walking a great deal, my fastest 5K walk was just over 45 minutes. I never thought that I would be able to get it under that, especially with a weighted vest on. If I was going to over analyze this (shocker), I would be paying attention to the areas where I was at a slower pace and try to do this again, except make sure I was a touch faster in those spots. When I looked at my watch toward the end of the walk, I just knew I would sneak 3.1 miles in under 45 minutes. I wasn’t even really all that winded or worn out, which I guess is good, because in the end this was really just a walk.
But it makes me curious what my time would be if I ran a 5K, minus the vest, of course. My all time best 5K was just under 30 minutes. That was in Florida on one of the flattest courses I have ever run in my life. I also believe that the course was short, so in my mind, I have trouble counting that one. All of my other 5K runs were usually 30-35 minutes on a good day. This year, I would like to run a 5K without stopping. The goal beyond that would be to run one in less than 30 minutes.