Personal victories are perfectly fine as milestone!

in #fitness3 years ago

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I have no natural athleticism.

I'm 55 years old, 30+ pounds overweight, my VO2Max is mediocre at best, and I've been out of mountain training for five years.

Trying to mitigate all of the above, I've been working out on three training hills, sized small, intermediate, and "goddammit!". I'm very fortunate that the first two of those are within 3 miles of my house.

My small hill has a 2 mile long trail that gains almost exactly a 1000 ft of elevation. I usually walk up this hill in the evenings, taking about 38 minutes to do so, which is a reasonably steady pace.

Given the length of my stride and limits to how fast one can move their legs without running, my time for 2 miles over level ground is 33 minutes. I've been trying to hike up my small hill in 33 minutes (thereby covering the 2 miles as though the hill didn't exist) for the past 6 weeks or so. The first time I hiked that hill, it took an hour. About 10 days ago, I came within 90 seconds of the 33 minute milestone, but have not been able to break it, however hard I tried.

This evening I gave it everything I had...

31:47, baby!

Objectively, that's a pretty mediocre time for 1000 ft gain over 2 miles, and I have to make serious improvements on my aerobic endurance... but for the moment:

Victory is mine, victory is mine! I drink from the keg of glory... bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land!