Wednesday Workout Update - American Tobacco Trail, and Guest Pass at Planet Sam

On Sunday, Jeff and I ran 4 miles on the American Tobacco Trail, which is this really awesome greenway/trail that runs through the Cary/Apex/Durham areas.  It was built on an abandoned railroad track and is part of the "Rails-to-Trails" program in North Carolina.  It's only open to pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians - no motor vehicles - which makes for a very relaxing run.  It's also mostly shaded - you feel like you're running through a forest, although oddly enough, even though there were plenty of pine trees and needles on the ground, it didn't have the familiar forest scent that I am used to - I knew there were many different species of pine trees out there, but I didn't realize that some don't smell like anything!

The trail was paved on some parts and covered with a really fine, compact gravel on others...I was surprised to discover that it felt really pleasant to run on.  I did end up with some very tiny pebbles in my shoes when I was finished, but it wasn't bad enough that I needed to stop and empty them out during the run.

We walked for one mile to warm up - look how beautiful the trail is:

Jeff starting our walking warm-up - what a nice change from our usual Texas suburban runs!

Me standing by the gorgeous greenery - all kinds of ferns and whatnot.  See the pine needles on the ground?  No smell!

Then we started our run...it was fairly cool, although pretty humid, thanks to some daily afternoon thunderstorms.  A lot of the first part was either flat or downhill, which made mile 3 a bit tough - all uphill.  We were doing 1:1 intervals and I actually ran all of the uphill parts (I'm not ashamed to admit that I walk hills quite often)...the last 3/4 of mile 4 was slightly downhill, and I have to say I enjoyed that bit immensely.  My Garmin even chimed a new "record speed" for me at one point - I hit a 6:45 pace for enough seconds to register - I'm talking probably 30 seconds at the max, haha.

Finished:

Four miles ran, 1.25 walked.  Nice way to start our Sunday!

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Since I'm not home at the moment, I've been given a guest pass to Planet Sam - our son has a gym in his garage.  While he doesn't have a leg press, he does have a rowing machine and lots of weights.  After I ran on Sunday, I used his weights to do some arm exercises - I tried to replicate the movements/targeted muscles that I was doing on the machines at Planet Fitness, and I guess I did a good enough job because later on when I went to wash my hair, my arms were fatigued just lathering up.  It will be nice to pop down to the garage every couple of days and hopefully keep up some of the strength gains I've made since my summer of Fun, Fitness, and Friendship began.

Adjustable weights - not sure if we got them down to 10 or 15 pounds, but my arms were like jello by the time I was finished.

At one point when we were working out, Paco was with us.  Sam got on the rower to warm up, and apparently Paco wanted a ride:

I don't know what goes through my dog's head sometimes...