Oops, almost forgot. The Crossfit peeps are doing some benchmarking this week, which I’m missing out on since I’m not officially a member yet. But got me thinking about it. They are doing timed miles and a timed 2K. Now. A 2K? Just thinking about it gives me heart palpitations. All of the mental (not to mention physical) anguish I used to go through to do a 2K in hopes of making a boat just stressed me out so much. It was too much, all I could think about.

A timed mile, on the other hand. Why not? I don’t have any idea how to plan for it, I just go out an run. And so on Monday morning before work, I warmed up by running from Lincoln Square over to Downtown Bellevue Park and jogged one lap around. The signs claim that 2 laps = 1 mile. I’m not so sure about it, in fact I checked on MapMyRun and I think it’s more like .9 miles. Anyway, I timed myself doing 2 laps and recorded a time of around 6:36. Since I’m pretty sure I cannot run a 6:36 mile, I suspect it is .9. At the 5K last week I ran the last .1 mile of the 3.1 race in 43 seconds. So if I add 43 seconds to my 2 lap time I get 7:19. I think that is probably closer to my actual timed one-mile time.

So. If I had to choose one over the other (timed mile vs timed 2K) I’d have to say I would pick the one where I am finished faster, and not suffering from burning lungs. I would choose the one that does not raise my blood pressure just thinking about it. I would choose the one that doesn’t make me exhausted for the rest of the day and requiring a nap soon after. I would choose time timed mile, for sure.

Ask me again in a few months, after I’ve spent some crossfit time on the erg.