I dug back thru my FB wall to review from where I started training. Silly me, it would have been a lot easier to dig back thru Twitter - much less clutter, and the bulk of my recent tweets are my treadmill log. Anyway, it was June 21, 3.5mi in ~1 hour.
Session 2, Jun 29, peak at 4.2mph.
Session 3, Jul 12, peak at 4.4mph.
Session 4, Aug 2, peak at 4.7mph.
Session 5, Aug 5, peak at 4.9 and my first full-lap jog phase.
Session 6, Aug 9, peaked at 5.1mph
Session 7 on Aug 12, 2 full-lap jogs and a 5.3mph peak.
The peak pace shooting from 4.2 to 5.3mph is very encouraging; likewise that 4.8mph groove for 1.25 laps when was just peaking there for a half-lap 10 days ago. I'm very pleased with my progress in just 8 sessions. I'm looking forward to breaking the 50-minute/5 kilometer barrier soon. And tangentially, having something to leave the house for, besides client visits, has been very good for my mental health.
It's getting to be about time to add some targeted bodybuilding to the cardio. For reference, minimum male Marine fitness standards at age 40-45 are: running 3 miles in 30min. (i.e. 6mph), 3 pull-ups or 15 sec. flexed-arm hang, and 45 crunches in 2 minutes. For a male Army soldier age 42-46, minimum fitness standards are 30 push-ups in 2 minutes, 32 sit-ups in 2 minutes, and 2 miles in 18min 42sec (i.e. 6.42mph). Navy "probationary" fitness standards at age 40-44 are 1.5 miles run in 15min 30sec (i.e. 5.8mph), 24 push-ups in 2min and 35 "curl-ups" (sit-ups) also in 2min. "Medium satisfactory" is a notch up to 15min 15sec for the 1.5mi run (i.e. 5.9mph), 29 push-ups and 37 sit-...er, curl-ups.
Whew! I'll be pleased with myself when I can hack 5.8mph for a half-lap, much less sustain such a pace for 15.5 minutes.