Running good. Weight loss not so much.
O.K., de-flabbification has stalled. I weighed in at 171.8 today, so there’s been no improvement in two weeks and in fact I’ve backslid a bit. It’s hard to try too hard knowing the cruise is coming up soon. I’ve given myself until Labor Day to get my weight down to 165, so I’m O.K.
Weight loss may not be happening, but running improvement definitely is. This morning I went on a seven mile and change run, with a four mile tempo run in the middle. I finished the four miles in 29:01, about a 7:15 min/mile pace. It felt fast and a little hard, but not overwhelmingly so. I know I could have gone quite a lot faster under race conditions. 7:15 is right about on the nose for a half hour tempo pace for me, according to Daniels. I’m not sure when I last ran that distance or farther at a 7:15 pace. It felt absolutely great, and I have only a little feeling of irritation in my Achilles tendon despite the fact I’ve had three strong and brisk runs of at least 5.8 miles each this week.
As soon as I’m confident my Achilles tendon can handle it I want to try a one mile time trial. I haven’t tested myself in a mile for a long time — maybe over a year. Based upon my running today and my interval workout last week I feel pretty confident I can beat 5:55, but I don’t know by how much. If I can run as fast as 5:45 then I will know without doubt that I should be able to run a sub-20 minute 5K (that’s a 6:26 min/mile pace).
The key now is not too push it too hard too fast. I’ve had my speed work for the week; now it’s time for easier running for at least a few days, although if I feel really good I might be able to sneak in that one mile time trial before I leave on the trip.
June 27, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I would take running over aesthetic improvement any day… and 4 miles in 29 minutes? I reckon I would give away my first born for something like that (just kidding! Not that I have any kids to give away, anyway
).
Good luck with the mile trial - glad to hear the Achilles is holding up!!
June 27, 2008 at 1:09 pm
You’re doing a great job listening to your body. You can also find some nice runs in Alaska. I ran in Ketchecan from the ship to the totem pole village, and in Skagway from the ship to the gold rush cemetery. Keep having fun and enjoying your journey.