A run around the block

Run type: aerobic
Distance: 12.2 km
Average pace: 4:28/km
Average heart rate: 141
Weather: cloudy (10C)
Sleep: 6.5 hours

I recall that when I was a kid every now then I would say to my father, "Daaaad, I'm booooored. What can I dooo?" And he would quickly reply, "Go for a run around the block." Since we lived in the country and the shortest road route that could bring you back to the same point was probably about 25 km, I soon learned not to pester him with that particular line. But today I did go for a run around the block. In fact five runs around the block.

I have a 3.32 km loop and a 1.12 km loop from my place; I did three of the former followed by two of the latter. I had it penciled into my taper plan as three of the 3.3-km loop at 75% of HR max. How well did I stick to my plan? The first was an average of 71% (4:42/km; HR 132), the second was 77% (4:23/km; HR 143), and the third was 81% (4:15/km; HR 150).

The next two shorter laps count for less because I had a toilet break in between the longer laps and the shorter laps. But they were 71% (HR132) and 78% (HR144), for what it's worth. Actually it is worth something because the numbers are nearly the same as the first couple of longer laps. In each case, the pace was a few seconds slower for the short laps, so that would seem to suggest some small degree of cardiac drift. That is a little bit disconcerting as you would hope that at a temperature of 10 degrees (yes, I measured it) the week before a marathon you could run 10 km without any cardiac drift whatsoever. Oh well, there is no escaping that the last 10 km of the race will be tough, no matter what the circumstances.

Overall, despite the cold, I felt pretty good and had no leg pain. There were times I felt I was in the zone, body more or less disconnected from legs, breathing kind of hard, but comfortable and unlaboured, just kind of gliding, almost as though being transported by some unseen machine. Of course that did not last the entire run, maybe only moments of it, but enough for it to feel very encouraging. My leg has given a couple of twinges at work today. But generally I think by this time next week it will not be any trouble at all. The only potential problems will be preparation, execution, and underlying fitness.

I have been trying to cut back my calorie intake just slightly over the last week. I still pop the odd chocolate at work, have had a fw peanuts and chips here and there, so nothing obsessive. Anyway, I weighed in at 70.0 kg after the run today. No great change, but it would be nice to be down around 69 or 69.5 before I go into full on carbo loading mode from Sunday.