More Good Omens

Numbers for this evening’s run workout:

From the Polar -

Total time: 00:40:31

In zone: 00:16:39

Average HR: 128

Max HR: 165

KCalories: 516 (40% from fat)

From the Nike+:

Distance: 3.72km

Time: 00:40:05

Pace: 10:44 min/km

Calories: 397

Once again, exceeding my Zone 1 heart rate on a regular basis - the average HR stat kind of lies. My recovery rate is getting faster and faster, and as a result my HR is stabilizing lower and quicker after each split. Effectively I’m going from 98 to 150+ for three minutes and then dropping back down to 108 after two minutes of recovery walking. While this is great for my endurance and strengthening my heart, it’s crap for burning fat…I’m simply throwing myself into glycogen-burning mode too quickly. Much like my swimming, I need to learn to take it a bit easier on the run. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it took me over 10 years to get to this point; I’m not going to go back to 170lbs. in ten weeks. Reality check there, Bucky. However, I can take comfort and solace in the fact that my resting heart rate has been getting lower and lower over the past week. I’m feeling stronger, more relaxed, and less ill-at-ease in my body than I have since last August. I keep telling myself…’if this is what it’s like after two weeks of adaptation, imagine what it’s going to be like by the end of May’. I’d set the groundwork last year with my first tri, and kept it going with the Run For The Cure, the Turkey Trot, the Resolution Run, and the Harry’s Spring Run-Off. I don’t think I gave myself enough credit…rather than sitting back and doing nothing, I somehow managed to keep my base fitness at a decent level, and my body is rewarding me by whipping itself into shape faster now than at this point last season.

I’m feeling good. Food consumption is changing, thanks to my constant tracking of everything that’s going into my mouth…I actually turned down Cadbury Easter eggs today. It’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. I’m prepping things now, making sure that I have protein and carbs ready as soon as I rise in the morning…making sure that I have multiple options for lunch, all healthy. Water is now a daily habit for me - as Cin commented the other day, we’re moving out of ‘tea and biscuits’ season into ‘water and fruit’ season. I’m constantly watching video clips from the ITU and Ironman that I’ve converted from YouTube to my iPod. Mentally the shifts are being made into focused race mode. I can feel myself getting more serious, less flaky towards my training, and to that end I went out and bought one of those huge 2′x3′ wall calendars, the dry erase type. My poor suffering wife…she now has my Orca race bib hanging on the wall next to this calendar, which outlines my entire training plan for the rest of this calendar year, right through my taper in December.

It feels good to obsess about something that’s good for me.