Easy + Tempo Run At The Gym

Total Calorie Intake:  2,130

(Exercise Calories:  728)

Total Net Calories:  1,402

How many times have you heard this one - "I was planning to run this morning, but woke up a bit too late at 6:15am...".  Well...it happened again this morning.

Add that to a busy day at work - so no getting out for a noon-time run - and I thought that there was no hope for a run today.

However, my younger son took a late nap (didn't wake up until 4pm) and I knew my wife was going to want me to do something with him while she was putting my older son (who was extremely tired and falling on his face after school) to bed.  Of course, the first thought in my mind was, "how late does childcare go at the gym"???  (the answer...8:30pm!!!??? - umm - whose child-care-aged kids are still not in bed by 8:30pm?  isn't that a recipe for a meltdown?)

Anyhow, the plan did not get vetoed.  After the kids ate dinner I took my younger one to the gym and put him in the childcare room - there were 4 other children there at 6:15pm.  I hit the treadmill for what was going to start as an easy run.  I was going to try to do another 4 miler or maybe 5 - depending on how I felt.

I felt GREAT!  I started out at 5.0 mph (12:00/mile) for the first 0.25 and then increased the speed every 1/4 mile until my HR was in the 140s.  By the end of the first mile I was up at 5.6 mph (10:45/mile pace) and still in the 140s.  Nice.  Especially after yesterday's "first run back" after being sick.

I stayed the course at the 10:45/mile pace until 3.5 miles into the run.  My HR was starting to creep up, but I still felt good.  Also, I hadn't pushed the pace in what seems to be months (I took a look at my log now and see that it was less than two weeks ago - November 12), so I decided to kick it up a few notches for the last 1.5 miles.  For the first mile I ran at 6.7 mph - a 8:57/mile pace.  With half a mile left, I bumped the incline up to 1%.  With a quarter mile left I  bumped the incline up again - to 2.0% - and bumped the speed up to 7.0 mph - a 8:30/mile pace.  At this point my iPod was pounding out Pedalsped's "Stretch" - the chorus starts "Race for the sun / Don't let anything stand in your way..."  Very appropriate!

The full 5 miles took 51:15.  I may try to fit one more run in before the Turkey Chase - maybe Wednesday morning.  I want to run outside to acclimate myself to the colder weather before Thursday.

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One more thing...  This morning was weigh-in day.  I weighed 169.0, so I lost 1 pound vs last week.  Not too bad given that I pigged out for 24 hours from Friday night to Saturday night.  Thankfully I got back on the program on Sunday - just in time for the weigh-in.