It amazing how fast you forget. I kept getting frustrated at the start of almost every run this week because there was no zip in the legs and while the pace was perfectly fine, that certain "something" was definitely absent. Eventually I remembered that I had run a 50k last Saturday; of course my legs were not back to their usual self yet!
I took it fairly easy all week, the standard run was 8 miles at easy effort and I did that 4 times in a row. I got a little bit more adventurous on Saturday with 10 miles, which still felt easy; I ran it all on autopilot and was back home before I even knew that was I out running, really. The "long" run this week was one loop around Caragh Lake using the shortest option, which gives me just over 15 miles. It includes a rather steep climb up the Devil's elbow road and beyond, but again I managed it on autopilot, which is always a good sign. I'm in good shape if I can climb 550 feet over 3 miles entirely on autopilot.
There isn't much more to report from my week, it was rather mundane as far as running goes. Work has been mental, but poor Maia definitely had it worse suffering from chickenpox, which she had gotten from school, she even had to miss her end of year school tour, which she really had been looking forward to. Wednesday was a rough day but then she recovered very quickly, the spots are fading rapidly and she is in good form again.
There is one potentially big change I started a few weeks ago. I made a few changes in my diet, mostly inspired by the book from Dr. Maffetone. In previous years I always did a few weeks of sugar-free eating before a target race, and I also used to cut my lunch down to very small portions but eat decent sized meals for breakfast and dinner. That would always drop my weight down a few pounds, usually from about 150 to about 145 pounds (10 st 10 lb to 10 st 5 lb, or 68 kg to 65.5 kg, whichever units you are more familiar with). I always put the weight back on very, very quickly after the race. The changes I just implemented are a big salad for lunch, which gives me plenty of raw vegetables as well as a handful of nuts and seeds. I also cut my bread intake down to almost nothing, though I am not claiming to have gone gluten-free. As a result I have gone from 150 lb to 142 lb in the last 5-or-so weeks despite never going hungry once, and I still have my fill of chocolate, so there might still be room for improvement before an eventual target marathon (though I'm not planning one of those any time soon). I'm not sure how much weight I can still drop, my weighing scales have me at less than 9% body fat already (though that's not particularly reliable), so there isn't much scope for further weight loss. It's my lowest weight for 5 years, and back then it was pneumonia that got me so low, not something I would recommend to anyone.
I've read that the most reliable sign that you are nearing race weight is that you keep getting told that you are too thin, and that already happened in Portumna last week (and when they start an intervention and try force-feeding you, you have reached your ideal race weight ;-) ).
Right now the 10in10 is only 11 days away. Until a few weeks ago I did not spend too much time thinking about it, but now it is looming rather large on the horizon. If you thought about sponsoring me for the Liam's Lodge charity (I know you did!), now is a good time to do so.
- 20 Jun
- 8 miles, 1:00:04, 7:30 pace, HR 145
- 21 Jun
- 8 miles, 59:19, 7:24 pace, HR 142
- 22 Jun
- 10 miles, 1:14:03, 7:24 pace, HR 147
- 23 Jun
- 15.1 miles, 1:52:02, 7:25 pace, HR 145
Getting rid of any excess flab is always going to help - 65 kg seems pretty good to me. I never trust that % fat part of the scales - I'm very low on that too, but weight is 5kg heavier than when I was in my 30s.
ReplyDeleteSo Grellan jogged another marathon for the win eh? Mad bastard!