I wonder if I'm going to be eating food like this during my training for the half marathon.
Tarahumara Living Well, yesterday I ran 5.5 miles at a 9:52 minute/mile pace with an average heart rate of either 145 beats per minute or 141 beats per minute.
Why the two different heart rate averages? Well, it seems that my Garmin GPS heart rate monitor might be giving me inaccurate heart rate readings during the first parts of my runs, perhaps because if the monitor is not moist, it doesn't work correctly. Only after I am warmed and have sweated a little bit do the heart rate readings become accurate. Just a guess on my part. I have no other explanation as to why my heart rate would start fast and then slow down as my run continues. And I was running faster as the run proceeded. My mile paces were 10:21, 9:51, 9:51, 9:59, 9:28 and 9:30 pace for the last half mile.
Today I went to a state park with the intention of running. But I noticed it was raining. I had checked the weather before I went to the park and rain was nowhere in the forcast. So, I left the state park and then decided that I shouldn't wimp out. I went back and ran 5 miles. I wasn't completely soaking wet by the end of it. It was mostly sprinkles, maybe just a bit of snow. Not sure.
My overall pace for these 5 miles was a 9:39 minute mile pace. That's a little bit faster than yesterday's run. But I am actually trying to keep these runs slow and relaxed. Why? Well, I'm not exactly sure. But I am hoping my coach will clarify this issue of how intense workouts should be, once she actually starts being my coach. I have another week to wait for that. She's still working on developing my training plan.
My splits for the 5 miles were 10:11, 9:31, 9:21, 9:43, 9:27. Average heart rate was either 148 bpm or 143 depending on whether I believe the reading from the first mile (I don't, so I think it was 143 bpm).
Meanwhile, I decided, against my better judgement, to sign up for the Turkey Day Drumstick Dash, a fundraiser for the hungry and 4.5 mile race here in Indianapolis on Thanksgiving Day morning. Many thousands of people participate and I decided I wanted to be part of this event, even though I have the Jingle Bell Run 5k race 16 days later. I don't like having races that close together. But I'll let it go this time.
I had my oats, ground flaxseed, berries and brown sugar for breakfast this morning, my standard eats for the AM. After my run, I was pretty hungry. So, I had a mixture of brown rice, corn, black beans with a can of no salt added tomatoes, some chopped green chilis (from a can), with some cumin and black pepper. Heated in the microwave. When I'm that hungry, it doesn't have to taste great. But it was pretty good anyway.
Then, since I was still hungry, I baked a sweet potato in the microwave, added cinnamon and more mixed berries. Ate that and I was still hungry. So, I baked another sweet potato and added cinnamon and brown sugar.
For dinner, my wife and I went to a Chinese restaurant and ordered rice and vegetables. The sauce was probably illegal by McDougall standards. Can't say for sure. But overall, I'd say nutrionally I did pretty good. I need to stay away from restaurants if I want to do better though.
Tomorrow, I plan to take a day off of running and on Monday I plan a light, short run. I want my legs fresh for the Drumstick Dash.
4.5 miles. Isn't that a strange distance for a race? Wonder how they came up with that.
Bye for now.