Hard interval workout

This morning I took advantage of the treadmill again. I wanted to do some hard 800m repeats, but the track is still under snow, and it's easier on Loren for me to work out at home because when the kids wake up they can come downstairs and I can throw on some cartoons (thank you PBS!) for them while I finish my workout.

Today I warmed up for 10 minutes (0.9 miles; ave HR 133) and then stretched out my IT band. I hopped back on the treadmill and did 6x800m (0.5 miles on the 'mill since it's English not metric) at 10K pace (9:30ish per mile) with 0.2 miles rest in between (was going to do 400m rest on the track, but was just easier to keep track of 0.2 miles rather than 0.25 miles, which is 400m). The nice thing about the treadmill is that it keeps your intervals very constant. They were all 4:44-4:45 with an average HR of 149, 156, 159, 160, 163, 163. Then I cooled down for 10 min with an ave HR of 138. Yeah, I know you are thinking that 4:45 is pretty slow for 800s (I can do 4:30s at the track when I'm in good shape, no problem) but seriously, I am happy to have them like this given that I have done zero speed work for a while because of my injury. I'll take what I can get :). It will get better as I do more speed work and hopefully as I take off a few more lbs.

Speaking of the food, the eating has been going great but the scale hasn't budged. I think that my metabolism has changed a bit recently - I don't want to blame it on hormones, but seriously, I think that may have something to do with it. My body has finally kicked back into gear, 2.5 years after Michelle's birth, and while I'm happy to be back to normal again, it does seem to make a difference at the food level. I used to be able to maintain my weight on 22-24 points per day, but now it's more like 19-20 (plus my weekly 35, plus my activity points). To lose, I'm having to eat no more than 19 per day and only 15 of my 35, and only 4 activity points per day max. It's tough. But I have goals for this racing season and if I want to achieve them, I will have to watch my weight and get it back where it belongs.