Monday, April 30, 2012

elliptical; rest day; 8x800/200

Saturday I cross-trained, doing 1 hr on the elliptical. I also weighed in at Weight Watchers, and my weight was down a little. It had gotten as high as 153-154 lb, after being sick and eating too much dessert. But I was more watchful this week, and that combined with my training has helped, as I was 151.2 (68.7 kg) at my meeting on Saturday, and 150.2 on my home scale (68.3 kg). That's still a little too high, but it's moving the right way. I feel optimistic that it will be down a couple more pounds (1 kg) before my 15K race on May 20th.

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Sunday was a rest day. We had a birthday celebration for my dad, and I made him apple pie. I will confess that I did eat a rather large slice, as it was the best pie I've made in a while...losing that kilo might be harder than I think :).

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Today's workout was a tough one: 8x800/200 at the track. 800m, rest 30 sec, then 200m, rest 2 min, and repeat 7 times. Whew. I was a bit pressed for time as I had accidentally left my Garmin on after Saturday's cross-training, and so I had to stay home an extra 20 min to charge the battery, which fortunately lasted the whole workout. So, I only warmed up for 1200m with some strides and dynamic stretching. My legs felt awesome, though, and I thought this could be a good one.

I got started and told myself to take it EASY on the first one, as there would be 7 more. Despite that self-admonition, I did it pretty fast (4:04), though it did feel easy. Still, it was obviously too fast, as it ended up being my fastest one. I felt pretty good through about the 6th one, and then I did struggle on the last two. The last one was especially difficult, and my HR was really high (ave 166 for the 800 and 170 for the 200!). Ouch! It's always tricky to know how to pace oneself, and I came close today, even if I was a bit fast to start. I was able to finish, and only slowed a little bit.

Here are my times: 4:04, 53.8, 4:07, 53.7, 4:07, 54.2, 4:06, 55.6, 4:07, 54.4, 4:08, 55.2, 4:07, 55.0, 4:10, 54.2. Total time for 8km = 40:13.5 (5:01.7/km). Nice! Things are looking good.

Garmin data here.

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