Friday, December 21, 2007

Oh, what the heck!

A view of our lights for the season but I'm not happy with the way they turned out. It's hard to get the exposure right and they seem to be a bit washed out. Maybe I'll try bracketing more on the under-exposure side the next time out.

Yes, I did run today. It was a so-called 'General aerobic 9 mi' run which I take as being run as you feel; go slow if you want or faster when you feel like it and don't worry about it. Another -6C day with bright sun and a light wind got me a bit overheated wearing the same 2 layers as the previous day. Curiously, before my run I was eating a 1/2 banana and 1/2 pb&j sandwich and was taken aback by a co-worker who remarked that "you must be doing a longer run today?". Weird how some people notice the little things you do that are running related but not really obvious at 1st glance. Some folks would just think I eat a lot or maybe have a tapeworm but others do pay attention.

It was a nice run, out and back along the highway turning at the exact location to get my intended 9 miles. The roads were again greasy/slushy and might have survived without the added traction of the Yaktrax. As it was the traffic was fairly light and used the bare pavement as much as I could but it didn't help my pace at all. My attempt to pickup the speed on the return leg was met with at best an 8:02 uphill mile 7 and a 7:48 downhill mile 8. Overall pace of 8:20 and slightly elevated heart rate of 138 for my efforts.

I'm hoping for some more bare pavement and less clothes on my back over the weekend as we have some positive temperature days forecast. Happy running and Happy Christmas!

3 comments:

Jamie Anderson said...

I think the house looks great! Nice job on the run. Enjoy the warmer weather. Not to rub it in, but I'll be in Florida the next few days in, where it'll definitely be more than warm. :-)

Andrew said...

Ignore Jamie, he really doesn't like Florida. All concrete and no hills. He'll be home before you can say "School's in!"

Now about that banana & sandwich... There's a line of thought that you should not eat prior to a run because it raises the blood sugar level and thus insulin. The insulin inhibits fat burning and therefore your workout loses one training aspect - using fat as fuel - that could be useful. Your run ended before you were out of glucose, but what if it didn't? And why not train the body to use fat as fuel? A few runs with the sugar boost and you'll be use to it and much happier during the race with the results.

I like the lights. I thought I saw St. Andrews burning across the bay the other morning and now I know it was your Christmas lights.

See you Sunday!

Garry said...

House looks great! Not quite like the Griswald's but still pretty nice.
Have a great holiday season with your family!