Selfie!
Apparently, this morning was full battalion PT day for the University of Toledo ROTC at the Rec Center. They were so cute with their shiny new IPFUs and their olive drab canteens. The future butter bars of the Army… some NCO is going to have their hands full, based on my observation. I know the ROTC cadets we got in my platoons and companies were in need of coddling.
For some reason, I got a wild hair this morning and decided to do a HMP run. Based on yesterday’s success, I knew I could do ~6.5mi at an easy pace, so today I went for 5 miles at HMP. Perhaps not wise, but I make no claims to wisdom.
This also gave me the chance to fully test my hypothesis that my pace is driven by the tempo of my music to a ludicrous degree. I put my iPod back on my 180bpm playlist for this run to put it to the test. The results were dramatic now that I knew to pay attention to my response. I could feel the desire to match my pace to the 180bpm and just run.
I was a little worried about pushing the pace, but I wanted to see what I had in me now. Turns out, I’m recovering quite nicely from whatever the hell was wrong with me.
For today’s nutrition selection, the chef has selected GU Chocolate Outrage. A fine vintage, with a hint of maltodextrin. I love chocolate GU… actually, I love nearly all varieties of GU, but Chocolate Outrage is definitely top 3.
As stated, today’s run was a 5 mile HMP run (~7:00/mi). Glass City is getting closer and I want to try for a PR, even if it might not be the sub-90 that I was aiming for previously. To do so, I need to do the full 13.1 miles in 1:37 or less.
I did hit the wall, but it was a far more manageable wall than earlier runs from this week or last. When I finished my run and checked my average pace, I felt like freaking Goku for hitting the 7:00/mi pace. There is still more to be done to stretch this out to a complete half marathon, but knowing I can hold the pace without undue stress for at least 5 miles is a comforting discovery.
This makes me believe that I was not eating enough somehow. Adding the pre-workout GU and an end-of-the-day Clif Bar to my diet has seemingly turned things around. I’m concerned about what this will do to my weekly weigh-in, but so long as I don’t turn into the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man the improvement in my training is worth it.
Tomorrow, I think, will be a rest day. Unless the weatherman was completely wrong and Toledo is beautiful tomorrow, I’m going to stay indoors and let my legs recover. Or I might go to the YMCA and play around for little while just to stay active.