Nice Day in May Means 9.5 Miles of Play

Today I actually went out to my first leg in Hood to Coast that I will be running (leg #7). The leg is 5.65 miles and rated "Hard" because of hills. It starts out at Sandy Fred Meyers. Because I wanted a little more than 5.65 miles today, I also ran the following leg (#8) which was rated as "Easy" and was about 4.5 miles.

I parked my car a little from the end of leg #8 and had my wife drop me off at the beginning of #7. It was a pretty nice run. It's all country roads, nurseries, and big houses I'll never be able to afford.

Knowing it would be dog territory, I carried some pepper spray. I was right. I came a little close to having to use it on a German Shepherd behind a fence that had a sign on it saying "Beware of Security Dog." What's that you say? "Big deal, he was behind a fence?" Well, as I was going by, the owner was driving away through an automatic gate- this left no fence between me and Mr. Security Dog. Had I kept going or not noticed, it could have been interesting. Instead, I waited for the gate to close again before I went back to running. The dog didn't notice the gate was open because it was further along down the fence. So, I stood there staring at him through the fence while the gate closed. The kicker- he didn't bark. Nor did he wag his tail. Instead, he just stared at me with a sociopathic look that said, "if you come over here, I will eat you." 

In the end, I felt fine except my legs were stiff from the pounding on the cement. I did a cold bath when I got home. That should help.   

MONTHLY MEASUREMENTS (APRIL)

Well, this month comes with good and bad news. My weight has not changed. That is a little discouraging. My milage was down for half of the month and my eating was up. I went from slow and steady to- holding steady. BUT, the news is not all bad. The goods are: Better body composition (less fat, more muscle), better paces, on track for fat loss, fitter, and I'm just a better runner. So, I shouldn't complain. This is why I track all these factors. You see, if I look at the scale alone, I miss all the good stuff. Bottom line: fat loss NOT weight loss is what I'm after. My pants are little looser now than they were a month ago. Nuff said.



Weight: 259 (without shoes)

Body Fat %: 25.89

-Fat weight: 67.04 lbs
-Lean weight: 191.96 (muscle, bones, tendons, etc..)

Total mileage logged in the month of April: 102 miles

Total monthly fat loss: 2.3 pounds

Total monthly lean mass change: +2.3lb

Total monthly body fat % change: -0.88%





GOAL CHECK: (from 12/1/09)





1.) Lose 35 pounds of fat





Down about 19.87 pounds of fat since the first of December. I'm pretty much on track here.




2.) Get to a consistent pace of 9:45 a mile or better







I thought I would be there by now- or close. I'm not. The speed increases are coming slowly. That said, I've become a little faster in the last month. I'm under 10 min miles and getting close to 9:45. I'm confident that I'll acheive this goal by the race.







3.) Be able to run 6 miles at the 9:45 pace twice twice a day.





I'm pretty sure I'll get there. As it is, I can do 6.2 miles at 9:55ish pace 5 times a week.











Time Left to acheive goals: 3.5 months.